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threesis-spotlight

Incredible Master’s Student Scholarship At The 2017 GSAS Threesis Academic Challege

The 2017 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge was a huge success! Challenged to present their graduate research in just three minutes with only a single PowerPoint slide, nearly 100 master’s students from departments and programs across GSAS completed mentoring and advanced to the Threesis Qualifying Rounds. Many thanks to our esteemed GSAS faculty who served as expert judges from a range of fields, and, after careful consideration, selected twelve finalists to take the stage of Eisner and Lubin Auditorium in the Kimmel Center for Student Life on April 22, 2017 and compete in the Final Round for the coveted title of Threesis Champion.

 

An audience made up of GSAS students, faculty, friends, and family–as well as alumni from the MCAA–attended the Threesis Finals and listened to incredible presentations from our finalists. Topics ranged from the use of virtual reality in increasing human empathy, to an exploration of the layered complexities of a 400-year-old English text on bees, and an incredible history of a summer cottage in Rhode Island. As always, the presentations were compelling and captivated both the judges and the audience.

After much deliberation by our final judges and our traditional audience vote, representatives of the Master’s College Program Board, the Master’s College Alumni Association, and the Graduate School of Arts and Science bestowed awards on the winners of the 2017 Threesis Academic Challenge:

 
First Place: Sarah Stodder, Journalism
Lazy Lawn: 300 Years in the Life of Rhode Island’s Oldest Summer Home
 
Second Place & Audience Choice: Loren Dent, International Relations
The Quota Question: What Happens When More Women are Elected to Public Office
 
Third Place: Joshua Kruchten, English
How to Read a Booke of Bees
 

All finalists, judges, and audiences later gathered for a reception to celebrate the incredible achievement of this year’s Threesis competitors. The research and scholarship produced and presented by master’s students in the Graduate School continues to grow and succeed in both scope and depth. Great job, everyone! 


You can see video highlights from this year’s Threesis, along with the full winning presentations, on the Threesis website: http://gsas.nyu.edu/student-life/the-masters-college/the-gsas-threesis-academic-challenge.html

And check out photos from throughout on the Master’s College Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/gsasmasterscollege/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1686310768062825

Spotlight On Success: Anastasios A. Mirisis (Biology)

In his first semester of graduate school, Anastasios A. Mirisis entered the 2016 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge and won the Audience Choice award. “I had data I could present,” he explained, when asked about his decision to enter the competition. “I thought, this is a good opportunity to share my research with a wider audience.” His research into the formation of long-term memory in the brain and a genetic mechanism possibly involved in Alzheimer’s disease clearly struck a chord with the audience.

As an undergraduate student at NYU, Anastasios studied neuroscience, where he came to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of the studies, with research stemming from biology, physics, and psychology. Anastasios took a three-year break after completing his undergraduate degree, in which he ran his family’s construction business and supported his brother through college. But his fondness for the academic environment led him back to Arts & Science at NYU, where he reconnected with former professors. He accepted a job offer to manage Dean Carew’s lab, where he witnessed the collaborative relationship among the student researchers, who contributed their expertise to each other’s work. He soon was pursuing a graduate degree of his own with the Department of Biology, enjoying the collaboration of the lab, and continuing his research into the brain to understand the biological basis for memory.

Collaboration is an important pursuit for Anastasios, and a large reason why he came to GSAS, along with the prestige of his department. While participating in the Threesis he came to appreciate anew the importance of this collaboration. Presenting his research for a general audience, Anastasios was confronted by the limitations of their knowledge in his field. When attempting to explain the specifics of his studies in molecular biology, he was challenged to step back from the technical details of his research and see the larger thrust of his work—utilizing biological knowledge to better defend against a heartbreaking disease.

He advises future competitors to make a presentation the audience will enjoy. “And practice, both for specialists and for people outside your field.” Winning the Audience Choice award was particularly exciting for him, as it proved he had succeeded in his goal of reaching a larger audience. “It was very rewarding to convey my subject to the audience and see that they understood and valued my work.” Anastasios has a bright future ahead of him in academia, and he remains committed to his ethos of interdisciplinary collaboration. “The only way for science to move forward as a whole is by integrating all fields of knowledge.”

Watch Anastasios’ Threesis presentation here.