Graduate Students Compete in Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Research Competition
| Ten students recently competed in this year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Finals competition.
This year’s event, usually a part of the UAMS Student Research Day, was held virtually March 2. The 10 finalists were selected and voted on through three different semifinal competitions, which were held the week before and included 71 participants.
In the competition, developed by the University of Queensland in Australia, the students can show one slide from their research and have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance. Under the competition’s rules, the talk cannot exceed three minutes (thus the name), the single slide may have no animation, no pointers are allowed, no costumes or props are allowed — just the spoken word and one slide.
Jackson Mosley, a fourth-year medical student, won first place for his presentation of “Correlating Ytrium-90 PET/CT Absorbed dose with Tumor Response from Glass-Microsphere Radio Embolization.” Mosley’s mentors are Jeff Lynch, M.D., fellow physician with the Department of Radiology in the College of Medicine (COM), and Jim Meek, D.O., associate professor in the COM Radiology Department.
Christine Hsu, a third-year medical student, was awarded second place for her presentation of “Authentic versus replica: Diagnosis of Papilledema versus Pseudopapilledema in Children using Oral Fluorescein Angiography.” Hsu’s mentor is Paul H. Phillips, M.D., professor and chair of the COM Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute.
Christine Hsu was awarded second place for her presentation.
The People’s Choice award was presented to Lance Benson, a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences program for his presentation of “A Salty Immune System: CD8+ T Cells and the Pathogenesis of Salt-Sensitive Hypertension.” Benson’s mentor is Shengyu Mu, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the COM Pharmacology and Toxicology Department.
Lance Benson, a Ph.D. candidate was awarded The People’s Choice award for his presentation.
“All 10 finalists were stellar as were all the participants in each of the semifinal heats,” said Robert E. McGehee, Jr., Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School and distinguished professor in the COM Department of Pediatrics.
“I want to give a special thanks to Drs. Melanie MacNicol, associate professor, COM Neurobiology Department; Tom Kelly, professor, COM Pathology; and Antiño Allen, associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, for judging the finals, as it wasn’t an easy selection. I also want to thank everyone who assisted, especially our student participants and their countless mentors,” said McGehee.
The winners received gift cards of $150 for first place, $100 for second place and $50 for the people’s choice. Each of the semifinalists received a $25 gift card.