Taking first place in the 2025-26 Penn State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is Julia Ho, doctoral student in architectural engineering, “Developing accurate, efficient models to design optimal heating and cooling systems." The competition's final round took place on March 28 at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus. Credit: Steve Tressler / Penn State.
Architectural engineering student wins Three Minute Thesis competition
Mar 31, 2026
Editor's note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Julia Ho, doctoral student in architectural engineering, received first place in the 2025-26 Penn State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School. Ho’s presentation was titled “Developing accurate, efficient models to design optimal heating and cooling systems."
“I’m so honored and excited to have won this year’s Penn State 3MT competition,” Ho said. “Everyone did such a great job. It was fascinating hearing more about the research happening in different departments, and I’m very grateful for the experience overall.”
Ho will advance to a regional 3MT competition, facing off against other top-performing competitors from graduate schools across the northeastern U.S.
Ho competed against nine other students in the final round of 3MT on Saturday, March 28, at 3 p.m. at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
Originally developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, 3MT allows graduate students only three minutes and one static presentation slide to effectively summarize their research and its impact. All presentations must be geared toward a broad, non-specialist audience.
“Graduate students are at the heart of the innovative research happening across the University, and 3MT is a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse of that,” said Levon T. Esters, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Fox Graduate School. “All 10 finalists did an incredible job on Saturday. Their pursuit of academic excellence inspires me and shows the caliber of student projects at Penn State.”
A panel of pre-selected judges from across the University determined the first- and second-place winners, with prizes worth $1,000 and $500, respectively. In addition, audience members at the event voted for their favorite presentation for a $500 People’s Choice Award, which was sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
Because of a tie in judge scoring, two students earned second place. The other recipients and their presentation titles were:
- Second place: Sayan Deep De, doctoral student in kinesiology, “Diagnosing Parkinson’s Early: A Simple Finger-Force Biomarker to Detect Disease Before Symptoms Appear," and Shakshi Sekar, doctoral student in energy and mineral engineering, “Upcycling Plastic Waste into Critical Mineral Graphite.”
- People's Choice: Zilfa Irakoze, doctoral candidate in food science with a dual title in international agriculture and development, “The Mold Protecting Our Food.”
For those who missed the culmination of the competition on Saturday, the livestream is available on the 3MT website.
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