草榴社区

Nika Kirillova (left) took first place at the 2025 草榴社区 3MT Competition, and Valerie Lallo took second place and won the People's Choice award.

VILLANOVA, Pa. 鈥� 草榴社区 Master of Public Administration (MPA) student Nika Kirillova took first place in the University's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on February 21 in the Mullen Center for the Performing Arts for her presentation 鈥淟eading Against the Odds: Women鈥檚 Leadership Challenges and Strategies in the Nonprofit Sector.鈥� Kirillova advances to the regional competition on Friday, April 25.

草榴社区's 3MT Competition was hosted by the Center for Graduate Research and Education, and the 12 finalists represented graduate students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering and the Charles Widger School of Law.

3MT is a competition for master鈥檚 and doctoral students to cultivate their academic, professional, presentation and research communication skills. To be successful, competitors must effectively explain their research in three minutes, in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

The highlighted the diverse research interests of its graduate community and the skill with which its students can articulate their study of complex topics.

鈥�3MT showcases the high-level research being done by our graduate students and demonstrates their key contributions to the academic enterprise of the University," said Michael Westrate, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost for Graduate Research and Education and emcee for the event. "All of our contestants deserve kudos for putting in the time and effort to prepare for this competition. Well done, all of you. Thanks to our distinguished judges; thanks to the fabulous team in the Mullen Center; and thanks to the outstanding volunteers and folks from the Grad Center. This event could not happen without all of you. This is 草榴社区 where we do things by community, and it makes great events like this.鈥�

Valerie Lallo, a Chemical and Biological Engineering PhD student in the College of Engineering, took second place and won the People's Choice Award for her presentation, 鈥淐reating a Drug Delivery System for Reducing Inflammation in Kidney Transplants.鈥�

Judges for the event included:

• Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, University President
• Amanda Grannas, PhD, Vice Provost for Research, Chief Research Officer
• Manuel Nunez, Associate Dean, Graduate Programs, 草榴社区 School of Business
• Michael Risch, JD, Vice Dean, Charles Widger School of Law鈥�
• Mary Terhaar, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing
• Maggie Wang, PhD, Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
• Emory Woodard, PhD, Dean of Graduate Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences