Nov. 2, 2024: Nutshell Games

November 2: Join the Center for Communicating Science on November 2nd at 4:30 p.m. for the Nutshell Games! In this fun, fast-paced event, 30 graduate students compete for prizes by explaining their research in just 90 seconds! The event is free and open to the public and will be held in the Moss Arts Center.

Representing nearly all of Virginia Tech's colleges, this year's talks and presenters include

Sonic de‑boom! Detecting landmines using noise in the ground — Rose McGroarty, Geosciences
Evaluating meta‑regression techniques: A simulation study on heterogeneity in location and time — Jonathan Gendron, Economics
Tiny particles, big problems: Keeping helicopters safe in dusty skies — Jubel Kurian, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Dancing quarks: The secret party life of quarks in the atomic nucleon — Gyang Chung, Physics
What if our universe is like a giant quantum computer, running on its own code? — Krishnanand Karthikeyan, Physics
Time will tell: Calibrating honey‑bee flight duration as an estimate of distance flown — Lindsay Johnson, Entomology
Where did our water go? — Esther Oyedele, Geosciences
CARE for faculty development — Kamla S. Al Amri, Instructional Design and Technology
Fighting back against the invisible killers — Tori Shimozono, Biological Sciences
Do bugs like salt as much as we do? — Kelley Sinning, Entomology
Wings in motion: Mass and flutter dynamics — Mahima Prajapati, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Disarming the yellow‑fever mosquitoes with genetics — Abdulhadi Kobiowu, Biochemistry
Left‑handed electrons and the weak force: Not a mirror image — Andrew M. Gunsch, Physics
Factoring numbers so big, even math gave up — Keshav Bhateja, Computer Science
Sniffing out solutions to cucumber‑beetle IPM — Demian Nunez, Entomology
Unearthing the secrets to time travel — Prescott Vayda, Geosciences
Understanding thermoreceptors using fruit flies — Ainul Huda, Neuroscience
Brain activity during different cognitive tasks in young adults with ADHD — Noor Tasnim, Translational Biology, Medicine, & Health
Fish on the move: How climate change is shaking up summer flounder fisheries — Mary Adebote, Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Let’s protect our machine surfaces. How? Thin‑film protective coatings! — Edwin Eyram Klu, Materials Science and Engineering
Quantifying forest productivity from space — Sonia Sharma Banjade, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
Rooting out wireworms: Testing new insecticides for crop protection — Hannah Swarm, Entomology
Scaling truth: Using open‑source intelligence (OSINT) to fight misinformation — Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Computer Science
Lost elephants & found never‑seen‑before creatures…Now what? — Anu Rai, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
COLD TO GO! Cold temperatures and seasonal sickness — Jesse Garrett‑Larsen, Biological Sciences
Using statistics to make things simpler (really!) — Andrew Cooper, Statistics
Sticky molecules: The secret behind ovarian‑cancer spread — Nazia Bano, Translational Biology, Medicine, & Health
How sowing soybean also sows nitrogen into the soil — Gayatri Vanamala, Crop and Soil Environmental Science
The potential of artistic work to disrupt anti‑immigration discourses — Aline de Souza, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought
Stress and executive functions – what’s math got to do with it? — Isabel Valdivia Leiva, Human Development and Family Science

This year's Nutshell Games Respondents are:

Dennis Dean – University Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Phyllis Newbill – Associate Director of Youth and Community Education, Center for Educational Networks and Impact
Giang Nguyen – Blacksburg Middle School, 7th‑grade student
Menah Pratt – Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity
Karen Roberto – University Distinguished Professor; Executive Director, Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment
Emmy Spotila – Blacksburg Middle School, 7th‑grade student
Aimée Surprenant – Dean of the Graduate School
Abby Walker – Director of the Language Sciences Program

We look forward to seeing you at the Nutshell Games!

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact cjkroehl@vt.edu at least ten days before the event.