Biology Graduate Student Wins 3 Minute Thesis Competition

Preeti John, a Ph.D. candidate in our Department of Biology is the overall winner of the 2023 Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition at UL Lafayette. Preeti will represent UL Lafayette in the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Three Minute Competition in Tampa, Florida on 3-4 March 2023.

Three College of Sciences graduate students won the top three spots on the UL Lafayette Graduate School phase of the 2023 Three Minute Thesis Competition on Friday, 20 January 2023. Two other students from the College of Sciences were selected as finalists for the 20 January competition. The purpose of the Three Minute Thesis Competition is to learn to communicate the purpose, importance, methods, and findings of your science in three minutes or less. The presenter is allowed only one slide. The competitors were all well prepared and excellent at communicating their research.

The top three finalists (all from the College of Sciences) are:

1. Preeti John, Department of Biology, "The Effects of Diabetes on Streptococcus Agalactiae Urinary Tract Infection"
2. Jacob Stagray, Department of Biology, "Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1 Signaling in Hypothalamic Tanycyte Development- Interactions with Diet and Exercise"
3. Rashida Hasan, School of Computing and Informatics, "Learning from Noisy Data"

The two other College of Sciences finalists are:

• Pascal Esenenjor, School of Geosciences, "Machine Learning Approach to Fluid flow Modeling on Porous Media from Lattice Boltzmann Simulation"
• Shekufeh Shafeie, School of Computing and Informatics, "Human Microchips Acceptance from Users view (General Public)"

The five finalists from other colleges are:

• Amanda Kporwofa, Department of Communications, "Communication persuasion strategies to increase vaccination among university students"
• Md. Nahin Mahmood, Department of Petroleum Engineering, "Carbon Di Oxide Sequestration in Marine Gas Hydrate Reservoir"
• Kiara Martin, Department of Psychology, "The Role of ACEs on Academic Achievement and Psychological Well-Being"
• Ariana Milner, Department of Psychology, "Emotion and Stress in Psychosis: Exploring the Relationships Between Prodromal Schizophrenia, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance"
• Adam Ortego, School of Architecture and Design, "QUEER BUILT: Reflections on the Act of Making Place"