Annual 3 Minute Thesis competition crowns universitywide winners
Friday, November 18, 2022
Media Contact: Carol Powers | Graduate College Assistant Dean | 405-744-6388 | carol.powers@okstate.edu
Grace Baxter, Himindu Pitigala, Vanessa Claire Santos and Azmeen Rahman rose to the top during the universitywide 3 Minute Thesis competition on Nov. 3 at Oklahoma State University.
The OSU Graduate College sponsored the 3 Minute Thesis competition. The judging panel consisted of Ruth Cavins, director of United Way Payne County; Richard Cochran, owner and CPA of Cochran-Jones LLC; Rachael Condley, executive director of Our Daily Bread Stillwater; Regina Henry, retired coordinator of Immigration, ISS; and Harold Teague, owner of HRT3 Consulting.
Jerome Loughridge, OSU’s senior vice president of operations, acted as the master of ceremonies.
Baxter, a native of Dripping Springs, Texas, took home the top honors of first place with her talk titled “Targeting Prime with Wagyu-influenced Genetics.” Baxter is a master’s student representing the Department of Agricultural Economics. She will continue to represent her department and OSU at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual meeting in March 2023.
Pitigala, an integrative biology doctoral student from Sri Lanka, came in second place with her talk titled “The Effect of the Skin Microbiome on Calling Behavior in Treefrogs.”
Santos, a comparative biomedical sciences doctoral student from the Philippines, and her talk titled “Viral and Cellular Proteins Cooperate for Herpes to Reactivate” came in third place.
Audience members had an opportunity to participate in the selection process as well by voting for their fan favorite. Rahman, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student from Bangladesh, won over the crowd with his talk titled “Silicon for Faster Electronics,” taking home the People’s Choice Award.
“The 3MT Competition is a wonderful opportunity for our graduate students to showcase the amazing scholarly work they are doing to a non-specialist audience,” said Dr. Sheryl Tucker, dean of the Graduate College. “We appreciate our students’, judges’ and emcee’s participation.”
The Oklahoma State University Graduate College hosts a 3 Minute Thesis competition annually. To learn more about the competition visit the Graduate College website.
The 3MT is a professional development activity to help graduate students in research-based degree programs acquire the skills to effectively explain their research and its relevance to society in three minutes in a language appropriate for a non-specialist audience.
The 3MT concept has grown exponentially since its launch at The University of Queensland in 2008. The 3MT competition has been adopted in 85 countries outside Australia, with the following universities, institutions and associations currently holding, or seeking to hold, 3MT competitions in the near future.
The University of Queensland has a registered trademark over the use of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) logo and brand.