Caroline Billings, a DVM-PhD candidate in the College of Veterinary Medicine took first place in the third annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition held Wednesday as a part of UT’s Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week.
The competition challenges master’s and doctoral students to communicate their unique thesis or dissertation to an audience unfamiliar with the subject. Competitors have three minutes to explain their research using only one slide or photo.
Over the course of a few months, the field was narrowed to 12 finalists who presented on Wednesday. The judges selected the first, second, and third place winners.
Billings’ research is titled “Bone Regeneration—The Future of Fracture Repair.” She said after working internships in the medical device field, she knew she’d found her niche.
“It’s such a unique area,” Billings said. “You can use the skill sets of being a veterinarian and also a researcher to impact a huge patient population of both animals and humans.”
Second place in the 3MT competition went to Jamarcus Bradford, a juris doctor candidate in the College of Law, for “Stop Snitching: The Flaws Embedded Within the Informant Institution that Heavily Contribute to Wrongful Convictions.”
Third place went to Amanda Lee, a PhD student in the Herbert College of Agriculture, for “How Many Cows Can One Robot Handle?”
Judges for the competition were Jimmy G. Cheek, Distinguished Professor and chancellor emeritus; Catherine A. Luther, professor and director of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media; and Avice Reid, senior director of community relations for the City of Knoxville.
