Nutritional Sciences grad students take top honors at OSU 3MT competition
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Nutritional Sciences master’s students Kendall Anderson and Christina Sciarrillo took top honors at the 2018 Oklahoma State University 3MT (Three-Minute Thesis) competition on November 6. Anderson placed first overall while Sciarrillo was the runner-up and People’s Choice award recipient.
The 3MT is a professional development activity to help graduate students acquire oral communication skills for presenting their research and conveying its societal significance to lay audiences in a concise and cogent manner.
Anderson’s winning presentation was entitled “Pecans: Altering communication between the gut and the immune system.” As the first-place winner, Anderson receives a $1,000 prize. Brenda Smith, Regents Professor in Nutritional Sciences, is Anderson’s advisor.
Sciarrillo was the judges’ choice for second place and her presentation, entitled “Saturated Fat, Friend or Foe?”, received the highest number of audience votes to secure the People’s Choice Award. For second place, Sciarrillo earned a $750 cash prize, plus another $1,000 as the People’s Choice winner. Sam Emerson, assistant professor in nutritional sciences, serves as Sciarillo’s advisor.
Anderson and Sciarrillo competed against a field of 11 other master’s and doctoral
students from degree programs across the OSU campus. All of the participants placed
in the top two in their college level competitions this fall.