Diana Chen won first place and $500 in the University of Arkansas' Three Minute Thesis competition final last week with her presentation "Got Breadfruit? Food and Culture in the Marshallese Community in Springdale, Arkansas."

Chen, who is advised by Justin Nolan, is an environmental dynamics doctoral student. Environmental dynamics is an interdisciplinary graduate degree program and is housed in the Graduate School and International Education.

Members of the audience voted for Daniel Sandor as the People's Choice winner. Sandor, a plant science doctoral student, won $250 for his presentation "Evaluation of Irrigation Sensors for Lawn Turf and Potential Water Savings." He is advised by Doug Karcher.

"Summarizing your thesis or dissertation research within three minutes is an incredibly challenging task, but each student rose to the occasion and did a phenomenal job of presenting their work," said Kim Needy, dean of the Graduate School and International Education. "I am so proud of all of them."

Five contestants participated in the final. Each of the participants had previously won a competition held in the academic colleges that house their degree programs.

The Three Minute Thesis contest challenges graduate students to summarize their thesis or dissertation research within three minutes to a general audience. Presenters were allowed a single, static PowerPoint slide to accompany their presentation. The contestants were judged on their ability to help audience members understand their research and their ability to engage the audience.