Kyra Finner

Staff Writer

Averi McFarland, a master’s student for the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University, won the People’s Choice Award at the three-minute thesis event on Feb. 19, at the JUMP convention center in Boise.

As described by Tracy Collum, Associate Dean of Graduate School at ISU, the competition originated in Australia with specific guidelines, including the strict 3-minute limit. In 2019, the universities in Idaho worked together to provide a statewide opportunity to promote graduate education across the state with graduate students representing all 3 universities, which included ISU, Boise State University, and University of Idaho.

“The statewide 3MT is a premiere event to allow graduate students to promote the years of research, writing, collecting data and analyzing the information they have shepherded to fulfill their graduate degree,” Collum said.

The students get three minutes to explain their years of work with only one slide.

McFarland’s thesis was about “Manganese influences production of the protective capsule in Pneumonia causing bacteria.”
According to McFarland, this thesis went into depth about how the mineral manganese can increase the production of a sugary protective layer around bacteria and how it is able to do this.

Averi was nominated to present at the event to be a part of the representation of ISU graduate students.

“I struggle with stage fright and so I participate in speaking events to try and help myself overcome this,” McFarland said.

“I honestly did not expect to win. As I said, I went for the practice and was competing against myself,” she said. “The other students and admin from ISU were very supportive.

When they called out my name, I was in a bit of a shock, but because it was the People’s Choice Award we got to watch the voting. I knew my name was one of the top picks. It was a nerve-racking 10 minutes.”

“The 3MT featured several notable Idaho residents as judges from the Idaho legislature as well as the State Board of Education,” Collum explained.

“The environment is open and welcoming, pretty easy going – if you aren’t competing! The students from every school are very well prepared, but you can see the nervous energy they generate,” Collum said.

A Three-Minute Thesis event was created just for ISU two years ago.

“The students have spent anywhere from 1 to 4 years preparing a thesis or dissertation. To have them narrow it all down to three minutes – it’s extremely hard,” Collum said.

“Overall, our ISU graduate students represented us very well, and it gives them practice for career or fellowship interviews, as well as another way to prepare for their thesis or dissertation defense,” Collum said.