Previous University of Toronto 3MT Winners

Previous University of Toronto 3MT Winners

This page lists previous University of Toronto Three Minute Thesis (3MT) winners, and related media.

Congratulations to the 2024 3MT winners and finalists!

First Place and People’s Choice
Daniil Lisus
Institute of Aerospace Studies, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
“Helping Autonomous Cars See What Our Eyes Can’t”

Second Place
Emaad Paracha
Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts & Science
“Detecting Dark Matter in Galaxy Clusters from the Stratosphere”

Third Place
Angel Badewole
Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
“Assessing the Environmental Impacts of an Innovative Chemical Production Pathway”

Read more about this year’s competition.

FinalistGraduate Unit and Faculty
Tabina AhmedDepartment of Physiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Angel BadewoleDepartment of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Connor BrennaDepartment of Physiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Alexia CumalLawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Mimi DengInstitute of Medical Science, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Kyle FarwellFaculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education
Carolyn Kelly-RuetzDepartment of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Daniil LisusInstitute of Aerospace Studies, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Angelico ObilleInstitute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Emaad ParachaDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Arts & Science
Nicholas SilverDepartment of Biochemistry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Nadine ZaghriniDepartment of Civil and Mineral Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

3MT Final Program

Watch / Listen to the 2024 3MT Winners

First place: Daniil Lisus, Institute of Aerospace Studies, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, “Helping Autonomous Cars See What Our Eyes Can’t“
Second place: Emaad Paracha, Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts & Science, “Detecting Dark Matter in Galaxy Clusters from the Stratosphere“
Third place: Angel Badewole, Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, “Assessing the Environmental Impacts of an Innovative Chemical Production Pathway“

Watch / Listen to the 2023 3MT Winners

First place: Emily Majaesic, Department of Chemistry, “Catch a Protein by Its Tail
Second place: Nidhi Sachdeva, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, “small bites = BIG GAINS! Breaking Massed Learning Habits Through Microlearning“
Third place: Amel Sassi, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, “Miniature Bones, Big Discoveries“
People’s choice: Nandita Menon, Faculty of Dentistry, “Spittin’ Truth: Saliva Indicating Overall Health“

One slide and three minutes: How PhD students are trying to explain their life’s work to the masses (Toronto Star, March 2023)

The Centre for Graduate Professional Development (CGPD) wishes to express a big thank you and congratulations to all the nine finalists this year:

Listen to the 2022 3MT Winners

First place: Atefeh Mohammadi, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, “Lung Disease in Premature Babies: Are Watermelons the Answer?“
Second place and People’s Choice: Shivam Sharma, Faculty of Dentistry, “Diabetic Wounds: Heels that Don’t Heal“
Third place: Melanie Wheatley, Institute of Forestry and Conservation, “Fighting Fire From the Sky“​

Media

U of T 3MT Finals

Congratulations to Faraz Alidina, who placed first at the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) competition.

Postdoc competition

  • First place: Dr. Augustine Joshua Devasahayam, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
  • Second place: Dr. Liziane Bouvier, Sunnybrook Research Institute
  • Third place: Dr. Xiwen Zhang, Department of Physics
  • People’s Choice: Dr. Morteza Rezanejad, Department of Psychology

Media

  • First place: Amalia Gil, The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Identifying Distractions in Surgery with Eye-tracking
  • Second place: Chris Ahuja, Department of Surgery, “SMaRT Stem Cells to Repair the Spinal Cord”
  • Third place: Aaron Cabral, Department of Chemistry, “Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Bacteria with Fluorescent Chemical Sensors”
  • People’s Choice: Amir Arellano Saab, Department of Cell and Systems Biology, “The Witchweed Problem: Every Atom Counts”

The finals of the University of Toronto 3MT Competition took place as scheduled on Thursday, April 2 from 6-8 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. An audience of more than 400 supported our amazing U of T students and enjoyed a special guest appearance from CBC Radio Ideas producers Tom Howell and Nicola Luksic. Their documentary series Ideas from the Trenches showcases the work of PhD students across the country. Watch the 2020 3MT finals on Facebook Livestream

Media

  • First place: Shane Saunderson, “Persuasive Robotics and the Social Machine.”
  • Second place: Leah De Jong, “Using Skin Cells to Understand Genetic Brain Disorders in Rett Syndrome”
  • Tied for third place:
    • Ryan Chu, “Remote Vital Sign Monitoring Using Infrared Depth Cameras”
    • Farah Qaiser, “Using DNA sequencing to investigate the connection between Epilepsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder”
  • People’s Choice: Shelley Vanderhout, “Cow’s milk fat: which is best for children?”

Media

Congratulations to Meghan McGee from the Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Media

  • First place: Richard Kil (Che​mistry), “Blood Testing with Baker’s Yeast”
  • Second place, tie:
    • Jessica Maxwell (Psychology), “How Beliefs About Sex Shape Sexual and Relationship Well-Being”
    • Wendi Zhou (Electrical and Computer Engineering), “Nanobiosensors: A Baby Monitor for Stem Cells”

Congratulations to Richard Kil from the Department of Chemistry for winning second place in Canada’s 3MT® Competition! After winning the 3MT® Ontario Competition and Competitor’s Choice Award, Richard was entered into the National Finals, where his video was judged by a panel including the Tragically Hip’s Rob Baker, CBC Radio producers Nicola Luksic and Tom Howell, and entrepreneur and PhD supporter Ian Baines.

Media

  • First place: Cristina D’Amico (English), “The death and life of ownership in nineteenth-century American literature (1840–1920)”
  • Second place: Senjuti Saha (Molecular Genetics), “Tackling antibiotic resistance: Development of antimicrobial nanomachines”
  • Third place: Gregory Wentworth (Chemistry), “How do seabirds cool the Arctic?”

Media

  • First place: Stephen McCarthy (Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology), “Towards an Ebola Cure.”
  • Second place: Elissa Gurman (Department of English), Consent and the Love Plot in Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Fiction.

Congratulations to Stephen McCarthy, a PhD candidate in Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, who placed second runner-up at the Provincial 3MT® at Western University on April 23. Stephen competed against 19 other Ontario university students and earned a place in the coveted top-ranking positions. Watch the 2015 Ontario 3MT® presentations.

Stephen and the other provincial finalists represented Ontario in the Canada 3MT competition in May.

Media

  • First place: Daiva Nielsen (Nutritional Sciences)
  • Second place: Joseph Bondy-Denomy (Molecular Genetics)

Daiva moved on to compete and win the 2014 Ontario Final last April at McMaster University in Hamilton — successfully defending U of T’s title in Ontario.

Media

  • First place: Jasdeep Saggar (Medical Biophysics)
  • Second place: Abraham Heifets (Computer Science)

Jasdeep went on to represent U of T at the 2013 Ontario Finals in April at Queen’s University in Kingston, successfully winning the first 3MT® Provincial Final.

Subsequently, Abraham went on to co-found the startup company Chematria, housed at U of T’s Impact Centre. Chematria made news by launching a search for a new Ebola treatment using artificial intelligence.

Media