Announcements

Registration for Nutshell Games Opens September 9!

When we dreamed up the Nutshell Games back in 2016 (thank you, Lesley Yorke!), 30 courageous graduate students stepped up the challenge of explaining their research in 90-second research talks to a public audience. We did not anticipate that in 2024 we’d be opening registration for the ninth such event and that nearly 250 students would have shared their work with the world in this way. But it’s fun! – for both the audience and the presenters. And here we are: Registration for the 2024 Nutshell Games opens September 9! 

    All Virginia Tech graduate students who are engaged in research are welcome to sign up to participate in this fun and fast-paced presentation competition. This year’s Nutshell Games will take place on Saturday, November 2, at 4:30 p.m at the Moss Arts Center. A prep and training workshop for presenters and alternates will be held on Wednesday, October 23, 5:30-8:30 p.m., an opportunity for participants to learn skills that they can carry with them beyond their graduate careers. Interested students should sign up as soon as possible – only 30 students will have an opportunity to give a talk. Click the link here to sign up.

    This crowd-pleasing public event, held at the Moss Arts Center as the final event of the Virginia Tech Science Festival, includes prizes for the top five presenters and video recordings for all presenters. Contenders are ranked by our unique panel of judges including campus representatives, community partners, and the most important of them all, at least one seventh grader. Five winners will be selected, and their home departments will receive $500 for the winner's use in program-sanctioned research costs or conference participation. All participants receive a professionally recorded video of their presentation. 

    Nutshell Games rules:

●      Time: Presentations are limited to 90 seconds maximum. Timing will begin when the presenter starts the presentation through speech or movement.

●      Props: No PowerPoint slides are permitted. No additional electronic media (e.g., sound and video files) are permitted. One prop is permitted (for example, a piece of lab equipment or a photograph).

●      Presentations are to be spoken prose (i.e., no songs, poems, or raps).

●      Presentations are to begin in front of the audience.

●      The judges' decision is final.

    Nutshell Games judging criteria:

●      Did the presenter capture and keep the audience's attention?

●      Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for the research?

●      Did the presentation make the audience want to know more?

●      Was the research communicated in language appropriate to a public audience?

●      Did the presenter communicate the significance and background of the research?

●      Did the speaker have good eye contact and an interesting vocal range?

●      Did the presenter convey confidence in the research?

The first Nutshell Games was held as part of the opening celebration for the Center for Communicating Science in the spring of 2017. Since then, the event has been held in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s annual Science Festival or as part of the graduate student-organized ComSciCon-Virginia Tech, a series of communicating science workshops for graduate students. 

Previous Nutshell Games video recordings are available at the Center for Communicating Science Youtube channel. 

For more news about the Center for Communicating Science, see our newsletter page, our VTX (News and Stories from Virginia Tech) page, and the "Other News and Media" section of our News page.