Winners Announced: 2026 Graduate Research & Innovation Exchange (GRIE) and Three Minute Thesis (3MT)

On Friday, February 20, 2026, the Rubin Campus Center Odeum and Hagglund Room were filled with energy, creativity, and discovery as graduate students gathered for one inspiring afternoon of research and innovation at the annual Graduate Research & Innovation Exchange (GRIE) and Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

 

PhD students presented for the 3MT competition, delivering compelling, three-minute presentations that distilled complex research into clear, engaging stories. Immediately following, the Odeum transformed into a vibrant marketplace of ideas during GRIE, where master’s and PhD students shared research in progress, exchanged feedback across disciplines, and connected with peers, faculty, all while judges evaluated presentations for excellence, and attendees cast votes for People’s Choice Awards.

 

We extend our sincere gratitude to every student who presented their work. Preparing and sharing research publicly takes courage, clarity, and commitment. We are equally grateful to our faculty judges, whose thoughtful feedback and time make this event possible.

 

2026 GRIE Award Winners

Biomedical & Chemical Engineering

1st Place: Belle Sethachutkul (Advisor: Andrew Teixeira)

2nd Place (Tied): Aubrey Graham (Advisor: Michael Timko)

2nd Place (Tied): Emma Slavin (Advisor: Karen Troy)

2nd Place (Tied): Scarlett Xu (Advisor: Christina Bailey-Hytholt)

People’s Choice: Andrew Charlebois (Advisors: Andrew Teixeira & Michael Timko)

People’s Choice: Fatemeh Salargarna (Advisor: Zhenglun “Alan” Wei)

 

Business, Social & Learning Sciences

1st Place: Varun Bhat (Advisor: Sarah Strauss)

2nd Place: Eliot Szary (Advisor: Karen Stewart)

 

Computational, Data & Mathematical Sciences

1st Place: Samuel Uche (Advisor: Emmanuel Agu)

2nd Place: Wafaa Almuhammadi (Advisor: Emmanuel Agu)

 

Engineering (AE, CEAE, FPE, Materials)

1st Place: Oleksii Padun (Advisor: Ye Lu)

2nd Place: Jorge Valdivia (Advisors: James Urban & Albert Simeoni)

3rd Place: Rachel Hurley (Advisor: Shichao Liu)

 

Life & Physical Sciences

1st Place: Alexander Freeman (Advisor: Amity Manning)

2nd Place: Rebecca Gilchrist (Advisors: Ronald Grimm & Andrew Teixeira)

People’s Choice: Rebecca Gilchrist (Advisors: Ronald Grimm & Andrew Teixeira)

 

Mechanical Engineering

1st Place: Diego Vaca Revelo (Advisor: Aswin Gnanaskandan)

2nd Place: Seyed Hamed Ghavami (Advisor: Yuxiang Liu)

3rd Place: Lindsey Podlaski (Advisor: Jamal Yagoobi)

 

Robotics, Electrical/Computer & Systems Engineering

1st Place: Andrew Adiletta (Advisor: Berk Sunar)

2nd Place: Shambhuraj Mane (Advisor: Berk Calli)

3rd Place: Amin Hazrati Marangalou (Advisor: Ulkuhan Guler)

 

2026 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Winners

1st Place & People’s Choice (Tied): Abeer Asif

Department of Biology & Biotechnology

Advisor: Amity Manning

 

Runner-Up: Rachel Hurley

Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering

Advisor: Shichao Liu

 

People’s Choice (Tied): Sucheta Tamragouri

Biomedical Engineering

Advisor: Zhenglun “Alan” Wei

Congratulations to all of our award recipients. Your work reflects the depth, rigor, and impact of graduate research across disciplines.

And to all the judges list below: thank you for making GRIE and 3MT 2026 a powerful celebration of innovation, scholarship, and community.

3MT Judges:

Terri Camesano

Lori Ostapowicz-Critz

Adrienne Boertjens

 

GRIE Judges:

Abigail Descoteaux

Abhishek Sharma

Alex Maag

Ben Ngan

Bo Tang

Connor McCann

Galahad Wernsing

Gbeton Somasse

Geoff Tompsett

Greg Lewin

Hektor Kashuri

Jeannine Coburn

Jianyu Liang

Jielong Cai

John Orr

Joshua Cuneo

Joyce Hyde

Karen Troy

Kun-Ta Wu

Lichao Fang

Manish Kumar

Mehdi Mortazavi

Nancy Burnham

Neil Heffernan

Nikolaos Kazantzis

Paul Mathisen

Pratap Raj

Puyuan Zhang

Randy Paffenroth

Ray Zirui Zhang

Roee Shraga

Rong Wang

Rory Flinn

Ruben Bonilla-Santiago

Sathwik Bharadwaj

Yanhua Li

Ye Lu

Yunus Telliel