Two grad students from School of Kinesiology selected as Three Minute Thesis finalists
Two grad students from School of Kinesiology selected as Three Minute Thesis finalists
Each year, Auburn University offers graduate students an opportunity to share their research with the campus community in a unique way through the Three Minute Thesis Competition, or 3MT.
“Students like Matt and Marina make it easier to ‘do my job’ and fall in love with it every day,” Baweja said. “Matt is the epitome of excellence in adversity. Nothing can stop him – he is sharp, intuitive and extremely hilarious. He shows me every day in everything he does how to be excellent. To me, he is the embodiment of the Auburn Creed. Marina won me over when I was interviewing her for the Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship, which she is now funded on. She said ‘You expect excellence from your students, and I think I have that to offer.’ She is one of the hardest working students I’ve ever mentored and is an absolute force of nature and full of positivity in the lab.”
Matt Beth
Beth presented “From Cause to Consequence: Disabilities Following Traumatic Brain Injury,” drawing from his own experience with a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, in 2016. That injury came with a multitude of disabilities for Beth, including the inability to walk, talk, and perform fine motor tasks like handwriting. The prognosis from doctors wasn’t favorable – but he defied all odds. He returned to school to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is now working toward his doctoral degree in kinesiology.
“When I initially registered for 3MT, I was pretty uncertain whether I would even be able to participate because the rules explicitly state that presentations must be spoken word and electronic devices cannot be used,” Beth said. “That would not have been possible for me with my disability, which causes me to be nonverbal, and I use an electronic AAC, or augmentative and alternative communication, device.”
However, with the support of Dr. Baweja, Beth was able to showcase his research in the competition.
“He saw past my many disabilities and provided me the opportunity to showcase the potential he knew was inside of me, which my doctors had previously attempted
to bury,” Beth said. “Under his guidance and leadership, I have grown in ways I never imagined.”
Beth’s presentation focused on research surrounding the estimated 50 million traumatic brain injuries that occur worldwide annually.
“My research utilizes data from the largest longitudinal TBI database in the world, the TBI Model Systems database, to examine how the mechanism of injury influences the severity of disabilities involving locomotion and traversing stairs,” Beth explained. “The information gained from this study will expedite learning information necessary for designing targeted therapies, and the protocols can be implemented sooner. Early intervention is paramount for TBI survivors as they experience a critical period of advantageous neuroplasticity and healing within the first six months following an injury. However, this time gradually becomes less beneficial between 6-24 months post-injury. Performing these interventions during this short-lived period would enable TBI survivors to optimize their rehabilitation and will allow them to have a better chance for a more complete recovery.”
While the research Beth is conducting aims to help TBI survivors in the future, Beth said he is the one who benefited from presenting the information and participating in 3MT.
“I gained a lot of confidence in myself. Publicly presenting is quite intimidating when you physically cannot speak and use an artificial voice emitted from the speaker of my iPad,” he said. “Finding success in presenting and being named a finalist has made me significantly more sure of my ability to present despite the information being delivered in an unorthodox manner.”
Beth said he took a lot away from 3MT, especially after being named a finalist in the competition.
“It told me that my science held its own weight and was equally as valued as the science of my peers,” he said. “It also told me that my voice – or lack thereof – was worth listening to and that my very apparent disabilities do not diminish the quality of my scientific reasoning and rationale.”
Marina Meyer Vega
Meyer Vega is a physical therapist who came to Auburn to continue her studies through a Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship. A graduate of Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla in Mexico, Meyer Vega worked with patients as a healthcare provider during the COVID-19 pandemic. That work piqued her interest in integrating research and neuroscience into the rehabilitation process, in addition to the structural and musculoskeletal aspects. Her long-term goal is to become a leading clinical researcher, and her 3MT presentation, “I am steady! The Zen in the science of understanding multisensory integration in neurological disorders,” is just the beginning of the impact she hopes to make.
Meyer Vega’s goal as a physical therapist and scientist in training is to understand how to prevent falls. Falls, particularly in older adults and those living with a neurological disease, are a significant public health and economic concern. Just in the United States, the cost
incurred to treat injuries resulting from these falls is approximately $38 billion annually.
“Particularly, following a stroke in any part of the brain, survivors struggle with their balance,” she explained. “This can make everyday activities and living independently hard. Balance issues can occur for various reasons: sometimes, it is difficult to stay steady, or the brain might have trouble processing the various senses – what one sees, feels, or hears.”
Meyer Vega said the severity of the balance deficit also depends on which part of the brain is affected by the stroke and how big the lesion is. Physical therapists have a variety of tests to assess balance and to see how likely someone is to fall after a stroke.
“Many of these tests are mainly observational and subjective in nature,” she explained. “They do not account for how each person’s balance changes uniquely due to their stroke, and some tests are not even designed to test balance impairments in stroke survivors. So, over the past several years, the work directed by my mentor has led to the development of a “piptograph” – a scale that measures fall risk based on age and sex, categorizing individuals into high, medium, or low fall-risk groups. This is an important step
toward individualized medicine.”
Meyer Vega said that while neuroscience principles are universal, their application must be tailored to each person’s unique characteristics and conditions.
“Therefore, the work from our lab continues to advance our understanding of how senses talk to each other, work together, or even get disrupted by brain diseases,” she said. “The discoveries from this work help us to develop targeted, mechanistic interventions to improve balance and prevent falls.”
Meyer Vega said the 3MT experience forced her to step out of her comfort zone to present to a large audience, allowing her to grow not just as a researcher but also as a public speaker.
“The task of refining complex research into a clear, engaging three-minute presentation pushed me to think about my research in entirely new ways,” she said. “The experience strengthened my ability to connect with a diverse audience and share my passion for research in a way that resonates with everyone, from experts to those encountering these ideas for the first time. Being selected as a finalist among many incredible researchers on campus was humbling and an honor.”
About 3MT
Three Minute Thesis develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of research students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
3MT is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland. The first 3MT was held at UQ in 2008 with 160 RHD (research higher degree) students competing. Enthusiasm for the 3MT concept grew and its adoption by numerous universities led to the development of an international competition. The inaugural Trans-Tasman 3MT was held at UQ in 2010 with 33 universities participating.
In 2011, 43 universities were represented in the Trans-Tasman 3MT which was hosted by The University of Western Australia, and for the first time students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Hong Kong took part in their own regional events.
Auburn University held its first 3MT in the summer of 2013, and the competition is held once per year. To determine who competes in the 3MT, a preliminary competition is held and the top 10 competitors advance to the university-wide final and compete for cash prizes. Auburn’s winner also has the opportunity to represent the university in regional 3MT competitions.