The four winners in The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition are, left to right, Vignesh Vasudevan Geetha, first place; Derek Koehl, second place; Boshra Rezvanian, third place, and Eirian Waldron, People’s Choice. The UAH Graduate School sponsored the annual competition on Oct. 23, 2025.
Michael Mercier | UAH
Vignesh Vasudevan Geetha’s explanation of “What’s in the Smoke?” took the top prize in the 2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition sponsored by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Graduate School on Oct. 23. UAH is a part of The University of Alabama System.
Geetha, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Atmospheric and Earth Science in the College of Science, presented a snapshot of his research to the audience at the annual event.
“My research focuses on understanding the chemical composition of smoke emitted during prescribed fires,” he said. “By characterizing the emissions, my work aims to guide forest managers to make scientifically informed decisions on where, when and how to conduct burns that maximize the ecological benefits and minimize negative impacts on the air quality.”
The 3MT program, developed by The University of Queensland in Australia, challenges students to effectively explain their research and its significance in three minutes using language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. The program’s reputation convinced Geetha to participate.
“I have heard about 3MT being held at other universities from friends and have always been intrigued by the competition. The idea of condensing years of research into a clear and compelling three-minute story with a single static slide was both challenging and exciting. I also saw it as an opportunity to develop my oratory skills and decided to take the leap.”
For first place, Geetha won $350 plus an all-expenses-paid opportunity to represent UAH at the regional 3MT Competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ annual meeting, Feb. 18-20, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.
Beyond the award, Geetha said that he benefitted just from competing.
“It helped me refine how I communicate complex scientific ideas and results to a diverse, non-expert audience in an accessible and engaging way,” he said. “I believe that these skills extend far beyond the competition. As a researcher, they are essential whether you are at a conference, explaining research to the collaborators or even at a social gathering. The competition enhanced my scientific communication and confidence as a presenter.”
Three other competitors were cited by the judges for these awards:
- Second place, $250 – Derek Koehl, Ph.D., applied experimental psychology, “Perceptions of Social Intelligence in AI”
- Third place, $150 – Boshra Rezvanian, Ph.D., biotechnology, “From Rusty Bikes to Ferraris: Supercharging Enzymes to Tackle Tyrosinemia”
- People’s Choice, $150 – Eirian Waldron, M.A., history, “From Pioneer to Tourist: The Iconography of the American Astronaut”
The 2025 3MT competition also attracted the following students:
- Lael Anderson, M.S., biological sciences, “Mapping cave vulnerability and priority areas for biospeleological conservation”
- Srivani Athmakur, Ph.D., computer science, “Segmentation of Impervious Areas from High-Altitude Aerial Images using a Regularized-UNet Framework
- Danielle Bates-Ford, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), “Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes”
- Makailyn Hernandez, M.S., biological sciences, “Hot Waters, Hard Times: Maternal Provisioning Under Thermal Stress”
- Jacob Schaefer, M.S., biological sciences, “Evaluating genetic diversity and potential cryptic diversity within the Georgia Blind Salamander (Eurycea wallacei) and the Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish (Cambarus cryptodytes)”
- Katherine Taylor, M.S., biological sciences, “What’s Your Type? How Energetic Investment Affects Male Mate Choice”
Serving as judges for the competition were UAH Vice President for Strategic Communications Kristina Hendrix; Chelsea Aaron, research associate, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Office of Data Science and Informatics, UAH; and Chris Pinto, director, Graduate and Undergraduate Admissions.