Chemistry and OEB Students Among Winners of the Three Minute Thesis
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Thakshala Tissera, a doctoral student in the Department of English, has been named the winner of the 2024 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Organized by the UMass Amherst Graduate School, the Three Minute Thesis challenges graduate students to describe their research in an engaging manner, using non-technical language, all in three minutes or less.
Tissera’s presentation, “Elephant Tales: Stories for Coexistence,” was selected by the distinguished panel of judges as the winner in the live campus final, held March 1 in the Old Chapel.
Doctoral students Rehab Heikal, chemistry, and Seanne Clemente, organismic and evolutionary biology (OEB), were named 3MT runners up for their respective presentations, “Identification of the Cellular Garbage Truck for our Memory Protein” and “Pollinator Pharmacies in your Garden: Investigating bumble bee self-medication.” The audience also voted Clemente as the People’s Choice recipient.
A total of 10 finalists representing seven graduate programs competed in the campus final. As the UMass Amherst 3MT winner, Tissera will go on to compete in the regional 3MT in April, along with 3MT winners from over 25 graduate schools in the northeastern United States and Canada.
The 3MT Campus Final also included the “Images of Research” competition, featuring images submitted by graduate students and postdocs. Images were posted to Instagram, with winners named in multiple categories. The Instagram Favorite was from postdoctoral student Grace Casselberry, environmental conservation. The Graduate School Favorite and People’s Choice winner was by doctoral student Rozy Bathrick, organismic and evolutionary biology.