On March 4, 25 graduate students from across Ohio University came together in the Baker Theater to compete for first place in the 2026 Three Minute Thesis® (3MT) competition.
In this competition, graduate students had only three minutes to describe their ongoing research for their thesis or dissertation to a panel of judges and general audience. Competitors were judged not only on the content of their speech, but how they orated it, and how the competitors research could impact the community at large. The three judges for the finals were Eric Muth, Vice President of Research and Creative Activity, Dean of Students Kathy Fahl, and Donald J. Leo, Provost of Ohio University.
In total, six students from the Russ College of Engineering, eight students from the College of Arts and Sciences, five students from the Scripps College of Communication, two students from the Patton College of Education, one student from the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts, and three students from Translational Biomedical Sciences competed for the top prize of $2,000, generously provided by Dr. René Paulson, the President and Senior Statistician at Elite Research, LLC.
First place was awarded to Mihajlo Chonev, a computer science master’s student from the Russ College, who presented his thesis work, “From drones to data: A modernized machine learning approach to bridge inspection.” Chonev will be moving on to compete in the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) regional Three-Minute Thesis competition on March 27 in Kansas City, Mo.
Second place was awarded to Desa Tobin-Nairn, a doctoral curriculum and instruction student from the Patton College, who presented her doctoral work, “Exploring the Hospitality and Tourism Curriculum in The Bahamas: A Case Study of Bahamian High School Graduates, Hospitality and Tourism Educators, and education Officer Perspective on strategies for Workforce Readiness.”
Third place was awarded to Richard Nana Arthur, a doctoral chemical engineering student from the Russ College, who presented his doctoral work, “Turning wastewater into agricultural fertilizer.
There were also two audience choice awards: one for a doctoral student and one for a master’s student. The audience was able to vote throughout the competition for their two favorite presentations. The master’s audience choice award went to Ashleigh Clabaugh, a chemical engineering student from the Russ College who presented her thesis work, “Building Better Batteries with Blended Carbon and Silicon Materials.” The doctoral audience choice award went to Alexia Tasoula, a translational biomedical sciences student from the Graduate College, who presented her doctoral work, “When ONE gene throws metabolism off track.”
Learn more about the Three Minute Thesis® and see photos from the 2026 competition.