2018 3MT UAlberta Finals People's Choice Award winner Nada Alshumaimeri, runner-up Katherine Bishop and winner Danish Dar pose with their trophies. (photo Gurveer Choan)
The 2018 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) UAlberta Finals were held at Convocation Hall on Wednesday, April 11. Fifteen talented graduate students took the 3MT challenge and explained the significance of their theses research in three minutes with the use of only one PowerPoint image. These presentations were delivered to an audience at Convocation Hall, and to an online audience who watched the live stream. It was a difficult decision but the following were chosen based on the 3MT criteria of communication style, comprehension, and engagement.
First Place
Danish Dar, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering won first place for his presentation, "The Fuel of the Future". In just three minutes, the audience understood his passion for finding a way to produce a new fuel source, Dimethyl ether (DME), which burns with barely any harmful emissions and can be made from waste, at a low cost and high purity.
Dar will represent the University of Alberta at the 3MT Western Regional Competition at the University of Saskatchewan on April 27 at 1 p.m where he could possibly advance to the Canadian 3MT Nationals. There will be an opportunity to watch the western regionals live stream and to vote for him for the People's Choice Award. Congratulations Danish!
Runner-up
Katherine Bishop, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts was the runner-up for her presentation, "Food For Thought: A Biochemical Study of Ancient Greek Shepherding". Bishop transported audiences into her world of finding evidence of ancient shepherding practices using archeological teeth. Congratulations Katherine!
People's Choice Award
Nada Alshumaimeri, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry explained, with clarity and creativity, her thesis, focusing on the cornea and describing a protein responsible for a buildup of water in the eye as a locked door. Her final comment to the audience was to share her mission: to save our vision. Her presentation, "The Locked Door in Genetic Blinding Diseases ", earned her the People's Choice Award. Congratulations Nada!
The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) wishes to express a big thank you to the judges: Dr. Declan Ali, Acting Associate-Vice President (Research), Catrin Owen, CEO of Calder Bateman Communications and FGSR Professional Development Advisory Board member, and Radhe Gupta, founder and CEO of the Rohit Group of Companies.
FGSR and all the 3MT finalists extend their gratitude to the live and virtual audiences who voted for the People's Choice Award and who, through attendance, demonstrated support and interest in graduate student research. The live stream recording can be viewed on the Three Minute Thesis webpage.
Presenting your thesis in three minutes is a challenge, but it's also a very beneficial exercise to help you reframe your research question, see how your research fits into the larger picture and hone your communication skills. To help bring the value of a 3MT to more students, FGSR took this opportunity to announce a new competition, created by professional development team member, Charity Slobod, in partnership with eParliament, the Written Three Minute Thesis (W3MT).