Aravind Samba Murthy was chosen as the co-recipient of the People’s Choice Award at the Georgia Tech Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, held November 15 in the LeCraw Auditorium of the Scheller College of Business.  Murthy is a Ph.D. student in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he is advised by Professor David G. Taylor.

Murthy was one of 10 Georgia Tech Ph.D. students to compete in the final round of this contest, where he presented his research dissertation topic, “Recovering Kinetic Energy Using Electric Motors.” The objective of his research is to develop optimal regenerative braking control strategies, using optimal control theory, to maximize kinetic energy recovery during braking events, for surface and interior permanent-magnet synchronous machines, and induction machines. 

A contest developed by the University of Queensland, 3MT aims to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports students’ abilities to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but nonspecialist audience in a three-minute timeframe. 3MT does not “water down” research, but requires students to consolidate their ideas and concisely explain their research discoveries.