Brewing a cup of tea. Listening to a pop song. Doing 180 jumping jacks.
What do these activities have in common? They each take roughly three minutes to complete.
Typically, explaining the results of one’s in-depth research and their implications doesn’t fall into this category of short-term pursuits, but for most disciplines, honing the ability to communicate findings in a succinct elevator pitch could be the key to forging connections and reaching a range of non-specialist audiences.
This is the philosophy behind the 3-Minute Research Presentation (3MRP) Competition, an annual opportunity for NAU graduate students to share their work with an audience of everyday people in—you guessed it—three minutes. Nine finalists presented at the 3MRP final competition on April 17.
Provost Karen Pugliesi delivered the opening remarks at Thursday’s contest, praising each graduate student for their dedication to their respective fields, mentors and projects.
“Graduate students make a distinctive contribution to the research and scholarly mission of the university,” Pugliesi said. “As apprentice researchers, they support the ongoing research and scholarship of our faculty and research centers. Along the way to completing their degrees, graduate students become more independent, designing and implementing plans for their theses, dissertations and other projects. 3MRP is a window into the talent that we as a university are honored to host and cultivate.”
3MRP competitors are judged on more than the impact of their research. Winning presenters must demonstrate captivating delivery, cater to a general audience’s natural curiosity and provide context without losing the audience to confusing jargon, all while using a single slide for support.
This year’s panel of judges was composed of Bob Lenegan, instructional laboratory manager for the School of Earth and Sustainability; Ty Miller, senior museum curator for the NAU Art Museum; Kimberly Ott, associate vice president for communications; Natalie Papini, assistant professor for the Department of Health Sciences; Michelle Parker, vice president of legal affairs and General Counsel; Flagstaff City Councilmember David Spence; and Heather Weisberger, client services manager for Academic Affairs Marketing Services.
Once the judges completed their deliberations, Director of Student Life Experience John Gartin, who served as the 3MRP master of ceremonies, announced that Samuel Hopkins, a mechanical engineering doctoral student who developed a robotic ankle brace assisting individuals with movement, balance and posture difficulties, won first prize, including a $3,000 award.
Physical therapy doctoral student Tyler Centner won the $2,000 second-place prize and the people’s choice award while Laura Nicholson, a doctoral student studying earth science and environmental sustainability, won the $1,000 third-place prize.
After more than two years of designing, refining and testing his research and months of rehearsing his speech, Hopkins said the moments before the results were announced felt like the longest part of the 3MRP process. As the second- and third-place winners received their certificates, he said he began calculating his quickly diminishing odds of placing—going from 33% at the start of the night to 14% at the night’s climax.
“I spent every day leading up to the competition practicing endlessly, and I’m thankful it paid off,” Hopkins said. “This win is further validation to me that my work has meaning, that what I do matters and that it will have an impact. Plus, it stirred up buzz with the physical therapy department, so I hope we can work closer together on future projects.”
Hayley Yaglom, doctoral student in interdisciplinary health, “Microbial Populations and Antimicrobial Resistant Patterns Amongst Zoo-Housed Animals and their Caretakers”
When humans interact with the same people and pets on a regular basis, it’s highly likely that their skin, mouths, stomachs and hair will house similar bacteria to these frequent companions. The same might be true for zookeepers and the animals they work with, even though they don’t cuddle with lions the same way we tend to do with our Pomeranians. To confirm if and how microbial sharing occurs in zoos, Yaglom is planning to collect feces samples and nose and mouth swabs from zoo animals throughout the Southwest, eventually comparing the bacterial ratios to those present in zoo employees.
“I hope this work helps guide the development of best practices to reduce risks of bacterial sharing, promote long-term animal health and continue to make zoos places that we all love to go visit,” Yaglom said.
Laura Nicholson, doctoral student in earth science and environmental sustainability, “Fungal Fears for Food Forests”
In the early 1900s, American chestnut trees dominated East Coast forests, until an invasive fungal pathogen rendered the species near extinct. Now, a similar fungal species called Biscogniauxia is wreaking havoc on Emory oak populations in the Southwest, a tree species whose acorns are integral to the traditions, ceremonies and dishes of Western Apache tribes. To protect these vital plants, Nicholson’s research entailed using laboratory techniques to analyze why certain trees seem to resist fungus-covered fates. This information could then inform environmental stewards on the best practices to protect Emory oaks, including controlled burns.
“While humans have long had a complicated relationship with fire, if we can use fire with purpose, we might be able to prevent these precious food forests from going the way of the American chestnut,” Nicholson said.
Megan Meyer, doctoral student in interdisciplinary health, “Non-Diet Approaches to Self-Care in the Perinatal Period”
Postpartum periods can be tumultuous times for many parents, especially when one has to juggle body dissatisfaction and changing food habits on top of a fussy newborn. But could the secret to “bouncing back” after a baby be casting that rhetoric aside and not dieting at all? Meyer conducted focus groups with 20 women—10 pregnant, 10 postpartum—and asked how they felt about non-diet approaches to health, which encourage individuals to focus on their hunger cues and ways to move their bodies instead of counting calories.
