Miami University CEC graduate student Madeline McKinney places second in annual Three Minute Thesis Competition
Madeline McKinney, a graduate student in Miami University’s College of Engineering and Computing, recently won second place in AIChE’s annual Three Minute Thesis competition out of 11 finalists.
Miami University CEC graduate student Madeline McKinney places second in annual Three Minute Thesis Competition
By Gabby Benedict, CEC Student Intern
Miami University graduate student Madeline McKinney, who is studying Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, recently placed second in AIChE’s annual Three Minute Thesis competition out of 11 finalists.
The competition took place on November 15 in Phoenix, Arizona, during the AIChE National Conference. In this competition, graduate students are invited to compete for the opportunity to present their thesis in just three minutes.
“I have always been nervous, and when I'm nervous I talk fast. When you're timed very carefully, that isn't a great habit to have. Even worse, you had no way of knowing when time was up,” McKinney said.
McKinney is in the 4+1 program to get her master’s and this is her fifth year at Miami and was the only master’s student, with all other finalists being PhD candidates and postdocs. To prepare for the competition, she had competed at the competition in previous years and felt more comfortable in the environment.
“I drafted a script, made many of my labmates listen to it, made some edits, and spent around two days before the competition repeating it aloud with a timer whenever possible,” McKinney said.
McKinney’s presentation focused on her thesis work, which uses a variety of hallucinogenic mushroom species to create a better strain of E. coli capable of making the target compound psilocybin. She encourages undergraduate students to get into research, as it is something she has come to enjoy a lot.
McKinney’s lab professor was Andrew Jones, an assistant professor in Miami’s Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering department.
Miami University will hold it’s Three Minute Thesis competition at 4 p.m. on Monday, February 13th in the Heritage Room at Shriver Center.
