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The 2025 Three Minute Thesis final competition will be held Feb. 13, from 4 to 6 p.m.

What is the best way to distill a multitude of information into just three minutes?

That’s the question eleven graduate students will be wrestling with as part of the Graduate School’s eighth annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which will be held in the University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom on Feb. 13, 2025, from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but .

This event challenges students to explain their thesis to the general public. They are then evaluated by a panel of judges from across the university and local community, including Waleed Abdalati, executive director of the Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and professor of geography; Jared Bahir Browsh, director of critical sports studies and an assistant teaching professor; Sonia DeLuca Fernández, senior vice chancellor for leadership support and programming; and Aaron Brockett, City of Boulder mayor.

In the days leading up to the event, we’ll feature each of the competitors. Today is Hunter Ray, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering, with a focus on autonomous systems, specifically human-machine teaming. His 3MT presentation’s title is, “Drones to the Rescue: From Tools to Teammates in Public Safety.”

If you had to describe your research in one sentence, what would you say?

I research how we can better design complex aerospace systems, like satellites and drones, to be easily operated by people.

What do you feel is the significance of your research to the every day audience?

My research enables first responders to make a bigger impact with fewer resources by keeping them safe and aware of situations.

What led you to pursue your doctoral degree in your field of study?

While in my previous job, I recognized that while our physical platforms can perform incredible individual feats, aligning human expectations with a platform’s execution remains a key challenge. Too often we expect human systems to conform to how the machine can think, instead of making the machine adapt to human methods of cooperation.

What is your favorite thing about the research you do?

Whether responders are facing massive disasters, which are becoming more intense and unpredictable, or routine operations, this technology can make an immediate impact in keeping our community safe. Feeling like I'm making an impact.

What did you do before coming to CU Boulder for graduate school?

I designed spacecraft systems including moon landers, satellites, hypersonic planes and rockets.

What are your hobbies/what do you enjoy doing outside of your academic work?

I spend a lot of time training to be a better first responder including how to dive under the ice, rescue drowning people, cut open a car, or carry a litter down a trail. Otherwise, you can find me skiing in the trees.

Tell us a random fact about yourself

I'm too tall to be an astronaut.