The Nutshell Games once again filled the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech with energy, laughter, and applause as 29 Virginia Tech graduate students, representing disciplines across campus, took the stage to share their research in just 90 seconds each.

A lively audience claps and raises their hands for the participants.
An enthusiastic audience cheered on participants at the Nutshell Games, making for a fun-filled, energetic evening. Photo by Bria Weisz for Virginia Tech.

    From exploring pain treatment with ultrasound to imagining sustainable food futures and atomic particles that party, this year’s event showed that complex science can be exciting, human, and even funny when told from the heart.

A participant smiles as she holds up a large, white, spinning prop reminiscent of bacteria.
With a crowd-pleasing spinning prop in hand, Binita Saha delighted the audience during her talk, “What if bacteria helped fight cancer?” Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

    In the weeks leading up to the event, the Center for Communicating Science (CCS) hosted a 3-hour communicating science workshop followed by a 1.5-hour on-stage session in the Center for the Arts. These sessions gave participants a chance to practice connecting with audiences, refine their messages, and get comfortable on stage — experiencing what it might feel like to present in front of a large crowd.    

Participants stand in a circle making various poses at each other.
At the preparatory workshop, students dove into interactive activities, honing their science communication skills and preparing to present confidently. Photo by Bria Weisz for Virginia Tech.

    And in true Nutshell Games spirit, there was a touch of suspense: the CCS team hadn’t heard any of the talks before the big day. The result was a thrilling, unpredictable hour of discovery — each research story unfolding live for the first time.

A participant stands mid-gesture on stage in front of a projected image.
Ibukun Olusola shared the secrets of “The nuclear snitch: How to catch quiet blasts,” bringing complex physics to life for the audience. Photo by Bria Weisz for Virginia Tech.

And the winners are…

    With so many creative, engaging, and courageous talks, the judges had a difficult task narrowing down the field. After much deliberation, their top three choices were

  • Gabe Isaac, Neuroscience — Ultrasound: A new tune for treating pain
  • Beyza Nur Guler, Engineering Education — Who swiped left on my job application?
  • Monica Shanmugam, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering — A jet engine that can talk back

    And for the first time ever, the audience also had a say – they got to vote live during the show for their favorite presentation. The inaugural Audience Favorite Award went to Binita Saha, Macromolecular Science and Engineering — What if bacteria helped fight cancer?

The four smiling prize winners pose together with their certificates in hand.
The four prize winners pose for a photo on stage after the judges’ announcements. From left, Beyza Nur Guler, Monica Shanmugam, Gabe Isaac, and Binita Saha. Photo by Bria Weisz for Virginia Tech.

    Watch the talks — and cast your vote for the final award!

    All 29 talks are now available to watch on the Center for Communicating Science YouTube channel, and it’s your turn to decide what talk receives the final award: Most Watched Video!

    Whichever talk earns the most views by Thursday, December 5, at 8 a.m. will take home the title. So find your favorites, share them with friends, and remember — every full watch counts as a “vote.”

    Each of the five winners’ home departments will receive $500 for the student to use for program-sanctioned research or professional development.

A woman, while smiling, enthusiastically poses mid-gesture for the audience.
Guided by CCS co-director of research, Brittney Harris, the audience choreographed movements that embodied what they had learned and then surprised the participants waiting backstage with their lively performance. Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

About the event

    Now in its tenth run, the Nutshell Games are hosted by the Center for Communicating Science and invite graduate students to communicate their research in 90 seconds, without slides, using only one prop. A judging panel of campus and community members, including two 7th graders, evaluated for characteristics including clarity, enthusiasm, and accessibility.

A participant stands mid-gesture on stage in front of a projected image.
Chaturanga Wengappuliarachchige explored the mysteries of the cosmos with the audience in “Listening to the coldest whisper in the universe.” Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

    The result: a whirlwind hour of science, storytelling, and connection that leaves everyone buzzing with curiosity.

    The Nutshell Games judging panel brought together voices from across the campus and community:

  • Greta Bieri, 7th grader, Blacksburg Middle School

  • Barb Glaser, Blacksburg resident and retired teacher

  • Josh Grace, Director, Academy of Transdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Tech

  • Dickson Otieno, Program Associate, CALS Global (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech)
  • Tavia Pigg, Virginia Tech alum who recently found her way back “home” after four decades away
  • Ido Simundza, 7th grader, Blacksburg Middle School
  • Aimée Surprenant, Dean for Graduate Education, Virginia Tech

 

A participant stands mid-gesture on stage.
With a title that caught everyone’s attention, Marianne Beaulieu shared how “Poop to the rescue!” can help track health in rural Appalachia. Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

    Although awards were given, every presenter who stepped onto the stage is a winner in our eyes. Their creativity and commitment reminded us that research isn’t just about data — it’s about people, ideas, and stories that connect us all. 

