Doctoral Student Nicki Nimlos Wins UW Three Minute Thesis Competition

A compelling three-minute presentation on ranchers’ willingness to join the carbon market earned Nicki Nimlos a win at the University of Wyoming’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

The competition, based on the 3MT format developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, challenges graduate students to present their research in just 180 seconds, using a single, static PowerPoint slide, in a way that is easily understood by a nonspecialist audience.

A total of 12 UW Ph.D. students competed. Each of the competitors was the winner of the college-level competition held last year.

Nimlos, of Missoula, Mont., is a Ph.D. student in rangeland ecology and watershed management in the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources. Her presentation was titled “Are Ranchers Willing to Join the Carbon Market?”

“My research focuses on opportunities for ranchers to get paid from improving their management in a way that sequesters society’s greenhouse gases from the atmosphere into the soil,” Nimlos says. “I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to share my work and its importance with a broader audience. We know cattle can be used as a management tool to improve rangelands and sequester atmospheric carbon. What I wanted to find out was whether ranchers are actually willing to take part in the carbon market.”

Nimlos will compete in the 3MT regional competition in April.

The second-place winner was Preetika Kaur, of Ludhiana, Punjab, India, a civil engineering Ph.D. student who presented “Understanding Snowpack Dynamics: Key to Sustainable Water Management in the Western U.S.”

Another civil engineering student, Cesar Gerardo Freyre Pinto, of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, took third place with a presentation titled “Finite Element Modeling of Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete Masonry Walls Subjected to In-Plane Load.”

Alirza Orujov, of Aghstafa, Azerbaijan, who’s studying chemical and biomedical engineering, received a People’s Choice Award for a presentation titled “Hydrogen Storage: Making Energy Clean Again.”

“The 3MT brought together 12 graduate students from across the university to share their innovative research. Contestants were judged on their ability to clearly communicate their complex research and engage a general audience,” says Carolyn Pepper, interim dean of the School of Graduate Education.

The judging panel included: Kermit Brown, chairman of the UW Board of Trustees; Don Appiarius, UW ombuds; Ashli Tomisich, assistant director of the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning (ECTL); Jeff Miller, UW senior lecturer/ educational developer and part of ECTL’s online and digital learning curriculum; and Kendra Cowley, a UW graduate research and engagement librarian.