Engineering Excellence: Kayla Lenz Captures Third Place at 3MT 2025 Competition

UNC Charlotte held its 10th annual Three‑Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on November 19, where 11 finalists advanced to the final round after more than 50 graduate students competed across five preliminary heats. The 3MT program challenges researchers to clearly communicate their work to a general audience in under three minutes using only a single static slide—a format adopted by more than 200 universities worldwide.

Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student Kayla Lenz emerged as one of this year’s top finalists, earning 3rd Place for her presentation, “Small Science, Big Impact: Nanotechnology for Faster, Smarter Virus Detection.” Her talk, based on her dissertation research, highlights the development of advanced nanotechnology tools designed to dramatically accelerate and enhance viral diagnostics.

Kayla’s achievement places her among UNC Charlotte’s strongest graduate research communicators and showcases the innovative work underway in the William States Lee College of Engineering.