Some of Fordham University’s brightest master’s and doctoral students showed that the possibilities are boundless at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ second annual Three Minute Thesis competition March 13 at the McNally Amphitheatre on the Lincoln Center Campus.

The Three Minute Thesis competition, founded at the University of Queensland in Australia in 2008 and now held at over 600 universities across more than 65 countries, gives participants just three minutes to explain their research to a non-specialist audience—and tell them why it matters.

Seventeen GSAS students gave engaging and informative talks explaining their thesis or dissertation research, covering a diverse array of topics ranging from Latin American monetary policy to anxiety disorders in HIV-positive youth.

The challenging exercise places students outside of their academic comfort zones, but the skills required to relate complex topics to a generalist audience are extremely useful, said Melissa Labonte, Ph.D., GSAS interim dean.

“It’s not just about presenting for this competition; it’s about using the skills of good communication to be able to clearly explain the value of your work,” Labonte said. “That’s a self-advocacy tool that doesn’t diminish the value of your work—in fact, it amplifies it.”

Far from “watering down” their subject matter, several presenters said they found great value in the process of distilling their work to its essential elements.

“History is all about building up context,” said Louisa Foroughi, a Ph.D. student in the Department of History who won third place for her lecture on the status and identity of yeomen in medieval England. “But this kind of work is about stripping away and thinking about what are the really key moments and events and themes that have to come through in order for my topic to make sense.”

Ana Rabasco, a psychology doctoral student, won first place for her presentation “Risk Factors for Suicidal Behaviors Among Transgender and Gender Non-Binary Individuals.”

Rabasco’s research explores the underlying dynamics behind high suicide rates among transgender and gender non-binary, or TGNB, individuals—40 percent of whom attempt suicide at some point during their lifetime, as compared with roughly 4 percent of the general population. Her survey of TGNB individuals found that current victimization is the most salient risk factor for future suicide attempts, ranking higher than past victimization, body satisfaction, and even depression.

“What this tells us is that TGNB individuals attempt suicide in large part because of dangerous, toxic, and harmful environments that they’re living in,” Rabasco said. “And therefore, if we can improve those environments, we can help to reduce that high rate of suicide among TGNB people. We have to do more than just bring suicide out of the margins, although that’s really important too. We also, as a collective community, have to come together to create an environment that’s accepting, respectful, and kind to all people, regardless of gender identity.”

Alexander Elnabli, a philosophy doctoral student, won second place for his presentation on teaching students to thoughtfully explore the

tensions between secular education and traditional religious values, which drew on his experience as a sixth-grade English teacher in Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution.

At the conclusion of the program, audience members voted for their favorite presentations. The “People’s Choice” prize went to Elle Barnes, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences, who explained her research on how urbanization is leading to changes in the bacteria present on the skin of New York City salamanders, impacting their vulnerability to disease. She hopes her work will also expand knowledge about how microbes in humans impact our own susceptibility to disease.

“What can we learn from these tiny worlds? And can we use them to our advantage? These are the types of questions I’m answering with my dissertation,” she said.

– Michael Garofalo

It’s not as big a leap as one might think.

“The amphibian population is very unique, in that they have a very intimate relationship with their environment. They breathe through their skin and get their nutrients through their skin,” said Carter, who is working toward a five-year master’s degree in molecular biology.

“We also have millions of bacteria that live in our skin and our body, so studying the way certain species of bacteria work together to protect against foreign invaders is more applicable to humans than you might imagine.”

Skepticism Turns to Fascination

Carter has been assisting Elle Barnes, a doctoral candidate at the Louis Calder Center, research red-backed salamanders. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as the Chytrid fungus, is ravaging frog and salamander populations around the world, In some cases, it is threatening entire populations with extinction. The red-backed salamander, which is found on the grounds of the Calder Center, is not affected, however, and scientists want to know why.

At the center, Carter helped corral the salamanders, swabbed their skin, and extracted DNA from bacterial colonies that were bred from the swabs. The idea is to get a better sense of the salamanders’ microbiome.

She admits she was a little skeptical when Barnes pitched her on the idea.

“Elle sent me paper that sparked her interest in this story, and she said to me, ‘In every place where you see the word salamander, you can replace it with the word human,’” she said.

“I went through it, and it sounded like something I want to be a part of. I said ‘sign me up.’”

A rare three-time recipient of Fordham’s undergraduate research grant, Carter has interned with a cardiologist and shadowed an attending physician on hospital rounds. She’s especially interested in oncology because of advances that have been made in molecular science.

“This research has opened doors to meeting new people who have such different views on how biology works.  In premed, you can fall into a one-track mind: Do all the prerequisites; go to medical school; and do all the résumé-building [to]make yourself robust as a candidate,” she said.

“The most rewarding part of this project has been appreciating biology as a science and appreciating the work that these researchers are doing.”

“It’s given me a deeper understanding for what ecologists do and research biologists do.”

For more on Barnes’ research on red-backed salamanders, click below:

“People often ask me, why are you studying this salamander that doesn’t seem to be vulnerable to it, to study this fungus?” said Elle Barnes, a Ph.D. candidate working at the center.

“My answer is, ‘Why isn’t it vulnerable? What is it about this salamander that’s making it not die from the fungus that’s clearly in its general area?”

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Calder Center, we sat down with Barnes to learn more about her research there.

Thomas Daniels, Ph.D., director of the center, said the research being conducted in labs there is more important than ever, as every major problem we face today has a biological basis at some point.

“When we talk about global warming, it means forests are changing, vector-borne diseases are coming into places they’ve never been before, world hunger is becoming an issue as our population size is likely to outstrip carrying capacity, and landscapes are going to change with rising sea levels.” he said.

“So if we don’t have people at ground level making good decisions, going to meetings to talk about the value of conservation, and understanding the fact that climate change is a function of human activity, then it’s going to lead to further and further hardship down the road. That’s the value of having an educated populace. Certainly Fordham sees that, and we see it here at Calder.”