“Getting the ‘NAC’ of Being Drug Free” was chosen as the No. 1 Three Minute Thesis presentation at the finals for Kent State University’s ninth annual competition, held on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
The top 10 presenters who had advanced from two previous preliminary rounds made their presentations in the Kiva. Students were given three minutes and one PowerPoint slide to make a concise and engaging presentation.
After Friday’s Three Minute Thesis presentations, a panel of judges chose the top three winners. The audience selected the People’s Choice awardee by using a QR code.
The Three Minute Thesis winners are as follows:
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First Place: $500 – Mandalynn Slupek, College of Arts and Sciences, Getting the “NAC” of Being Drug Free.
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Second Place: $300 – Elaheh Sabziyan Varnousfaderani, College of Aeronautics and Engineering, Bird Strike Prevention Using Bird Movement Prediction.
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Third Place: $200 – Pratyusha Ghanta, College of Arts and Sciences, Stopping Lung Cancer in its Tracks.
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People's Choice: $200 – Marwan Shalih Maraicar, College of Arts and Sciences, Protective Role of Betaine Against Demyelination in Multiple Sclerosis.
Manfred van Dulman, Ph.D., senior associate provost and dean of the Graduate College, attended the Three Minute Thesis presentations and said this year’s winner will be nominated to present their research at the Midwestern Association of Graduate School conference next April in St. Louis, Missouri.
The trademarked name of this event is Three Minute Thesis, but students at Kent State can present the research they are conducting for a thesis, dissertation, terminal project, or any other research project in which they are engaged. Students may present research that is in progress.
Three Minute Thesis was developed at The University of Queensland and is now offered at hundreds of universities throughout the world. The first Three Minute Thesis competition was held at The University of Queensland in 2008 with 160 candidates competing.
The goal of the competition is for participants to develop academic, presentation and research communication skills, and to support the development of graduate students' capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to an intelligent, but non-specialist audience.