The winners of this year's 3 Minute Thesis competition — (from left) Abdulrahman Hassaballah (third place), Riddhi Falk-Mahapatra (first place and People's Choice) and Konstantinos Plakas (second place) — pose together on stage. The annual contest challenges UB doctoral students from any discipline to inform an audience what their research is — and why it matters — for the chance to win monetary prizes. Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki