By Levi McGarry, College of Arts and Sciences
Six competitors vied to represent the College of Arts and Sciences in the 3 Minute Thesis qualifier round on March 5th in Goertzen Hall. Limited to just one presentation slide and 180 seconds, the PhD students were tasked with summarizing their thesis research into a short talk appropriate for general audiences.
Safiya Hafiz from the Department of Sociology was awarded the qualifying victory, and will move on to compete in the university-wide Three Minute Thesis finals on March 25, 2026. She also earned $1,000 for her presentation on “Justice by Geography: Examining the Variance in Juvenile Justice System Processing and Outcomes across Washington State”.
McKinley Nevins from the School of Biological Sciences was awarded second place and $750 for her presentation on “Integrating above and belowground perspectives to understand the drivers of tree demography in the northwestern United States”.
Md Borhad Uddin from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics earned third place and $500 with his presentation, “When Being Right Isn’t Fair: Rethinking Artificial Intelligence”.
Also competing in the CAS 3MT Qualifier was Joseph Akowuah from the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs; Sarah Farahani from the Department of Chemistry; and Shamila Gopalakrishnan from the Department of Chemistry.
This year’s judging panel was comprised of Paul Buckley, director of undergraduate studies and professor in the Department of Chemistry; Blythe Duell, professor in the Department of Psychology; and Katherine Watts, professor in the Department of English and Director of University Common Requirement (UCORE).