NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
Tanner Cabaniss, a graduate student in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in the Gallogly College of Engineering, earned first place for his presentation, “Shape Memory Polymer Scaffolds with Tunable Architecture for the Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms.” His research examines how programmable polymer scaffolds could improve minimally invasive treatment options for cerebral aneurysms. As the first-place winner, Cabaniss will represent OU at the regional 3MT competition during the 82nd Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools annual meeting in Kansas City in March 2026.
Maggie Hart, a graduate student in the Department of English in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, was named runner-up for her presentation, “The Power of Medical Texts in Women’s Health.” Her work explores how medical writing shapes the understanding and treatment of women’s health.
The People’s Choice Award went to Surya Pratap Singh, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. His presentation, “Sweet Light: Using Sugar and Blue Light to Create Next-Generation Antibiotics,” focused on the use of photoactivated sugar compounds to develop new antimicrobial treatments.
The 3MT concept originated at the University of Queensland in 2008 and is now global with more than 900 universities participating worldwide. This was the ninth year in which the Graduate College at OU has hosted its own 3MT event.
Watch the full recording of the 2025 competition on the OU-Norman campus here.
More information about the competition is available through the OU Graduate College.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
Sarah Sharif, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to create innovative light detectors that pick up mid-wave and long-wave infrared signals at higher temperatures than previously considered achievable.
A team from OU and WVU recently earned a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how concept cigarillos influence the potential for addiction. The results will be used to inform the FDA’s impending flavor ban on cigar products and could have wider-reaching implications for other tobacco products that come in flavors, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
