South Dakota State crowns Three-Minute Thesis winners

BROOKINGS The South Dakota State University Graduate School hosted its 10th annual Three Minute Thesis Competition on Feb. 6.

The event challenges graduate students to present their research in just three minutes. Hosting 24 participants from a broad range of disciplines, the event highlighted the impressive research being done by both masters and Ph.D. students while emphasizing the power of clear, engaging communication to relay the importance of their work to the broader community.

A panel of SDS judges, including Carey Kilmer, Tracy Greene, Mike Lockrem, Michelle Johnson, Kevin Sackreiter and Malynda Mabbitt, evaluated the presentations based on clarity, presentation skills and the ability to make complex topics accessible to a general audience.

The awardees were:

• First place: Pratibha Sharma, of Nepal, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry, CD47 Inhibits Antibody Dependent Cellular Phagocytosis (ADCP) of a Solid Tumor by Macrophages
• Second place: James Kemeshi, of Nigeria, a Ph.D. candidate in agricultural and biosystems engineering, Design and Field Testing of a Modular Ground Robot for Soybean Phenotypic Trait Estimation Using a Depth Camera
• Third place: Karabi Saha, of Bangladesh, a Ph.D. candidate in pharmaceutical sciences, When Jumping is Scary: Transcriptional Regulation of Mouse L1

As the first-place awardee, Sharma will represent SDSU by competing in the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools 3MT Competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 4.