UWindsor grad students showcase research with Three-Minute Thesis

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Eleven graduate students at the University of Windsor went head-to-head presenting their research to laypeople this week — and they only had three minutes to get their message across.

The annual Three-Minute Thesis competition on Tuesday saw students explain their work to a panel of judges in nanotechnology, brain cancer, education, and more.

“The participants themselves did really well. They’re a pretty professional group of students,” Lori Buchanan, associate dean of graduate studies, told the Star.

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“This is state-of-the-art research.”

The competition is a “skills development activity” that challenges graduate students to present their research to a non-specialist audience in minutes. The students can only use one visual slide during their presentations.

“They’re going to be scientists or academics, or they’re going to be taking money from taxpayers to do research — we’re all kind of obliged to be able to tell the taxpayer why our research is important,” Buchanan said. “If we can’t do that, if we can’t talk about our search in lay terms, then we’re kind of missing part of our obligation.”

This year’s first place winner was Dora Strelkova, a mechanical, automotive, and materials engineering graduate student. Her thesis was entitled, “You wouldn’t want a pie filled with holes, so why should we accept 3D printed parts with them?”

Strelkova won $1,000 cash and will represent the University of Windsor at the provincial final, which will take place at the University of Toronto on May 14.

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Coming in second place was Piumi Kulatunga, a chemistry and biochemistry graduate student, with the thesis, “Detect, Attack and Degrade: New era in Brain Cancer Treatment.” Kulatunga took home $500 cash.

In third place and winning $250 was Abo-Bakr Emara, a physics graduate student, with the thesis, “Unlocking the Universe’s Secrets: Tackling Radon in Rare Decay Searches.”

Students were evaluated on whether they communicated clearly and without jargon, whether their talk helped the audience understand their scholarly research, and whether they were enthusiastic and engaging, among other things.

The competition was open to current doctoral and master’s students who have made “substantial” progress on their research and analysis, the university said.

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