Nazwa Chowdhury, a graduate student in Texas State University’s PREM-CIMA program, won the People's Choice Award at the university’s 2026 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held in early November.
Chowdhury, a master’s student in physics working in Yoichi Miyahara’s lab, presented Engineering the Building Block of a Quantum Future: Unlocking the New Possibilities. Her research focuses on investigating moiré potential modulation in two-dimensional materials using Kelvin probe force microscopy.
The annual 3MT competition challenges graduate students to explain their research and its significance to a general audience in just three minutes, using a single presentation slide. Twelve finalists competed this year, with Chowdhury earning the audience-selected award.
“Receiving the People's Choice Award is especially rewarding because it means I was able to connect with the audience and help them understand my research,” Chowdhury said. “Quantum materials can be a complex topic, so it was exciting to see people engage with the ideas and find them interesting.”
Read more about the competition and its winners on the Texas State University website.