Sixteen students from the UI College of Pharmacy participated in the annual James F. Jakobsen Graduate Conference on March 26, 2016. Among the events were poster and podia presentations, and the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition.
College of Pharmacy students shined during the conference. Kawther Ahmed, a graduate student in Pharmaceutics and Translational Therapeutics (PTT), won first place in the Three Minute Thesis Competition and the People’s Choice Award for her thesis, “Engineered Cancer Vaccine.” Ahmed’s research focuses on drug delivery for cancer immunotherapy and cancer vaccines.
Namita Sawant, PTT graduate student, won first prize for her podia presentation, “Evaluation of the Performance of Nasal Sprays in Pediatric Patients” in the Biological and Health Sciences section.
Other College of Pharmacy participants included:
- Ali Al-Jumaili (Pharmaceutical Socioeconomics)
- Ronilda D’Cunha (Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry)
- Behnoush Khorsand Sourkohi (Pharmaceutics)
- Wisam Al Bakri (Pharmaceutics)
- Michael P. Hayes (Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry)
- Namita Sawant (Pharmaceutics)
- Aditya Singaraju (Pharmaceutics)
- Ammar Al Khafaji (Pharmaceutics)
- Megan Kelchen (Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences)
- Anh-Vu Do (Pharmaceutics)
- Sachin Gharse (Pharmaceutics)
- Hui Zu (Pharmaceutics)
- Mohammed Albarki (Pharmaceutics)
- Bharath kumar Gowdampally (Pharmaceutics)
- Keerthi Atluri (Pharmaceutics)
- Laxmi Shanthi Chede (PharmD)
About the Jakobsen Conference and 3MT Competition
The James F. Jakobsen Graduate Conference was established in 1998 (known at that time as the Jakobsen Forum) and is an event unique to the University of Iowa. Held each spring semester, the Jakobsen Conference provides a well-attended public forum for oral and poster presentations. The Jakobsen committee has experienced yearly growth in conference participation and attendance.
For the first time this year, the 3MT competition finals were held during the Jakobsen Conference. The 3MT Competition is part of the Graduate College’s career and professional development effort. The ability to clearly and concisely articulate complex research to non-specialist audiences is a vital skill for both academic and non-academic careers. Graduate students who choose to participate in the 3MT competition will develop communication skills and have the chance to compete for prizes.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia. In this competition students share their dissertation research to a general audience in an oral presentation lasting at most three minutes. Begun in 2008, the competition has grown to include more than 125 universities worldwide, including 45 in the United States.