Meyers’ results showed that a little more than half of the participants were excited to experiment with non-diet approaches, suggesting a need to promote varied methods of self-care for women after childbirth.
Kelly Kendro, doctoral student in applied linguistics, “What Does it Mean to be Bilingual?”
The answer may not be as simple as you think. In linguistics, knowledge of any language impacts how one uses another language and so-called “forgotten” languages can still influence communication behind the scenes. To understand how people self-identify as bilingual, Kendro used a standard language survey to gather data on the language portfolios of 50 participants. She found that about 25% of respondents waited to report having certain language proficiencies until a final open-ended question, indicating standard surveys may be falsely identifying a range of people as bilingual or monolingual based on different characteristics.
“If you’re sitting there and thinking, ‘am I bilingual?’ the answer is probably yes,” Kendro said.
Samuel Hopkins, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, “Improving Mobility of Individuals with Cerebral Palsy with a Smart Ankle Brace”
Roughly 40 million Americans have difficulties walking or climbing stairs due to side effects from conditions like cerebral palsy, stroke and traumatic brain injuries. Hopkins studied ways to restore ankle function using a wearable robotic brace. The device attaches a spring to the wearer’s foot, and its machine learning abilities adjust the strength of the string based on the user’s walking patterns and activity levels. During tests with individuals lacking mobile difficulties, the machine could detect with 94% accuracy whether the subject was walking up or down stairs and 98% accuracy whether they were walking on flat or level ground. One tester with cerebral palsy walked 20% faster on stairs while wearing the device, a result Hopkins hopes to see in five similar future tests.
“I wanted to get into this field because I have seen the mobility difficulties that my aging grandparents had and that my mom currently has,” Hopkins said. “I wanted to create devices not just to support people with cerebral palsy and stroke but also because, with a rapidly aging population, these devices are going to be even more in demand.”
Courtney Finkbeiner, doctorate in physical therapy, “Trauma-Informed Care in Physical Therapy: Practical Applications in DPT Curricula”
Physical therapy is all about treating maladies that can be seen and felt. But when the curriculum focuses heavily on aches, pains and strains, physical therapists may be missing crucial training on how to treat pain that isn’t quite as physical: trauma. That’s where Finkbeiner’s project comes in. She created a two-hour course on trauma-informed care designed to fit into NAU’s already jam-packed physical therapy program. With lecture and case study components, the training teaches therapists to identify signs of trauma in individuals and respond appropriately throughout treatment.
Finkbeiner hopes NAU will eventually adopt her training into the program’s core curriculum, and she plans to publish her work on a nationwide scale.
Phoenix Eskridge-Aldama, doctoral student in earth science and environmental sustainability, “Power Over Power: How Arizona’s Energy Grid is Tilted Against Change”
Arizona’s energy systems and policies are more influenced by major utility corporations than one may expect, a fact Eskridge-Aldama proved by collecting statements from more than 30 lawmakers, utility representatives and climate activists. From orchestrating expensive campaigns to hiring dozens of their own lobbyists, utility companies often fight against bills advocating for renewable energy standards and market competition. It’s not all doom and gloom, though, since Eskridge-Aldama’s interviews also revealed climate activists are holding strong in their sustainability efforts, like starting widespread social media movements and organizing around the Arizona Corporation Commission.
“When a few powerful players write the energy rules, the result is predictable,” Eskridge-Aldama said. “Those few profit, and the rest are left in the dark.”
Tyler Centner, doctoral student in physical therapy, “Blink and You’ll Miss it: How Eye Movements Reveal Brain Injuries”
Think someone has a concussion? Look at their eyes. Convergence tests, which confirm one’s eyes are properly turning inward when they focus on close objects, can indicate symptoms of deeper brain dysfunction when failed. However, assuming everyone’s eyes work in the same way could lead to false results. Centner asserts that athletes may have different eye movement capabilities compared to nonathletes, a result of continually leaning on visual cues and cultivating faster reaction times. To explore this hypothesis, he will study more than 200 college athletes and nonathletes to see how their convergence compares.
“An undiagnosed concussion can lead to permanent damage, but an overcautious diagnosis can unfairly sideline a player,” Centner said. “My research will help make convergence testing more precise, more reliable and more effective so we can better protect athletes while walking this thin line.”
Ivory Bacy, master’s in biology, “Microbial Trophic Complexity in the Rhizosphere”
Plants can communicate with the microorganisms in their surrounding soil patches by releasing sugars and organic acids through their roots. These substances attract protective microbes that aid in nutrient cycling, or the exchange of organic matter. To understand the complexity of these microbial domains, known as rhizospheres, and their interactions, Bacy conducted a 12-week greenhouse experiment by growing grass in soils with different microbial populations, some with high levels of soil complexity and others with no microbial manipulation. She analyzed the nutrient mobility in each sample by measuring which gases were released and engaged in DNA sequencing to further understand the relationships between plants and microbes.
“Using DNA, we’re finding out how these tiny, unseen microbes can influence entire ecosystems,” Bacy said. “This knowledge could help us build healthier soils, build plant resilience and even mitigate the effects of environmental disasters.”
