Chase Kasper opens the 2022 Clemson University 3-Minute Thesis competition
Dear Colleagues,
This semester I have greatly enjoyed engaging with the Clemson University graduate student community about technology commercialization and intellectual property. I’d like to extend my thanks to Jodi Cox for inviting me to speak at two GRAD360 workshops this semester to educate graduate students about intellectual property and its connection to industry. I have also had the opportunity to speak to the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences (CAFLS) faculty and graduate students about CURF resources specific to their college. I am looking forward to facilitating more conversations about collaborative opportunities between academia and industry and continuing to provide research support to our graduate student inventors.
CURF is proud to have been a sponsor of this year’s final round of the 3-Minute Thesis (“3MT”) competition. 3MT is a research competition that challenges graduate students to present a compelling summary of their thesis and its significance to a non-specialist audience in three minutes. This competition takes place in over 900 universities across 85 countries. Every year, Clemson University’s winner is sent to compete at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Regional competition. At this conference, students are judged on their ability to communicate their research content in a comprehensive way and on how well they engage the audience during their presentation. The University’s final rounds were judged by Dr. Lisa Benson, Professor in the Department of Engineering and Science Education, Dr. Kaileigh Byrne, Associate Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Dr. Patricia Randall, the Director of Princeton Consultants, and Harold Hughes, Founder and CEO of Bandwagon.
3MT winner Rosemarie Somers with Harold Hughes and Dr. Patricia Randall
This year’s winner was Rosemarie Somers from the Agricultural Sciences program in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences who presented her research on agriscience teachers’ self-reported confidence levels in using a microscope. Mandeep Tayal from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences came in 2nd place. Charini Maladeniya from the Department of Chemistry was named the PhD Candidate Champion and Yasir Mahmood from the Department of Mechanical Engineering came in 2nd place for the PhD category in the competition.
CURF-3MT People's Choice Awardee Kenzie Hurley and Chase Kasper
CURF is also pleased to have sponsored this year’s CURF-3MT People’s Choice Awards. This award is given to the participant whose presentation was voted on the most by attendees. I was pleased to have presented the award to Kenzie Hurley from the Psychology program in the College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences who presented her research on using cognitive task analysis to evaluate the Navy’s parachute descent training. On behalf of CURF, I’d like to extend our congratulations to all the winners and student participants. Additionally, I would like to thank George Strickland, Vishal Thomas, Jodi Cox, Associate Dean Marieke Van Puymbroeck, Dean John Lopes, Clarissa Williams, Eden Wallace, and the Graduate Student Government Research Initiatives committee for their hard work in making this event possible.
Directors of Research Initiatives George Strickland and Vishal Thomas, Director of GRAD360 Jodi Cox, Associate Dean Marieke Van Puymbroeck, CURF associates Eden Wallace and Chase Kasper, and Dean John Lopes.
As faculty, you are doing an outstanding job of developing the next generation of advanced degree researchers, and it has been impressive to witness first-hand the contributions your students are making towards the Clemson University research enterprise. Please let your graduate students know that CURF is here for them, and that we have several resources available to help them as they prepare for their respective careers.
Stay healthy and have a great holiday season!
Best,
Chase
