Chemistry Graduate Student places first at YSU’s 3MT®Competition

Zaire Fabian, chemistry graduate student from Poland, Ohio placed first in the YSU College of Graduate Studies’ Three Minute These (3MT®) competition.

Developed by the University of Queensland in Australia, 3MT® develops academic, presentation and research communication skills to support the development of research students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in terms that may be easily understood by an audience not necessarily specialized in the field.

Fabian, who has been working alongside his faculty advisor and chemistry professor, Josef Simeonsson, presented research titled “Gunshot Residue Analysis: Development of a Combined Procedure for the Detection of Inorganic Elements and Organic Compounds in Traditional and Clean Range Ammunitions Using Spectroscopic Methods.” Fabian’s study highlighted methods that could potentially aid in the detection of a variety of elements in gunshot residue which could result in a better understanding of incidents involving firearms.

Placing second in the competition was Kyle Duke, Chemical Engineering graduate student from Concord Township, Ohio for his research, “Wearable Sweat Based Biosensor for Cortisol Detection” with Byung-Wook Park, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering serving as the faculty advisor. Duke’s research explored the detection of cortisol through a wristband built to detect cortisol in sweat, serving as a solution to existing cortisol testing methods which were noted to be expensive or often inaccessible to many.

The People’s Choice, based on the majority vote of the audience, was awarded to Victoria Blythe, a Biological Sciences graduate student from Youngstown. Blythe has been working under Carmen Panaitof as the faculty advisor for her research, “A Search for Alternatively Spliced Genes Associated with Caregiving in Biparental Burying.”

Other competing finalists included:

• Nyandieka Aboki, Kenya, mechanical engineering, “IoT Integration of a Voltage Controlled Active Magnetic Bearing for Real-Time Remote”
• Anthony Hake, Warren, Ohio, computing and information systems, “Solving Digital Illiteracy Using User Behaviour Oriented Design Methodologies”
• Daniyal Khan, India, computing and information systems, “Manufacturability Analysis of Laser Powder Bed Fusion using Machine Learning”

The top three students were awarded a cash prize. The first place winner was awarded $300; second place $200; People’s choice $100.