Ontario Competition

A celebration of innovative research by graduate students in Ontario. 3MT Logo 2024 After seeing the success of the Three Minute Thesis competition in Australia and New Zealand, it was only a matter of time before Universities in Ontario decided to not only run their own events but also have a province-wide competition.

In 2012, Queen's, Western and McMaster got together to discuss running an Ontario competition, based on the rules of the original 3MT from the University of Queensland. It was decided that Queen's would host the inaugural competition, with McMaster in 2014 and Western in 2015.

When the call to see how much interest in the rest of the province for the competition, it was incredible to hear that all had an interest and 16 actually registered for the first competition in 2013. Interesting to note that other than Queen's and Western, no other Ontario University had actually run their own event yet!

��˴�Ƭ also hosted the 2023 Ontario 3-Minute Thesis at the beautiful lakefront Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, 17th May.

In 2024, Lakehead University hosted the Ontario 3-Minute Thesis, with Queen's participant Julia Tropak (Chemistry) coming in first place and the Participants Choice winner.

2024 Participants

Rebecca Misiasz - Nipissing University
“The role of coaches in normalizing abusive behaviour towards referees in youth ice hockey”
Daniil Lisus - University of Toronto
“Helping Autonomous Cars See What Our Eyes Can’t”
Parisa Varshosaz - Laurentian University
“Regulation of Vitamin A Metabolism During Embryonic Calvaria Bone Formation”
Madeline Fabiano - Lakehead University
"The SHINE Program: Fostering Physical Activity Among Female Undergraduate Students"
Zoe Gagnon - Brock University
“I Remember It All Too Well: The Role of Semaphorin 3A in Learning and Memory Formation”
Julia Tropak - Queen’s University
“Bacteria: Friend or Foe?”
Jenna Bolzon - Trent University
"Paying Attention to Replication Issues can Unearth a Ton of Problems"
Bria Hughes-Small - Ontario Tech University
“Disentangling the Unique Impacts of Socioeconomic Status and Adversity on the Development of Neural Networks and Social Cognitive Functioning in Children and Adolescents”
Ana Hernandez Martinez de la Riva - Carleton University
“Where is Jack? How to find rare plants”
Jordan Carrillo Zurita - Toronto Metropolitan University
“Building Better Processed Foods, Block by Block”
Samra Khan - University of Windsor
"Sugar-coated cancer vaccines for ‘sweet’ adaptive oncoimmunology"
Sasikumar Deivasigamani - University of Guelph
"Microwave Cooking of Food: How Hard Can It Be?"

Judges

Kathrine Killam, Community Engagement & Innovation Manager, Camphill Communities Ontario

Carmine Stumpo, President and CEO of Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH)

Nicole Norris, Director of Social Innovation, a department under Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and one of three AshokaU Changemaker Campus Leads at Georgian College.

Steve Loftus, CEO and a founding partner of the Innovative Group of Companies. These companies include Innovative Automation, MecSmart Systems, and RoboTape.

Matt Mahoney, Manager of Innovation Strategies in the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Results History

2013 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Jasdeep Saggar (Medical Biophysics)	University of Toronto	Hypoxia-activated pro-drugs: A novel approach for breast cancer treatment
2nd Place	Abraham Heifets (Computing Science)	University of Toronto	How can we make better medicines? Computer tools for chemistry
3rd Place	Chau-Minh Phan (Vision Science)	University of Waterloo	Treatment of fungal eye infections using contact lenses and nanoparticles
Participant's Choice	Michael Taylor (Epidemiology & Biostatistics)	Western University	Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes: An Immigrant Story

2014 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Dalva Nielsen	Toronto	Do dietary recommendations based on genetics change eating behaviour?
2nd Place	Leslie Nash	Brock	Simplici-tea: Investigating tea as a dietary strategy for better bone health
3rd Place	Muhammad Ali Naqvi	Ryerson	Milk. It does a body good!... but how?
4th Place	Joseph Donohue	Western	Scale-up of a Circulating Fluidized-bed Bioreactor
5th Place	Yasina Somani	Windsor	Getting a grip on high blood pressure with a novel treatment
Participant's Choice	Cory Scurr	Wilfrid Laurier	Cold War Warrior? Diefenbaker and Canadian-Soviet Relations
Participant's Choice	Muhammad Ali Naqvi	Ryerson	Milk. It does a body good!... but how?

