Ten undergraduate student finalists recently competed in the final round of the 5-Minute Fast Track Research Oral Competition.

The competition included two preliminary rounds, with the top five students from each preliminary round advancing to the final championship competition.

Cultivating students’ presentation and research communication skills, competitors were challenged to present their research in five minutes, using only one static slide, in front of a panel of five judges and a live audience.

The top three winners are as follows: 

• 1st place: Frances Salisbury — biology major, junior | Research area: Sleep and Alzheimer’s Disease | Faculty mentor: Bruce O’Hara (Department of Biology)
• 2nd place: Malik Appleton — pre-pharmacy major, senior | Research area: Neuropharmacology | Faculty mentor: Keith Pennypacker (Center for Advanced and Translational Stroke Science)
• 3rd place: Emily Keaton — sociology, philosophy and English major, senior | Research area: Sociology and Appalachian Studies | Faculty mentor: Edward Morris (Department of Sociology)

Other finalists included: 

• Katelyn Cox — agricultural and medical biotechnology major, senior | Research area: Dance, Biology, Philosophy | Faculty mentor: Susie Thiel (Department of Theatre and Dance)
• Mercedes Haley — chemical engineering major, senior | Research area: Biotechnology | Faculty mentor: Derek Englert (Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering)
• Rollie Mills — chemical engineering major, senior | Research area: Water Filtration, Chemical Engineering | Faculty mentor: Dibakar Bhattacharyya (Department of Chemical Engineering)
• Urooj Nasim — biology and political science major, junior | Research area: Family and Community Medicine | Faculty mentor: Lars Peterson (Departmet of Family and Community Medicine)
• Binit Singh — mechanical engineering major, junior | Research area: Mechanical Engineering | Faculty mentor: Nelson Akafuah (Department of Mechanical Engineering)
• Jack Stewart — mechanical engineering major, junior | Research area: Mechanical Engineering 
• Kara Tauer — agricultural and medical biotechnology major, senior | Research area: Neuroscience | Faculty mentor: Luke Bradley (College of Medicine/ College of Arts and Sciences - Neuroscience)

The 2019 5-Minute Fast Track Oral Research Competition is sponsored by the UK Office of Undergraduate Research and the Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence. For more information on the competition, click here.   

To watch the finalists speak, click here.