“Your Research Matters...Share it!” proclaimed the banners on the stage of the Graduate School’s 2024 Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT^®) Finals Competition, held Wednesday evening, February 28, in Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business.

Since 2016, Notre Dame has taken part in a competition that graduate schools around the world and their students have embraced since its founding at the University of Queensland in 2008. The event was co-sponsored by the Graduate School and the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development with support from the Colleges of Arts and Letters, Engineering, and Science; the Shaheen Family; Graduate Career Services; Graduate Student Government; Graduate Student Life; Hesburgh Libraries; Notre Dame Research; University Relations; and the University Writing Center.

“Your research does matter,” said Mary Ann McDowell, professor of biological sciences and associate dean for professional development, as she extended a welcome to the contestants and the audience. “How to convey the essence of that research is one of the most important skills a researcher must develop,” she continued, whether it arises when sharing knowledge of a particular research problem to a colleague or to someone outside of the field.

“This is your moment!” she counseled. “Make it succinct—and make it fascinating!”

Nine graduate-student finalists rose to the challenge and came to the stage as storytellers—storytellers who had three minutes, and not a second more, to frame their research, its findings, and why both matter to the five judges and an audience that included faculty, administrators, and more than one hundred of their peers.

The judges announced two winners, and the audience chose a third:

Henry Downes, Economics

Advisers: Kasey Buckles, Ph.D. and William Evans, Ph.D.
1st Place Winner: $2000

One of the 20th century’s great puzzles is the question: What caused the U.S. Baby Boom?

Fifth-year graduate student Henry Downes’ research explores a previously unexamined cause of fertility increases during that time—including the years before the U.S. entered World War II.

Using novel historical data, Downes discovered an important relationship between fertility increases during the Baby Boom and growth in union membership. Birth rates increased by about twice as much in counties with strong union growth relative to comparable counties with weak union growth, even accounting for many factors that might otherwise influence fertility. When there is stability in employment and confidence in earnings, workers who had steady, good-paying jobs married at younger ages, began having children sooner, and ultimately had larger families.

More fundamentally, his research highlights the central role played by labor market institutions in shaping family decisions and demographic outcomes. It suggests that America’s demographic challenges are unlikely to be solved without addressing economic precariousness in the labor market.

Joséphine Lechartre, Peace Studies and Political Science

Adviser: Guillermo Trejo, Ph.D.
2nd Place Winner: $1500

How do the survival decisions that civilians make amidst genocide influence the emergence of new political cultures that drive political participation after the end of violence?

Using Guatemalan refugees who fled genocide and spent 14 years in refugee camps in Mexico as a case study, the research of sixth-year graduate student Joséphine Lecharte showed that refugees who became active participants in the administration of their camps developed strong democratic political cultures; whereas those who had only limited input in camp affairs did not, and experienced social dislocation.

Her findings have important consequences. Members of the first group of refugees are today highly active in democratic politics. Members of the second group have remained marginalized, with lagging economic development and levels of social dislocation that have led to a rise in criminality.

O. Amandhi Mathews, Biological Sciences

Adviser: Cody J. Smith, Ph.D.
People’s Choice Award Winner: $1000

The embryonic construction of the human nervous system requires neurons to navigate to a precise target at which they form connections to other neurons and make functional circuits. Neurons use a guidance system, a "neuronal GPS" third-year graduate student O. Amandhi Mathews calls it, to form these circuits. These primary circuits allow organisms to sense and respond to their environment and are thus critical for survival.

This process must happen accurately. Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders result from incorrect wiring within the nervous system. Our ability to treat such disorders depends on an in-depth understanding of the genetic blueprints that inform the neuronal GPS that helps neurons navigate accurately. Using zebrafish neurodevelopment as a model system, Mathews’ research investigates the role of the gene svip in neuronal navigation. Her goal with this study is to advance scientists’ understanding of the genetic and molecular pathways involved in neurodevelopment.

Other finalists in the competition were:

Bo Wei Cynthia Chen (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering); Liliya Chernysheva (Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science); Nicholas Herrud (History); Kurt Kohler (Biological Sciences); Hoon Lee (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering); and Gowthami Mahendran (Chemistry and Biochemistry).

Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications Pedro Ribeiro was emcee of the evening.

Judges were:

• Michael Hildreth, Ph.D.
  Dean of the Graduate School; Associate Provost and Vice President for Graduate Studies; and Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Monica Arul Jayachandran, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech University and winner of the 2019 Shaheen 3MT competition
• Essaka Joshua, Ph.D.
  Professor, Department of English and former Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Letters
• Margaret Meserve, Ph.D.
  Glynn Family Honors Collegiate Professor of History and Vice President and Associate Provost for Academic Space and Support
• Jeff Rea
  President and CEO, South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce

Downes will move on to the next round—the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) competition in Clayton, Missouri on April 5, 2024.

2024 Shaheen 3MT^® Finalist Presentation Videos

To view videos of each competitor's presentation, click on the link below.

• Bo Wei Cynthia Chen, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Cost of Natural Gas: Wasted Energy in Production
• Nicholas Herrud, History: Ukrainian Identity through Borders and Memory in the Inter War Period
• Henry Downes, Economics: Did Organized Labor Induce Labor? The Surprising Role of Unions in the American Baby Boom
• O. Amandhi Mathews, Biological Sciences: The Neuronal GPS
• Hoon Lee, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering: Electron Transport: What We Can Learn from Missing Data
• Liliya Chernysheva, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences: The First Step to Cleaning Up Our Environment Is Analytics
• Gowthami Mahendran, Chemistry and Biochemistry: Giving Smooth Brain Babies a Shot at Life
• Joséphine Lechartre, Peace Studies and Political Science: Collaborative Decision-Making: Learning Democratic Participation in Refugee Camps
• Kurt Kohler, Biological Sciences: Building a Homestead in the Catheterized Bladder: A Bacteria’s Survival Guide

Gallery

Originally published by Mary Hendriksen at graduateschool.nd.edu on March 12, 2024.