Doctoral candidate Samuel Ramsey won the University of Maryland’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Ramsey, a student in the Department of Entomology, was selected by a panel of judges from nine UMD finalists during a live competition held April 5 during Graduate Research Appreciation Day. The 3MT competition challenges doctoral students to communicate the significance of their research to an educated, non-specialist audience in just three minutes.
Ramsey’s presentation, titled “Varroa destructor: The Curious Case of the Bee Mite’s Bite”, describes his research into the invasive parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which is considered to be the most significant single driver of the decline in honeybee health globally. In his research, Ramsey establishes that this mite feeds primarily off of the fat body tissue of honeybees—a discovery that could lead to more effective methods of managing this parasite and increasing the health of honeybee populations. Ramsey plans to defend his dissertation in Fall of 2017.
Min-A Cho, doctoral candidate in the Department of Physics, took second place with her presentation on “Space-time Ripples and Bright Flashes in the Sky,” and Sarah Hirsh, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology, won third prize for her presentation, “Keeping Nitrogen on the Farm and Out of Our Water Using Radish and Rye.”
Ramsey will go on to represent the University of Maryland in the worldwide 3MT competition, sponsored by Universitas 21, a global network of research universities. UMD representatives have been highly successful in the past in this competition, winning both the first prize and People’s Choice awards in 2014, and the People’s Choice Award in 2015.
Pictured, from left to right: UMD President Wallace Loh, doctoral student and 3MT winner Samuel Ramsey, Sarah Hirsh, Jeffrey Franke, interim dean of the Graduate School, and Min-A Cho