News 2018: College of Engineering students excel in Three Minute Thesis competition

Students take top prizes in undergraduate and graduate levels

Congratulations to College of Engineering (COE) students who won top prizes in the Three Minute Thesis in both the graduate and undergraduate competitions.

Three Minute Thesis is a research communication competition which challenges students to present a compelling oration on their research topic and its significance in just three minutes. The competition develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of students’ ability to effectively explain their research in plain language.

Of the 20 entrants at the graduate level, 17 were COE students.

Erika Naumann Gaillat, MS ’18 in biomedical engineering and biotechnology, won first place in the graduate-level competition for her research project, “Design and Creation of a Novel Flocked Surface Triboelectric Generator.” Her advisor was Professor Yong Kim.

Nathaniel Tarantino, MS ’18 in civil and environmental engineering, won third place in the graduate level for his research project, “A Tethered Ballast Approach To Point-Absorber Wave Energy Converter Technology.” His advisor was Professor Daniel MacDonald.

Jayashree Chakravarty ‘19, a PhD student in biomedical engineering and biotechnology, won the Graduate People’s Choice Award for “Green Science: Seafood Waste to Therapeutic Biomaterial and Biodiesel.” Her advisor was Associate Professor Tracie Ferreira.

Engineering students also won first and third place in the undergraduate competition

Jacob Aaronson ’18, a bioengineering major, won first place for “Investigation of In Vitro Vitamin B6 Treatment to Reverse Deterioration of Bone Mechanical Properties.” His advisor was Assistant Professor Lamya Karim.

The third place and People’s Choice winner was Rayan Kassab ’18, a bioengineering major, for “Electro-therapy Pad Using Conductive Chitin Membrane.” Her advisor was Associate Professor Tracie Ferreira.

The Three Minute Thesis was developed by The Univesity of Queensland in Australia for research students.