2015 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Meghan Yip	Guelph	Can we use the skin of our feet for better balance?
2nd Place	Jenna Butler	Western	Computing a Cure for Cancer
3rd Place	Stephen McCarthy	Toronto	Towards an Ebola Cure
4th Place	Chenman (Cara) Yin	Queen's	Seeing the world at the tip of a laser beam
5th Place	Teng Guo	McMaster	Double Rotor Motor: Making 1 + 1 > 2
Participant's Choice	Lacy Bateman	Nipissing	Stories of Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada: Understanding the Case of Helen Betty Osborne

2016 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Gah-Jone Won	Waterloo	The development of an antibody-drug conjugate to specifically target and soften the crystalline lens in vivo
2nd Place	Michael Moore	Ryerson	Listening to the "Seeds" of Cancer
3rd Place	Anastasia Shavrova	Queen's	Strategies on Winning the Game of Life
4th Place	Justin Whitaker	Ottawa	Bacto-Glue for you (and better building bases too)
5th Place	Carly Cameron	Brock	Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
Participant's Choice	Carly Cameron	Brock	Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

2017 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Richard Kil	Toronto	Blood Testing with Baker's Yeast in Developing Regions
2nd Place	Richard Edwards	Wilfrid Laurier	Chiral Quantum Dots: Lending a Hand in the Fight Against Cancer
3rd Place	Ella Dubinsky	Ryerson	Singing for your Brain
4th Place	Ololade Sanusi	UOIT	Next-Generation Blood Irradiation Systems
5th Place	Shanthanu Krishna Kumar	Guelph	Enhancing Shelf Life of Fruit Using Hexanal
Participant's Choice	Richard Kil & Ella Dubinsky	Toronto & Guelph	See above

2018 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Matthew Berry	McMaster	Scientifically Quantifying the Craft of Acting
2nd Place	Daniella Briotto Faustino	Carleton	Bend Passwords for People with Vision Impairment
3rd Place	Tianqi Xie	Western	Are We Alone? Unlocking the Mystery of the Moon
4th Place	Amélie Litalien	RMC	A Plant Worthy of its Salt
5th Place	Gregory Lui	Waterloo	Photocatalysts: Using Today's Waste to Power the Future

2019 Results

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Alex Kjorven	Ryerson	The Gamification of Climate Change
2nd Place	Yoah Sui	Western	Sofa, so good? Maybe not
3rd Place	Amanda Brissenden	Queen's	Building Blocks for a Healthier Spine
4th Place	David Patch	RMC	A Slippery Situation: Release of PFAS from Commercial Products
5th Place	Haya Almutairi	Waterloo	Self-Healing Asphalt Pavement
Participant's Choice	Yoah Sui	Western	Sofa, so good? Maybe not

Results 2020

Place	Name	University
1st Place	Amalia Gil (Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering)	Toronto
2nd Place	Jessica Allingham (Chemistry)	Lakehead
3rd Place	Alice Santilli (Computing)	Queen's
4th Place	Sara Stricker (Plant Agriculture)	Guelph
5th Place	Taryn Fournie (Civil & Environmental Engineering)	Western
Participant's Choice	Taryn Fournie (Civil & Environmental Engineering)	Western

As this was still during the pandemic, only three Ontario Universities held a 3MT competition in 2021. So that Ontario was represented at the National 3MT showcase, The 3 Universities – Guelph, Ontario Tech and Queen’s put forward their top two presentations to be adjudicated by a committee of five individuals with expertise in research communication and public engagement including - including – Ursula Gobel, VP of SSHRC; Nicola Luksic, Senior Producer CBC; Evelyn Asiedu, PDFellow and producer of The Good and the Bad of Black Grad; Newsha Arezi, PhD Candidate and 2019 National 3MT Winner; and Rob Baker, guitarist for The Tragically Hip.

The final scores were compiled by staff at the CAGS national office.

The winner of the 2021 Ontario Regional 3MT Competition:

Claire Mindus, PhD Animal Bio Sciences, University of Guelph. “.”

Results 2022

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Emeline Means Miller	Ontario Tech	Identifying salivary cytokines associated with prolonged sitting
2nd Place	Vanessa Ruscetta	Toronto Metropolitan	Gaining the upper hand on cancer therapeutics
3rd Place	Atefeh Mohammadi	Toronto	Lung disease in premature babies: Are watermelons the answer?
Participant's Choice

Results 2023

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Emily Majaesic	University of Toronto	Catch a Protein by Its Tail
2nd Place	Sarah Rijkenberg	Ontario Tech University	Go Fish: Using plankton characteristics to monitor Ontario's fish populations
3rd Place	Alexis Harvey	Lakehead University	Training the Socially-Responsible Healthcare Provider
Participant's Choice	Jordan Till	Trent University	Paint Me a Picture: Longitudinal Symptom Stability in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Check out the full recordings of each presentation on the !

Results 2024

Place	Name	University	Title of Presentation
1st Place	Julia Tropak	��˴�Ƭ	Bacteria: Friend or Foe?
2nd Place	Jordan Carrillo Zurita	Toronto Metropolitan University	Building Better Processed Foods, Block by Block
3rd Place	Madeline Fabiano	Lakehead University	The SHINE Program: Fostering Physical Activity Among Female Undergraduate Students
Participant's Choice	Julia Tropak	��˴�Ƭ	Bacteria: Friend or Foe?

Check out the !

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