    Nutshell Games participant, Anu Rai, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, said that the experience “shaped my confidence, my stage presence, and my ability to communicate my research with clarity and joy.”

A participant stands mid-gesture on stage in front of a projected image, holding a prop fish.
Anu Rai demonstrated how strong communities create meaning and value that ripple through the whole ecosystem — humans, water, fish, and resources — in “Something fishy… but it’s not the fish.” Photo by Bria Weisz for Virginia Tech.

    Another participant, Matthew Dupuis, Department of Chemistry, reflected on attending the 2024 Nutshell Games as an audience member “and thinking how cool it would be to participate in it the following year (this year).” And he did just that. After the event, he shared,  “It was a complete success in my eyes!”

A participant stands mid-gesture on stage in front of a projected image.
The audience was hooked as Matthew Dupuis explored his research in “How to treat highly resistant fungal infections when the current drugs stop working: Is there hope?” Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

    Audience members win, too. Not only did they get a quick showcase of Virginia Tech's research, they had an opportunity to meet the speakers afterwards at a lively post-event “cookie social” in the Center for the Arts lobby. The celebration underscored what makes the Nutshell Games special: it’s not just communicating to the public, it’s communicating with them.

Participants, friends, and family gather at the post event cookie-social.
Axel Campos enjoys a cookie after his “Particle pool party” talk, while participants and audience members join in the post-event cookie social, sharing laughs, conversation, and the chance to ask deeper questions about the participants’ research. Photo by Tatsu Takeuchi for Virginia Tech.

    We appreciate our participants, our judges, and our audience members: Thank you all! 

The 2025 Nutshell Games presenters

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

  • Bhaswati Chowdhury, Food Science and Technology — It’s what’s on the outside that counts...at least for Salmonella

  • Matthew Mair, Agricultural and Applied Economics — Machine learning for migration modeling

  • James Moloney, Biochemistry — Mosquitoes eat nectar?! Toxic plants and invasive mosquitoes

  • Madisen Plunkert, Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education — Scrapple: It’s what’s for breakfast (and so much more)

  • Pabina Pokharel, Biochemistry — Locking: A method to enhance the gene editing efficiency of CRISPR

  • Madhvi Singh, Food Science and Technology — Fava beans: Tiny pods, big impact

College of Engineering

  • Gabriel C. Briggs, Chemical Engineering — Byte for bite: AI in flavor design

  • Adwait HogePatil, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering — Wind tunnels: Where airplanes learn to fly!

  • Beyza Nur Guler, Engineering Education — Who swiped left on my job application?

  • Binita Saha, Macromolecular Science and Engineering — What if bacteria helped fight cancer?

  • Monica Shanmugam, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering — A jet engine that can talk back

  • Jai Sharma, Electrical and Computer Engineering — When the tower lies: Stopping fake 5G signals

College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

  • Aline de Souza, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought — Playing harp to transform immigration stories

College of Natural Resources and Environment

  • Sithuni M. Jayasekara, Geography — Entangled lives

  • Pratirakshya Koirala, Geography — Under the canopy: A shrub story from the Appalachians

  • Anu Rai, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation — Something fishy… but it’s not the fish

College of Science

  • Jonathan Gendron, Economics — Evaluating meta-regression techniques: A simulation study on heterogeneity in location and time

  • Chaturanga Wengappuliarachchige, Physics — Listening to the coldest whisper in the universe

  • Ibukun Olusola, Physics — The nuclear snitch: How to catch quiet blasts

  • Gabe Isaac, Neuroscience — Ultrasound: A new tune for treating pain

  • Chizoba Obunadike, Chemistry — How a common food supplement makes safe glues and rubbers that fix themselves

  • Axel Campos, Physics — Hosting a particle pool party to find out why the universe exists

  • Matthew Dupuis, Chemistry — How to treat highly resistant fungal infections when the current drugs stop working: Is there hope?

  • Beija K. Gore, Biology — Tiny tails, big pollutants: Tadpoles and microplastics

  • Egor Kolesnikov, Physics — Why cells with the same DNA are different

Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

  • Priscilla Atim, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences — Catching sneaky survivors in a fungal drug escape

  • Ama Amoakoma Agyei, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences — Stress communication: The link between stress and herpes infection in neurons

  • Marianne Beaulieu, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences — Poop to the rescue! Wastewater-based surveillance in rural Appalachia

  • Mahfuzul Islam, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences — Lupus: When self-defense turns into self-destruction