Tenth Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

It Wasn't a Stampede: How We Talk About Crowd Disasters and Why It Matters

Department: Communication

Advisor: Dr. Yotam Ophir

Biography: From Honolulu, HI, Emily Black studies crowd crushes where tens, hundreds or even thousands of people are crushed to death. Her research investigates journalists talk about these accidents and how that news coverage changes public perceptions of crowd disasters. Motivated by stories like that of Itaewon survivor Lee Jaehyun, Emily aims to shift the world where crowd disaster survivors are not blamed for the worst day of their lives. Outside her research, she enjoys drawing, caring for her White Cloud Mountain minnows, calligraphy and embracing her signature denim jacket adorned with safety-pin wings. Emily's dream job is to become a professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mãnoa.

Corticosteroids: The Storm Stopper!

Department: Pharmaceutical Sciences

Advisor: Dr. William J. Jusko

Biography: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Wensi Wu is a first-generation student, McNair Scholar and devoted Minions fan. Her research explores corticosteroids and their role in treating cytokine release syndrome, a severe inflammatory response that can occur during cancer therapy or major infections. By developing a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model in rats, she compares methylprednisolone and dexamethasone to determine optimal dosing strategies for patient care. Her hobbies including cooking, baking and traveling around the U.S. for the annual Pokémon GO Fest. Her goal is to better understand corticosteroids for future uses in inflammation. In the future, she hopes to become a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry.

Reimagining Teacher Professional Growth Through Co-Design: Who Owns Teachers' Learning?

Department: Learning and Instruction

Advisor: Dr. Erin Kearney and Dr. Christopher Hoadley

Biography: A native of Fukushima, Japan, Yuya's research aims to develop and deliver a personalized teacher-training model build and co-designed with teachers. Over two months, he worked with three English language teachers at a Japanese secondary school to co-design learning activities, such as workshops and reflective journals. Motivated by offering an alternative approach that regards teachers as active collaborators and co-designers of their own professinal learning and sustainable professional development that deepens participating teachers' pedagogical understanding and enhances classroom instruction. He enjoys watching a variety of sports including baseball, British Premier League soccer and American football. After completing his PhD, Yuya plans to pursue a faculty position in Japan, supporting both practicing and future teachers as they develop meaningful, sustainable ways to improve their instruction.

TherapyGPT: Users and Effects of Generative AI Therapy

Department: Communication

Advisor: Dr. Melanie C. Green

Biography: Originally from Mount Sinai, NY, and now living in Hamburg, Gavin Raffloer studies Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how human beings interact with it in social and emotional ways. This research especially looks at how AI is used for the purposes of mental health and well-being and what drives people to do so. As a practicing therapist, Gavin wants to find a way to make the world a better place. Outside research and therapy, Gavin is a longtime dungeon master for Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) and has been running a campaign with friends for over five years. Gavin even proposed to his wife through DnD. His long-term goals is to either become a full professor studying AI and mental health or join a leading AI company.

The Trouble with Troubleshooting: Investigating Undergraduate Engineering Students' Difficulties with Troubleshooting via Process and Knowledge Type Application

Department: Engineering Education

Advisor: Dr. Andrew Olewnik

Biography: Chris, originally form Long Island, NY, is a skier, pianist, gamer and movie lover who has a wide range of interests. His research examines how and why undergraduate engineering students struggle with troubleshooting issues in technical systems. By studying the processes students use and the types of knowledge they draw upon, Chris works to identify the barriers that keep them from diagnosing and solving technical problems effectively. His goal is to understand the major challenges that students run into when trying to troubleshoot, to help them improve their performance on important learning activities and to improve the way we design problems that we give to students in engineering classes. After completing his degree, he hopes to become an engineering professor focused on teaching and instructional design.

What the Andes Taught Me About Human Evolution

Department: Biological Sciences

Advisor: Dr. Omer Gokcumen

Biography: Originally from Porto Alegre, Brazil, Luane is studying how diet has shaped human evolution. Her research investigates positive selection on the amylase gene, which digests starch, in Peruvian populations. She found that Andean Peruvians carry more copies of this gene than any population worldwide, likely shaped by long-term potato domestication and consumption, highlighting how diet can drive human genetic evolution. Fluent in four languages, Luane is an avid museum-goer, theater lover, traveler and member of a book club. Her future plans involve completing a postdoc and becoming a researcher.

Smokeless Fire

Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Advisor: Dr. Paul DesJardin

Biography: A passionate researcher from Chennai, India, Lakshmi Ganesh Shankar's research studies wood burning stoves and develops reduced order models for the complex interactions, chemical, fluid and heat transfer, that occur within the system. The model helps designers study modifications, improve efficiency and create better designs. Her goal is to design burning systems that produce less/no smoke and reduce air pollution. Lakshmi loves reading fiction, traveling, discovering new cuisines and planning trips to off-the-beaten-path destinations. In the future, she aims to be an applied research scientist.

Pausing for a Purpose—Uncovering How RNA Folding Alters Transcription with Precision and Scale

Department: Biological Sciences

Advisor: Dr. Eric. J. Strobel

Biography: Chathura, originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka, brings motivation to his research to help us address diseases caused by faulty RNA structures or design antibiotics against RNA structures of certain pathogens. His research investigates how RNA structures pause RNA polymerase which in turn alters the transcription elongation rate during gene expression. To address this, he is developing a tool that can simultaneously measure the activity of many thousands of RNA structures so that we will obtain a more in-depth and predictive understanding about pausing events (Pausing by RNA structures is a poorly elucidated gene regulatory mechanism). Chathura also once voiced an international noodle commercial, something no one believe was actually him, and loves traveling so much that he once took six trips in a single semester. His long-term goal is to pursue academia for teaching and research. 

Player One: Your Brain, Resume the Game

Department: Pharmacology and Toxicology

Advisor: Dr. Thomas Covey

Biography: Hailing from Trumbull, CT, Hope enjoys traveling, skiing, hiking and cheering on the Buffalo Bills and New York Rangers. Her research investigates how low-level laser therapy helps recover from a recent minor head injury/concussion. In her research she uses symptom reports and paper-and pencil cognitive tests to assess the effect of the laser therapy treatment following the minor head injury. She also analyzes brain waves using Electroencephalography (EEG) testing and saliva biomarkers to better understand injury severity and healing trajectories. Motivated by the fact that millions suffer head injuries each year and many develop long-term complications, she hopes her research will lead to end the inconsistencies of treatments for these types of injuries that herself and millions of others have endured throughout the years. Her long-term goal is to remain in academia and continue to be involved in the community through teaching neuroscience inside and outside the classroom, continuing research in the field of neurorehabilitation and mentoring future scientists.

Within Spittin' Distance: Restoring Salivary Gland Function

Department: Oral Biology

Advisor: Dr. Rose-Anne Romano and Dr. Satrajit Sinha

Biography: Growing up in Connersville, IN, Theresa Wrynn moved through several states before coming to Buffalo. She enjoys hobbies of baking, hiking, ultimate frisbee and playing piano. Her research focuses on the mechanisms that guide the development of the salivary gland and how salivary gland function is maintained in adults. Motivated by the significant impact that impaired saliva production has on quality of life, from difficulty chewing to chronic oral health challenges, Theresa hopes her discoveries will someday support regenerative therapies for patients. Theresa aspires to secure a postdoctoral position and eventually run her own lab in the future.