The 3MT® is a skills development activity that challenges graduate students to explain their dissertation or thesis research project to a non-specialist audience. The competition is held in the fall and normally, the USF Graduate School joins with USF Research & Innovation at the annual student research awards luncheon at the end of April to celebrate the winners. Sadly, 2020 is not a normal year.
So instead, Associate Dean for the Office of Graduate Studies Dr. Ruth Bahr is sharing the stories of this year's 3MT® winners and their creative ways of summing up years of research into a presentation that's shorter than the average pop song.
The idea of the challenge originated the University of Queensland in Australia more than a decade ago, but competitions now occur all over the world. As the story goes, the idea for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition came about when Queensland was suffering severe drought and to conserve water, residents began timing their showers with a three-minute egg timer fixed to their bathroom walls - inspiring then-Dean of the UQ Graduate School, Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, on how to present academic information in a short, succinct and engaging manner.
As graduate students and early career scientists are increasingly motivated to share their research with wider audiences, the lessons learned in the 3MT® competitions are seen as desirable - even prestigious - skill sets. USF graduate students have embraced the competition, with USF joining the global movement in 2015.
In November, USF students gathered to present the significance of their dissertation or thesis using a single static slide. Judges rated the student's ability to present their research to a multidisciplinary audience in accessible, engaging and non-technical language. Winners of the competition have the opportunity to move up the ranks to an international competition; you can see those videos here.
Meet USF's 3MT® 2019-20 Winners
First Place: Aya Elmarsafawi of the Morsani College of Medicine's Molecular Medicine (Immunology) Program
Long Live Memory T Cells
Aya Elmarsafawi is pursuing a PhD degree in Cancer Immunology to develop her interest in the applications of immunotherapies to the field of cancer. She is working in the lab of Professor John Cleveland at Moffitt Cancer Center where she has been studying T cell metabolism and developing modalities to enhance durability and function of T cell-based immunotherapies. She intends to pursue a career as an academic researcher.
Aya also participated in the Regional 3MT® competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools in Nashville on March 7, 2020.
Runner-up: Zeinab Motawe of the Morsani College of Medicine's Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology Program
Having a Stroke? Take a Chill Pill!
Zeinab Motawe is pursuing a PhD in medical sciences to develop her interest in the molecular pharmacology and physiology field. She is working in Dr. Jerome Breslin's lab on developing ways to maintain the health of endothelial cells that line blood vessels using a novel approach of sigma-1 receptor activation which opens the avenue for finding new therapeutics for some disease conditions, such as stroke. She intends to continue her research career pursuing a postdoctoral research position in physiology.
People's Choice: Sandra Hornung of the Morsani College of Medicine's Integrated Medical Sciences Program
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Accessorizes Human Proteins
Sandy Hornung is pursuing a PhD in Medical Sciences with a concentration in Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Disease. She works in the lab of USF Professor Michael Teng, studying the role of host-virus interactions in the pathogenesis of Respiratory Syncytial Virus.
Interested in trying out for 3MT® in the next academic year? Visit the USF Graduate School website for details.