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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 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Noor Tasnim, Translational Biology, Medicine, and 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, and 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 of the 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.