Graduate Student Congress Hosts Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 14, 2015) — On Tuesday, Dec, 8, the University of Kentucky Graduate Student Congress hosted the third annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in the W.T. Young Library.

3MT is a skills development competition that challenges graduate students to explain their research projects to a non-specialist audience in three minutes. Presenters are allowed one static slide during their talk, and a panel of judges award points in areas of comprehension, engagement, and communication. Any presenter who exceeds the three minute allotment is disqualified.

Entomology student Sydney Crawley won first place with her presentation, “Think Like a Bed Bug: Elucidating Behavior to Enhance Control”. Microbiology student Katie McKenna took second place with her presentation “Role of Spleen in B-cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia” and Shayan Mohommadmoradi’s “Your Gut Bacteria Can Make You Obese” was awarded both third place and the People’s Choice award.

Sydney Crawley will go on to represent UK at the Southern Conference of Graduate Schools Regional Competition in Charlotte, NC in February.

UK is one of nine Southeastern Conference schools to host the competition which began in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia. The 3MT competition is now held at more that 200 universities in nearly 20 countries.

MEDIA CONTACT: Blair Hoover, 859-257-6398; blair.hoover@uky.edu