Nine students competed in UW–Madison’s 2025-26 Three Minute Thesis final competition on Friday, February 20. The judges selected three winners based on the content, comprehension, and audience engagement they demonstrated through their research talks. Audience members at the event also voted for their favorite to win the People’s Choice Award.
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s UW–Madison Three Minute Thesis competition!
First Place: Sahitha Karapitiya
Master’s student in Biological Systems Engineering
Talk: “Mitigating heat stress in dairy cattle”
As winner of the campus competition, Sahitha will travel to the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools annual meeting March 25-27 to represent UW–Madison in the regional Three Minute Thesis competition.
Second Place and People’s Choice Award: Caroline Roach
PhD student in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Talk: “Bending Over Backwards to Inhibit Chikungunya Virus”
Third Place: Ebony Taylor
PhD student in Entomology
Talk: “The Tiniest Mightiest Mangrove Patch: Using Insects to Measure Coastal Forest Health”
Judges
The volunteer judges included representatives from industry partners and UW–Madison staff:
- Andrew Chen, a chemist with MilliporeSigma
- Michael Braun, owner and editor-in-chief at OrangeHat Publishing
- Coua Moua, psychiatric prescriber at Group Health Cooperative
- Jack Champeau, program director for Clinical & Health Informatics at UW–Madison
- Ellen Dobson, postdoc and graduate program manager at the Morgridge Institute for Research