5 engineers competing in Auburn University's Three Minute Thesis finals

Five Auburn Engineering graduate students will compete for Auburn University’s Three Minute Thesis title at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in the Sciences Center Auditorium. 

Founded by the University of Queensland, Three Minute Thesis, or 3MT, is a skills development activity which challenges graduate students to explain their research project to a non-specialist audience in three minutes. 3MT celebrates the discoveries made by graduate students and develops their skills in communicating the importance of research to the broader community. 

The engineering students are part of a field of 10 finalists from across the university vying for the 3MT title and a chance to represent Auburn University in the 2020 Conference of Southern Graduate Schools 3MT Competition. The finalists were selected following a round of preliminary events earlier this semester. 

The finalists from engineering are: 

• Daniel Abernathy, industrial and systems engineering: “Modular Open-Source Machine Monitoring Tool”
• Nima Alizadeh, chemical engineering: “Ballistic resistant, multicomponent polymeric materials”
• John Hinkle, chemical engineering: “Lignin-Based Renewable Energy Storage Devices”
• Omer Khan, aerospace engineering: “Investigation of Internal flow field and Jet Issuing from a Cyclone Vortex Combustion Chamber”
• Kanak Parmar, aerospace engineering: “Autonomous spacecraft guidance in unknown environments via human inspired path planning” 

Auburn University’s 3MT competition is sponsored by the Graduate School and the Graduate Student Council. For more information, visit the Auburn 3MT website.