April 19 | Volume I | Issue 3
Three Minute Thesis – Michael Schiller
Workshops & Deadlines Click on a topic below for more info
Wednesday, April 18 Insurance Session for Graduate Students Thursday, April 19 Life after college: Loan Repayment Friday, April 27 Recommended submission date for graduate theses Friday, May 11 Professional Travel Grant Applications Deadline Sunday, May 13 Graduate Hooding Ceremony University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Graduate Studies 223 Graff Main Hall 1725 State Street La Crosse, WI 54601 USA Phone: 608.785.8124 Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. email: gradstudies@uwlax.edu www.uwlax.edu/graduate-studies
Graduate students work for months to years on their research or capstone projects. Many write lengthy papers summarizing their results. ThreeMinute Thesis is an academic competition that challenges graduate students to distill that work into a three-minute talk, using just a single Power Point slide. UWL held its Three-Minute Thesis event on March 7. Eleven graduate students from 9 programs presented, on topics from oil spills to teacher burnout. Physical Therapy student Michael Schiller won the event for his presentation on knee stress during lunging. In addition to winning $500, Michael went on to regional competition on April 6, in Grand Rapids, MI. Michael advanced out of the first round of competition and into the finals – one of just 6 students to do so, out of 36 participants. Graduate Studies Director Meredith Thomsen interviewed Michael the day of the competition, to hear his thoughts on the experience. What made you decide to participate in the Three-Minute Thesis competition? I was “strongly encouraged” to do so by a professor. It also sounded fun – as Physical Therapy students we practice explaining our work to a general audience - our patients – so I thought it would be interesting to use those same skills in another context. Plus, I figured the hard part was the research, which I was already done with. So was making the presentation pretty easy? It was difficult to get it down to three minutes, and still present the project in its entirety! I think that’s part of the reason you did well, that you told a complete story about your project. I also liked that you talked about how your research will apply to your work as a clinician after you get your degree. Yeah, that was something I thought was important to include. I was thinking about the articles I’m helping to write about my research – in the scientific article, you have to explain how the results apply to clinical practice or it won’t get published. What was the overall biggest surprise to you, out of your 3MT experience? I was most surprised at how well-received my talk was! It helped me understand that as students, we know a lot about our topics. Being around a bunch of PT students all the time, it is hard to see that. It was also nice to see how enthusiastic the other students were – it was great to meet new people with strong research interests.
Is there a student or student organization you would like to see in our Student Spotlight? If so, please contact Marcia Taddy at taddy.marc@uwlax.edu
Grad Student Organization Spring Events: Outdoor Adventures Ropes Course Tuesday, April 24th This event is FREE 4:30 – 6:30 UWL Mitchell Fieldhouse Please RSVP by email: gradstudies@uwlax.edu
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The Celebration of Student Research and Creativity event was a huge success! 45 poster and oral presentations detailed the results of graduate research and service projects. Planning for next year’s event is underway and we hope to see even more graduate presentations!
Here is a sneak peek of our Campus Connection piece highlighting Exercise Sport Science graduate students and their work with our undergraduate student football athletes. The UWL homepage will have a link with video interviews from both undergraduate and graduate students. Stay tuned!
Did you miss an event? Recordings of previously offered, graduate student professional development opportunities are now available for viewing at: https://www.uwlax.edu/gradu ate-studies/
Would you like your very own hard copy of Vision 2021 – A Strategic Plan for Graduate Education at UWL? Email gradstudies@uwlax.edu to request a hardcopy or download a copy from the Graduate Studies website www.uwlax.edu/graduate-studies/
Save the Date
Fall 2018 Graduate Summit Wednesday, August 29th 3:00-5:00 pm – Murphy 150