Ninth Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

Gesturing Toward Success: Embodied Fraction Learning

Department: Learning and Instruction

Advisor: Dr. Ji-Won Son

Biography: Currently living in Alabama and working in Tennessee, Samantha teaches first grade and plans to continue teaching first grade for many years. Her research examines how elementary students' gestures reveal their understanding of fraction operations. Her goal is to improve math learning for all students by understanding how gestures can reveal and support their thinking. She is especially motivated by the potential of gestures to bridge cultural and language differences, creating more equitable opportunities for students to develop a deep understanding of fractions. Although her favorite author is Stephen King, she hopes to make math less scary to learn and teach by eventually transitioning to a math instructional coach and/or working in curriculum design.

Quantum Light: A Dim Light That Brightens the Future

Department: Physics

Advisor: Dr. Tim Thomay

Biography: Guangpeng was inspired to study physics because of his love for the show the Big Bang Theory. Hailing from Qiqihar, a northeastern town in China, where winters are cold, typically around -30°F, Buffalo winters offers a unique warmth. By leveraging Machine Learning, Guangpeng's research tackles the challenge of identifying quantum light emitters, which are inherently dim and demand delicate experiments. At the quantum level, light manifests as discrete packets of energy—photons, offering exceptional precision, sensitivity and communication security beyond the capabilities of classical optics. These properties have enabled applications in diverse fields, including metrology, computer science and communication. Guangpeng hopes to take his skills into the quantum computing industry post-graduation and find more time to enjoy soccer and beer.

Is Obesity Man's Kryptonite?

Department: Immunology

Advisor: Dr. Joseph Barbi

Biography: Hailing from Buffalo, NY, Deschana's ultimate goal is to become a shepherd in her field, leading and building companies that push the boundaries of research while making diversity a cornerstone of scientific progress. She aims to revolutionize the research and healthcare landscapes by creating opportunities for underrepresented voices and empowering and inspiring all communities to innovate and thrive. Her research dives into how obesity impacts the immune system in lung cancer. By exploring the relationship between obesity and induced immune dysfunction in the tumor microenvironment of the lung, the research seeks to identify potential therapeutic targets to improve cancer treatment in obese patients for one of the deadliest cancers to date. When not in the lab, she chooses to live creatively as a poet, artist and cosplayer.

MindVoice: A Future Driven by Thought

Department: Computer Science and Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Wenyao Xu

Biography: With a love for all things football, locally called soccer, Anarghya joined the Buffalo community from his hometown in Kolkata, India. His research focuses on creating algorithms for wearable Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) that use non-invasive Electroencephalography (EEG) data to decode thoughts into actions. His work advances smart health wearables to create practical tools for everyday life, such as helping individuals with speech impairments communicate and improving accessibility through innovation. Although he enjoys turning complex brain tech into everyday solutions, he struggles to fold fitted sheets like the rest of us.

Art vs. Propaganda: Abolition's Afterlives in American Literature, 1852-1901

Department: English

Advisor: Dr. Carrie Tirado Bramen

Biography: Isaac is a well-traveled individual after leaving his hometown in Prineville, Oregon. He has lived in Tempe, AZ, Los Angeles, CA and now Buffalo, NY. His dissertation research analyzes how nineteenth-century novels appropriated radical antislavery rhetoric, showing that critics and novelists distinguished between "good literature" and "propaganda" more rigidly from the 1850s to the 1900s. He wants to understand the relationship between politics and literature and, more broadly, between art and life. Is art just a way to escape our lives or is it a way to engage more deeply in them? What role should literature play in our civic culture? Ultimately, what kind of stories do we want to tell about ourselves and each other and why?

Mitigating Injury in Female Service Members One Step at a Time

Department: Exercise and Nutrition Sciences

Advisor: Dr. David Hostler

Biography: A proud New Englander, Liz has lived in 10 different towns in four New England states, and her favorite was living in the mountains of southern Vermont. Inspired by her experiences as a research fellow at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, where she got to meet some of the first females who completed the most challenging schools that the military offers, her research investigates injury risk through gait, strength, power and balance analysis after heavy military-style backpacking in females to help better explain/understand why they have a higher injury occurrence/risk than their male counterparts. She aims to return to the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine as a researcher to lead studies that optimize warfighter performance, especially for females.

MOPs: Unlocking the Future of Gas Separation

Department: Chemical and Biological Engineering

Advisor: Dr. David Kofke and Dr. Andrew Schultz

Biography: As a chemical and biomedical engineering doctoral student, Omkar's professional opinion is that all cheese is good, and more cheese is preferred. Omkar's hometown is Mumbai, India, and he wants to explore every major U.S. city in the next five years. His research focuses on enhancing gas separation capacity and decreasing gas separation costs by using molecular simulation to simulate MOP's gas absorption and separation capacity. He and his research team have also developed a new theoretical model to estimate these results and computed a methodology to simulate MOP, which has realistic results similar to those of experiments. He hopes his research will help reduce energy demand and increase productivity. 

Exploring the Role of Activity in the Lives of Refugee Youth

Department: Social Work

Advisor: Dr. Wooksoo Kim

Biography: Megan is a Mandolin player, puzzle enthusiast and one-time plane co-pilot from Chattanooga, TN. Her research explores the impact of activities on refugee youths' wellbeing. Focusing on the experiences and voices of refugee youth to better understand how participating in an activity influences adolescent development and acculturation, specifically, if participation supports identity development, belonging and overall wellbeing. Motivated by personal experience working with newly arrived refugee youth and the gaps in the resettlement system related to support for the refugee population, her goal is to amplify the voices of refugee youth so that we might better walk alongside them.

Health in a Hearing World

Department: Communications

Advisor: Dr. Kelly Tenzek

Biography: Homegrown in Buffalo, New York, Tahleen enjoys reading, crafting and spending time with friends and family. She loves reading so much that in 2024, she read over 80 non-academic books. Her future includes advancing health equity through research, teaching and community engagement. Tahleen's research addresses critical health barriers for marginalized communities, particularly the Deaf in ADRD care. Drawing on her caregiving experience and witnessing the challenges of ADRD as a research assistant/intern for Hospice Buffalo for almost eight years, she is committed to fostering inclusive, accessible care. Partnering with the Deaf community, she aims to create equitable resources, amplify minority voices, and drive systemic change to benefit all navigating this disease.

When Your Brain's Game of Telephone Goes Wrong (and How to Reconnect the  Line)

Department: Biochemistry

Advisor: Dr. Gabriela K. Popescu

Biography: Samantha is a self-described "huge Swifty" and loves to play with her cat Lottie, learn German, read, travel and take long walks around Elmwood Village. Her research studies specialized proteins in the brain called NMDA receptors, which are essential for learning and development. Mutations in these receptors result in disease states. The ultimate goal of her research is to help find new and more efficient treatment options for patients with these mutations. Many of the patients are children and since these mutations cause neurodevelopmental disorders, they result in poor quality of life and in extreme cases, childhood mortality. The drugs Samantha tests in the lab may hold great promise in treating these patients, and she hopes that her research will lead to some of these drugs being sent to clinical trials. In the future, she hopes to work for a pharmaceutical company to help develop drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases.