Sixteen participants in the Vice President for Research’s 3 Minute Challenge were selected to become the next cohort in the VPR Graduate Fellows Program at Colorado State University. In addition to receiving $4,000 for travel and research expenses, the new fellows will also engage in professional development workshops along with leadership and mentorship opportunities throughout the 2020-21 academic year.
Fellows were selected based on their performance in the 3 Minute Challenge on Feb. 10, where participants relayed the science, relevance and potential applications of their research — in only three minutes.
While 31 graduate students from seven of CSU’s eight colleges presented, judges were tasked with selecting 16 winners based on effective communication, content, and the overall engagingness of presentations.
Watch the winning presentations at links below.
2020-21 VPR Fellows
Kevin Barry, Atmospheric Science
Presentation: “Can Wildfires Influence Ice in Clouds?”
Danielle Bartholet, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Presentation: “Designer Fuels”
Aeriel Belk, Animal Sciences
Presentation: “The Impact of Chilling Method on the Microbiome of Chicken Breasts”
Kaylee Clark, Chemistry
Presentation: “Mixing it up: Biosensors from Inexpensive Materials”
Daniel Corbin, Chemistry
Presentation: “How We Make Plastic, and How We Can Do Better”
Colby Evans, Chemistry
Presentation: “A Window into a More Energy Efficient Future”
Shaista Karim, Bioagricultural Sciences & Pest Management
Presentation: “Lessons from the Wild”
Alex Koegel, Chemistry
Presentation: “Wiggle with It: Correlating Structure Motion and Light Emission in Perovskites”
Sam Miller, Chemistry
Presentation: “Big Thinking in Small Spaces: Characterizing Water in Nano Environments”
Paige Ostwald, Cellular/Molecular Biology
Presentation: “Heart Development: The Peanut Butter to our Cardiac Jelly”
Alison Post, Ecology
Presentation: “When It Rains It Pours”
Tawni Riepe, Fish/Wildlife/Conservation Biology
Presentation: “A So-FISH-ticated Disease”
Fionna Samuels, Chemistry
Presentation: “Freezing Roots and Shoots: Vibrational Microscopy to Improve Cryopreservation”
Lauren Seitz, Communication Studies
Presentation: “Rallying Behind Rebranding: Rewiring Memory in Marine Le Pen’s National Rally”
Raj Trikha, Food Science & Human Nutrition
Presentation: “Eating for Two – Your Microbes and You”
Lindsay Winkenbach, Biochemistry & Molecular Biololgy
Presentation: “It’s All in the Message: What Worms are Teaching Us about Human Development”
