And Then There Were 6: 3 Minute Thesis Finalists

As UBC’s inaugural 3 Minute Thesis (3MT™) competition enters its final phase the jokes have been tested, the metaphors polished and the precise and accurate declamation of facts are being delivered with just the right mix of clarity and enthusiasm.

Nearly 100 graduate students took on the challenge to participate, honed their presentation skills and competed in 7 faculty organized heats held on the UBC Vancouver campus over 6 weeks of competition. The semi-final round of the competition was a wonderful showcase of graduate student research where 15 heat winners showed us how it should be done, clearly and powerfully articulating their research into a 3 minute oration to a general audience. Now only six remain to vie for the top prize and a place in UBC history.

The three highest placing contestants in last Wednesday’s two semi-final rounds advance to the final round scheduled for Tuesday May 10, 2011. Kicking off at 1:30 p.m. in the Graduate Student Centre Ballroom, Thea Koerner House, 6371 Crescent Road the six finalists will take the stage to compete for glory and prizes.

Final prizes are $1,500 for the 1st place, $750 for the second place and $300 for the third place. Runners up will receive bookstore gift certificates and all finalists will receive a copy of the video of their presentation.

Here are the semi-final results:

Heat 1:
First Prize:
Andrew Ming-Lum, Experimental Medicine
Thesis Title: Drugs From the Sea: For Treatment of Inflammatory Disease

Second Prize:
Leah Lim, Microbiology & Immunology
Thesis Title: Drug Combinations Against Tuberculosis

Third Prize:
Ryan Andrew Murphy, Education
Thesis Title: What’s Left of Anarchism?

Heat 2:
First Prize:
Sarah Chow, Cellular & Physiological Sciences
Thesis Title: Mending Broken Hearts: A Novel Approach to Designing Heart Rate Controlling Drugs

Second Prize:
Guang Yang, Neuroscience
Thesis Title: Development of Novel Therapeutics for Stroke and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Third Prize:
Azadeh Goudarzi, Materials Engineering
Thesis Title: Tough Self-Healing Bone Cement

Thank you to the semi-final judges:
Conny H. Lin, M.Sc
Canada Doctoral Graduate Scholar | Canadian Institute of Health
Research PhD. Program in Neuroscience | University of British Columbia
Vincent Duronio, PhD
Professor, UBC Dept of Medicine
Director, Experimental Medicine Graduate Program Jack Bell Research
Shahriar Mirabbasi, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Members of the UBC community and general public are welcome to attend. Seating is limited. If you would like to attend in the audience, registration is recommended

The 2011 UBC 3 Minute Thesis™ competition is based on the competition format first developed by the University of Queensland and used with their kind permission. All Faculties at UBC Vancouver were invited to organize heats for graduate students with top finishers advancing to the university wide semi-final and final heats organized by the Graduate Pathways to Success Program of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.