NYU Steinhardt student Courtney Luckman took first place, and Soniya Kadam (Physical Therapy Research) earned a spot in the top eight.
In April, NYU held its second annual PhD Live!, a public research communication competition in which doctoral students from across the University present their complex research as concise, compelling stories for a live audience. This year’s eight-person finalist cohort included two participants from NYU Steinhardt, including competition winner Courtney Luckman, a PhD candidate in the Communicative Sciences and Disorders program.
Courtney Luckman presents. Photo by Filip Wolak.
PhD Live! begins in the Fall semester when 50 students are selected to take part in two skill-building workshops on storytelling and performance techniques. After several additional rounds of auditions and some additional coaching by experts, a final eight are selected to present their work live, translating their specialized research into accessible three-minute talks for a general audience.
“These students learned how to communicate their research effectively to wide audiences while going to the lab or library or classroom every day,” says Elise Cappella, vice provost for university-wide initiatives and graduate education and professor of Applied Psychology at NYU Steinhardt. “It was amazing to watch them apply what makes them strong scholars—curiosity, creativity, tenacity—to their PhD Live! Training.”
Winner Luckman says her decision to participate in PhD Live! was motivated by the opportunity to practice communicating her research to non-specialists.
“Within an academic program, most of your presentations are for people who already understand the field,” says Luckman. “This was a chance to explain my work in a way that a layperson could follow.”
During PhD Live!, Luckman discussed her research examining variability in stuttering, particularly how social factors influence the experience of stuttering. The goal is to better understand how a listener’s behavior can influence both the frequency of stuttering and the speaker’s subjective experience.
With research collaborator Joe Salvatore—clinical professor and director of Educational Theatre, vice chair for academic affairs, and founder and director of the Verbatim Performance Lab—Luckman trained actors to adopt different verbal and nonverbal behaviors, such as nodding and smiling versus slouched posture and restlessness, to see how they affected their conversational partner’s tendency to stutter.
“Our findings show that while observable listener behaviors play a role, what predicted stuttering outcomes most strongly was what speakers believed the listener thought about them,” says Luckman, who is also a person who stutters and a licensed speech-language pathologist. These insights may inform additional research methods and therapeutic approaches in speech-language pathology.
Soniya Kadam presents. Photo by Filip Wolak.
Soniya Kadam, a PhD candidate in Steinhardt’s Physical Therapy Research program, was motivated to participate in PhD Live! by her desire to bring her research to a broader audience while further advancing her scientific communication and public speaking skills.
“I was inspired by how participants from the previous year translated complex research into clear, engaging, and impactful talks,” says Kadam. “Their ability to connect with a diverse audience encouraged me to push my own boundaries as a communicator and strive for that same level of clarity and impact.”
During PhD Live!, Kadam presented her research on lower limb musculoskeletal changes in midlife women across different menopausal phases. Grounded in her clinical background as a physical therapist and informed by principles of human biomechanics, her work examines how declining estrogen levels influence muscle strength and movement patterns during everyday activities. Working alongside her advisor, Inaugural Robert S. Salant Endowed Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy Smita Rao, Kadam utilizes advanced biosensors and motion capture technologies to analyze joint and muscle changes. Her work aims to better understand musculoskeletal aging and translate findings into practical clinical applications.
“My long-term goal is to develop phase-specific rehabilitation strategies that leverage physical exercise as a powerful, evidence-based tool to preserve musculoskeletal health in aging women,” says Kadam.
Courtney Luckman wins the competition. Photo by Filip Wolak.
Both Luckman and Kadam praised the advanced training they received as part of the PhD Live! process. These monthly workshops on public speaking, storytelling, and audience engagement were led by Ben Lillie, co-founder of The Story Collider and Moth StorySLAM champion; Carl Cofield, chair of NYU Tisch's Graduate Acting Program; and Jane Guyer Fujita, associate arts professor and head of voice and speech at Tisch.
“The training and feedback process was iterative, involving adjustments to pacing, structure, and clarity,” says Luckman. “One of the best tips I received was building in deliberate pauses to make sure the audience had meaningful time to process key points.”
“The workshops helped me refine how I communicate science by minimizing jargon, structuring my narrative more effectively, and also how to be more open with my body language,” Kadam says. “This skill will continue to shape my academic and professional journey.”
“I’m incredibly proud to see two of our students represent NYU Steinhardt in a competition of this caliber,” says Jack H. Knott, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of NYU Steinhardt. “Their participation—and Courtney’s win—reflect not only the strength of their research, but also their ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity and purpose. That combination is exactly what we strive to cultivate, and it’s inspiring to see it recognized on such a prominent stage.”
As first-place winner, Luckman received a cash prize and the opportunity to deliver her speech to the University Senate, which comprises deans, vice chancellors, students, faculty, and senior members of NYU’s administration such as the president, chancellor, and provost.
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