10 Students Selected as 5-Minute Fast Track Competition Finalists
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 28, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research is proud to announce the fourth annual 5-Minute Fast Track student research competition finalists. These undergraduates competed in the competition’s two preliminary rounds and were selected as Top 10 finalists to present their research during the final round on Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Gatton Student Center Worsham Cinema.
Finalists will present their research in five minutes in front of a panel of five judges and a live audience using only a single static slide. This challenges students to develop their academic, presentation and research communication skills while also allowing them to showcase their research in a captivating way.
The goal of this competition is to improve students’ abilities to communicate their undergraduate research effectively to a general non-specialist audience while creating a compelling story about their scholarly work.
Students will compete for cash prizes: $750 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place.
2021 Top 10 finalists include:
● Maya Abul-Khoudoud — junior, biology and psychology major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
● Kayli Bolton — junior, biology major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
● Hannah Cleary — senior, agricultural and medical biotechnology major and biology minor. Mentor: Brittany Lasseigne, Ph.D., in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s College of Medicine Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology.
● Katelyn Collins — junior, biology and biochemistry major and classics minor. Mentor: Frederique Yiannikouris, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.
● Laiken Griffith — junior, chemistry major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
● Claire-Marie Hall — senior, nursing major. Mentor: Elizabeth Salt, Ph.D., in the UK College of Nursing.
● Lauren Hudson — senior, neuroscience and biology major and Spanish minor. Mentor: Nathan Vanderford, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology.
● Courtney Martin — senior, biology major. Mentor: Nathan Vanderford, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology.
● Lexi Nolletti — junior, neuroscience major and biology and Spanish minor. Mentor: David Rodgers, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
● Emma Olmstead — senior, mathematics major and biology and chemistry minor. Mentors: David Watt, Ph.D., and H. Peter Spielmann, Ph.D., in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
The 2021 5-Minute Fast Track Oral Research Competition is sponsored by the UK Office of Undergraduate Research. The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.
For more information on the competition, visit https://our.uky.edu/5-minute-fast-track.
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