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K-State Today

February 19, 2019

Finalists announced for Three Minute Thesis

Submitted by Megan Miller

Twenty-six graduate students participated in Three Minute Thesis heat competitions on Feb. 13. Nine were selected to advance to the final competition at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21 in the K-State Alumni Center Banquet Room.

Theses and dissertations can be more than 80,000 words, which can take hours to present, but graduate students in this competition have just three minutes and one slide to convey their often highly-technical research to a lay audience.

The Three Minute Thesis Competition, known as 3MT, began in 2008 at the University of Queensland, Australia, and has since spread to at least 600 universities in 67 countries around the world. The 3MT challenges graduate students to hone their science communication skills by presenting a compelling oration on their thesis topic and its significance.

Judges in K-State's final competition select a first-place winner to receive a $500 scholarship and to represent K-State at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' 3MT Competition on March 22 in St. Louis, Missouri. The second-place presenter is awarded a $250 scholarship. The audience will participate by voting for the people's choice winner, who receives a $125 scholarship.

The nine graduate students who will compete in the final competition:

  • Babita Adhikari, doctoral student in biology, "No siren, no shelter: A strategy to combat C.difficile infection."
  • Grace Craigie, master's student in entomology, "Fantastic pests and how to find them."
  • Ashish Kumar, doctoral student in biochemistry, "Novel way to fight antibiotic resistance."
  • Narmadha Mohankumar, doctoral student in statistics, "Is my advisor hiding in their office?"
  • Chris Omni, master's student in public health, "Black Butterflyz: Making black women's health a capital concern."
  • Anil Pant, doctoral student in biology, "Sip, sip, hooray! A compound in red wine suppresses poxivirus replication."
  • Nandini Sarkar, doctoral student in chemistry, "Molecular containers: Storage and delivery." Selected as an alternate from the heat competition. Jacob Miller, master's student in communication studies, was selected as a finalist from the heat competition but became unavailable to participate in the final competition. His presentation title was "Toward an ecospheric rhetoric: Cleaning up Trash Isles once and for all."
  • Sam Sharpe, doctoral student in biology, "Stressed out grass."
  • Erin Ward, master's student in nutrition, dietetics, and sensory sciences, "No whey! Soy is an equally good protein source in Food Aid products."

The final competition is open to the public. Learn more about the event.

Questions about K-State's Three Minute Thesis Competition can be directed to Megan Miller, the Graduate School's student success coordinator, at mmmiller@k-state.edu.