UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering student Vishnu Dharmaraj’s PhD thesis is on developing nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, a complicated, sprawling process crossing the domains of physics, chemistry and biology.
At the University of Chicago’s yearly Three Minute Thesis competition, he had to present it in the time it takes to make a cup of instant ramen.
“As a person who interfaces with the research every single day, you kind of get a skewed picture of what’s important and what’s not,” Dharmaraj said. “In the lab, we tend to go into the nitty gritty details and think everything is important. But when you’re preparing to talk to an audience who might not be experts in your field, you need to prune down and distill your message into something that will stick with people.”
At the ninth annual UChicago 3MT, hosted by UChicagoGRAD, 12 finalists from across the university’s STEM, social sciences and humanities programs battled it out with flash talks on everything from wormholes to medieval art – all in the time it takes to play a round of Boggle. Dharmaraj, from UChicago PME’s Tirrell Lab and the Biological Science Division’s Fang lab took the top prize for the University of Chicago and moves on to the Ivy Plus 3MT competition hosted by Princeton University on June 10.
“Out of the thousands of PhD students who are currently enrolled at the University of Chicago, these are the 12 who made it to this stage of the competition,” said UChicagoGRAD Faculty Director Jason Merchant, the university’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.
The 2026 finalists included two UChicago PME PhD students – Dharmaraj and Rishika Jakhar from the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion.
Jakhar said scientists who want their work to have real-world impact need to be able to talk about their work with non-scientists.
“In my case, if I want everybody to use electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel cars, I need to explain to them that they are not dangerous, they are not toxic, they are cheaper, they are good for the environment,” Jakhar said. “If I cannot break that barrier, I will never be able to communicate the importance of my science.”
Dharmaraj said the ability to communicate research to the general public is more than a desire. It’s a moral obligation.
“We’re ultimately accountable to them,” he said. “The products that we make, the research that we do, hopefully will have an impact on the public for years to come. I view communication as part of the researcher’s duty. I view communication as sort of on equal ground as actually doing the research that I’m communicating about.”
Dharmaraj honed his skills through UChicago PME’s Science Communications Program (SCP). He has also led demonstrations for such events as the South Side Science Festival, the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair and the ongoing Junior Science Cafés, and took second place in the Communication Skills for Industry Program capstone in January.
As a current SCP Fellow, he helps his younger peers translate their own research into messages non-scientists can understand.
“UChicago PME has some amazingly well-rounded researchers – Vishnu is very much on that list,” said Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck. “He is a careful and critical thinker and brings that to the way he engages others in his work. Whether talking to his academic peers or junior high school students, Vishnu takes the time to understand the audience’s motivations, decision-making processes and natural curiosity and craft an effective, tailored message.”
Dharmaraj is currently tailoring his live Three Minute Thesis presentation for the virtual Ivy Plus competition.
“You can’t necessarily play as much to the crowd,” he said of presenting to an online audience. “In a live talk, you ask your audience to raise their hands or you make a joke and wait for the reaction. It’s more of a conversation.”
Three Minute Thesis started at the University of Queensland in Australia in 2008 but soon became a global phenomenon.
“In two short years, a multinational competition was underway, and 3MT only continued to grow from there,” said Leah Ramsey, Assistant Director, Programming and External Relations, for UChicagoGRAD. “Today, students from over 900 universities in more than 85 countries worldwide participate in 3MT.”