Modeled after The University of Queensland’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), the Postdoctoral Support Services in the Office of Research Support hosted the inaugural Speak UP! research communication competition for UTSA postdoctoral fellows on Thursday, February 19, 2015, in the JPL Assembly Room (JPL 4.04.22). The postdoctoral scholars were challenged to present their research and its significance in three minutes or less in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. Contestants included members from the Biology, Chemistry, Geological Sciences, Institute for Cyber Security, and Mechanical Engineering departments.
Speak UP! awarded travel grants for professional development. The 2015 Speak UP! winners are:
$500 First Place Winner
Rebecca Sosa, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences
Research Topic: The Sweet and Sour of Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis
$200 Runner-Up Winner
Brigida Rusconi, Ph.D.
Department of Biology, College of Sciences
Research Topic: Bacterial Comparative Genomics
$100 People’s Choice Winner
Rebecca Sosa, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences
Research Topic: The Sweet and Sour of Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis
The Speak UP! contestants included: Jessica Buckles, Ph.D., Department of Geological Sciences, College of Sciences, Niannian Ji, Ph.D., Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Qin Liu, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, and Rajkumar Pandiyampalayam Venkatachalam, Ph.D., Institute for Cyber Security, College of Sciences.
A panel of judges selected the First Place and Runner-Up Winners. The judges were: Mary Dixson, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Faculty Services, UTSA Libraries, Christi Fish, Communications Director, University Communications, and Floyd Wormley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, College of Sciences. The People’s Choice winner was selected by the audience that included postdoctoral fellows, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, UTSA and University of Texas Health Science at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) administrators, family and friends. Emily Boice, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences served as the program’s emcee.
During the judges’ deliberation, Beth Eby and Brigitta Glick, co-founders of The Health Cell and members of the UTHSCSA Career Advisory Council, presented “Promote You”, which highlighted the importance of and ways to network and promote a scholar’s work.
Speak UP! was the highlight in a series of events and services focused on postdoctoral scholar professional development in spring 2015. Using the theme “UP”, the abbreviation for “UTSA postdocs”, the events and services included: Tune UP!—a CV workshop; Follow-UP!—one-on-one CV consultations; and Heads UP!—free professional portraits.
Special thanks to Emily Boice, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Rishein Gupta, Ph.D., Department of Biology, College of Sciences. These postdoctoral fellows advocated for and organized professional development services, programming, and other opportunities for their fellow postdoctoral colleagues.
