The Graduate School is pleased to announce the winners of the 8th Annual Three-Minute Thesis Competition
Koushik Sampath, a doctoral student in the College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences and Bioproducts and Biosystems Science, Engineering and Management program took home the First Place Award at the event on Friday, November 10. Sampath will represent the University of Minnesota at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 3-Minute Thesis competition in Spring 2024.
Doctoral student Miranda Medrano from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Medicine program, received the Second Place Award, and Doctoral student Anuj Kumar Singh from the Swenson College of Science & Engineering (Duluth Campus), Chemistry program, received the People's Choice Award.
The Three-Minute Thesis Competition challenges graduate students to present their research in just 180 seconds, in a way that can be understood by an intelligent audience with no background in the subject. This competition helps our graduate students develop presentation and communication skills; the benefits of preparing for a three-minute thesis competition are valuable regardless of career path, degree objective, or discipline. Participants are allowed to refer to one, static slide during their presentations, but may not use any other props or media.
Special thanks goes to this year's judges:
- Dr. Hatice Bilgic Lim, Clinical Program Manager, BD
- Dr. Jennifer L. Dale, Research Scientist 3, Public Health Laboratory, Minnesota Department of Health
- Alejandra Peña-Gutiérrez, Director, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota
- Bo Thao-Urabe, U of MN Regent, Founder and President of Seed. Grow. Bloom LLC
- Dr. Shaun Williams-Wyche, Associate Director of Research and Data Analysis, Midwestern Higher Education Compact
Watch all of the participants' presentations:
Rebecca Butler
Targeting Tremors Through Deep Brain Stimulation
Biomedical Engineering Ph.D., College of Science & Engineering
Jenna Dick
Natural Killer Cells: Powering Up to Fight Malaria
Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer M.D./Ph.D., Medical School
Sarah Gillespie
Ethnic Studies Classes Prepare Students to Thrive in a Diverse Democracy
Developmental Psychology Ph.D., College of Education & Human Development
Shirelle Liu
Hidden Hope Inside Addicted Brains
Psychology Ph.D., College of Liberal Arts
Miranda Medrano
Outdoor Pig Farms: What's the Big Squeal?
Veterinary Medicine Ph.D., College of Veterinary Medicine
Douglas Nelson
Ironing Out the Causes of Memory Loss in Alzheimer's Brain
Pharmaceutics Ph.D., College of Pharmacy
Koushik Sampath
“Einstein”ing the Process of Wet to Dry Paper
Bioproducts and Biosystems Science, Engineering and Management, Ph.D., College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences
Aryan Shekarabi
That "Gut" Feeling: Maternal Microbial Metabolites’ Role in Neurodevelopment
Oral Biology D.D.S./Ph.D., School of Dentistry
Anuj Kumar Singh
Shaping the Future of Cancer Therapy: Reducing Niclosamide's Side Effects
Chemistry M.S., Swenson College of Science & Engineering (Duluth Campus)
Jiuzhou Wang
Decoding Cancer's Hidden Patterns: a New Machine Learning Approach
Biostatistics Ph.D., School of Public Health
Peter Winslow
Time Travel in a Test Tube: Exploring Primordial Proteins
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics Ph.D., College of Biological Sciences
Watch the competition in its entirety