Praise Ayinla and Matt Harrington are the 2024 recipients of the CURF-sponsored People's Choice Award for the Clemson University 3-Minute Thesis Competition
CURF is proud to have sponsored the People’s Choice Award for the Clemson University 3-Minute Thesis Competition in November. CURF Senior Deputy Director Chase Kasper also served as a judge for the competition. We are excited to introduce the recipients for this year: Praise Ayinla and Matt Harrington.
Praise Ayinla, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Policy Studies program, was named the round 1 winner after presenting her research “Building Flood Resilience in Coastal Communities.” Her work focuses on environmental policies to explore how coastal communities in the U.S. collaborate to build resilience against climate-related events. Praise grew up in a region of Nigeria with beautiful communities that lacked government intervention in basic amenities and response to issues or natural disasters. Her personal experiences inspired her to explore how government, community organizations, and residents can work together more effectively to build resilience. After graduation, she plans to continue researching community collaborations within academia to implement research insights to make the next generation more equipped and resilient against climate change. Outside of her work, Praise enjoys spending time with family and friends, taking language lessons on Duolingo, and cooking.
Matt Harrington is a first-year M.S. student in the Bioengineering Department and our round 2 winner. Matt presented his thesis titled “Engineering for Change: Combating Racial Disparities of Breast Cancer through Tumor Microenvironments,” which focuses on investigating the biological basis of racial disparities in breast cancer and examines ways to design better personalized treatments to address these genetic variations. He is passionate about the mission of his lab and utilizing cancer research to improve patients' lives, science communication, and access for underrepresented groups. After graduation, Matt plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, focusing on developing gene therapies for personalized cancer treatment. Outside the lab, he enjoys movies, acting, and rock climbing. Additionally, Matt won first place in the overall competition and will be representing Clemson at the 3MT Regional Competition.
CURF would like to congratulate not only our People’s Choice Award winners, but also all students who participated in the competition. Their hard work, dedication, and research in their respective fields does not go unnoticed and is proof of the life-changing efforts happening daily at Clemson University.
