Biology major Skylar Mathieson wins 3 Minute Thesis competition
3MT Competition winners Skylar Mathieson, Michael Kama, and Cristal Ahmed pose with their certificates.
Master’s degree student Skylar Mathieson won East Tennessee State University’s 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) with her presentation, “Buzzed and Bothered: Investigating the Impact of Addictive Plant Alkaloids on Bumblebee Behavior.”
This competition, created at the University of Queensland, Australia, provides graduate students the opportunity to develop professional presentation and research communication skills.
Participants condense complex research projects into engaging, three-minute presentations designed for a general audience using just one slide. Audience members learn what students in master’s and doctoral programs are studying and gain insight into the future of research, design and innovation in a variety of disciplines.
Mathieson, from Coeburn, Virginia, is a graduate student in biology.
“Bees encounter all kinds of chemical compounds in the nectar and pollen of flowers. Some of these compounds are good for the bees, while others we aren't so sure,” Mathieson said regarding her thesis.
“My research is exploring the potential for pollinators to develop a chemical dependency to some of the compounds that we know are addictive to other animals, like caffeine and nicotine, that the pollinators encounter in the flowers of some plant species. Ultimately, I want to know whether plants might be drugging their pollinators.”
Learn more about Mathieson's research in this ETSU News feature.
Second place was awarded to Michael Kama, an information systems student, for his thesis, “Infectious Disase Mapping and Spread Prevention Using an Agent-Based Modeling Technique.”
Kama’s project focuses on the potential for low-resource governments to use a free software that tracks the spread of infectious diseases.
“This is so important because coming from Nigeria, out of the top 10 causes of death in Nigeria, five of them happen to be infectious diseases,” said Kama.
“This is not just the case for Nigeria alone; this is the case for a lot of tropical areas around the world. Now, this can save not just the lives of Nigerians but billions of people around the world.”
Third place went to Cristal D. Ahmed, a biomedical sciences student in ETSU's neuroscience Ph.D. program. Her thesis, “Examining mGlu5 Positive Allosteric Modulation of Prepulse Inhibition Deficits in a Heritable Model of Psychosis,” aims to revolutionize the treatment of schizophrenia.
“The Brown Hall lab's 20-year investment in developing and validating a groundbreaking model of psychosis could one day lead to discovering and developing innovative treatments that offer hope to millions of individuals affected by this complex disorder,” shared Ahmed.
The first-place winner received a $1,100 scholarship, and the second and third-place recipients earned $750 scholarships. Next year, Mathieson will be representing ETSU at the Southern Regional Competition during the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ 2025 annual meeting.
East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.
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