The University of Toledo recently honored the winners of the University’s Fifth Annual Three Minute Thesis final competition with certificates at the Graduate Council meeting.
From left, Teri Green, director of Graduate Academic and Student Affairs and Diversity and ADA Liaison for the College of Graduate Studies; Veani Roshale Fernando, first-place winner, and Maryam Avateffazeli, winner of the People’s Choice, in UToledo’s Fifth Annual Three Minute Thesis final competition; UToledo President Gregory Postel; and Dr. Scott Molitor, a professor of bioengineering; interim vice provost for academic affairs and acting dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Not pictured are Swapnaa Balaji, who was the competition’s runner-up, and Parul Baranwal, who received Honorable Mention.
The Three Minute Thesis is an exercise that develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and challenges the research student’s capacity to effectively explain their research in only three minutes in a language appropriate to an intelligent, but non-specialist audience.
Veani Roshale Fernando, who was the first-place winner at the UToledo competition in December, also finished in the top 10 at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools’ 79th annual meeting March 31 in Chicago, where she competed against students from more than 140 universities.
Fernando is completing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences: Cancer Biology in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. The title of her presentation is “Fighting Breast Cancer Pain-Free.” Working under Dr. Saori Furuta, an associate professor at MetroHealth System, Case Western, and co-advisor Dr. Ivana de la Serna, an associate professor in the Department of Cell and Cancer Biology at UToledo, Roshale’s research focuses on immunotherapy in the fight against breast cancer by treating with a daily dietary supplement.
Their research indicates that in addition to treating breast cancer, the supplement improves mood and supports the patient’s mental health, thus making cancer treatments more easily tolerated and effective.
Roshale will graduate in December 2023.
