Doctoral Grad Wins Ivy+ Three Minute Thesis Competition

June 29, 2026

By Katya Hrichak

Cornell 2026 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) winner Ellen van Wijngaarden, Ph.D. ’26, has done it again, taking home first place in a 3MT competition with an engaging, succinct presentation on her mechanical engineering dissertation research.

But this time, rather than being up against seven other Cornell competitors, she faced off against students representing eight peer institutions.

The Ivy+ 3MT was held on June 10 via Zoom, featuring students from Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford, University of California Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale, all of whom won their individual university 3MTs before coming together for this competition.

“Winning first place in the Ivy+ 3MT competition is incredibly rewarding because it reflects the time and effort I’ve invested in developing my science communication skills over the entire span of my Ph.D.,” said van Wijngaarden.

While the process of preparing for the Ivy+ 3MT was very similar to preparing for Cornell’s 3MT due to the same rules and constraints—give a three minute presentation with one static slide in language appropriate to a general audience—she said presenting to a virtual audience did require slightly different tactics than presenting to an in-person audience. Luckily for van Wijngaarden, tailoring her presentation in this way felt like a useful exercise.

“Effective science communication today requires being able to engage audiences across many different platforms,” she said. “Virtual presentations and Zoom meetings often lack immediate audience feedback, but they allow us to reach broader audiences and expand the impact of our work.”

Judges for the Ivy+ 3MT included Lyndsay Cooper, executive director of Story Collider; Sarah Goodwin, executive director for the Science Communication Lab; Joshua Johnson, actor for the Onion News Network; and Jyoti Madhusoodanan, freelance science writer.

Second place went to AJ Phillips, an electrical engineering doctoral student at Stanford, and the audience-selected People’s Choice Award went to Carla Bassil, electrical engineering and computer science doctoral student at University of California Berkeley.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of the Ivy+ 3MT competition was the opportunity to learn from presenters across a range of disciplines, from art history to immunology,” said van Wijngaarden. “What I especially appreciated was seeing how presenters translated interdisciplinary research into stories that were accessible and engaging for a public audience. Many of the projects extended far beyond what one might expect based on the presenter’s department or field, and it was inspiring to see how effectively researchers communicated the broader significance and impact of their work.”

Getting the opportunity to develop these skills is a primary reason van Wijngaarden encourages other graduate students to compete in a 3MT.

“The experience is incredibly formative and has influenced how I think about communicating my research in many settings including at conferences, when writing research posts and abstracts, discussing experimental results with my advisor, or introducing my work to potential collaborators,” she said. “One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that effective communication is a skill that improves with practice. Whether it’s a department symposium, a lab presentation, or even an informal coffee chat, every opportunity to talk about your research helps you refine your message and better connect with different audiences.”