OHIO students excel in OSCARS Impact Competition

Ohio University has announced the winners of the annual OSCARS Impact Competition.

The competition invites undergraduate students to present a brief, compelling oration on their research/creative work and its significance. The event is based on the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which was founded by The University of Queensland in 2008.

This year’s competition featured 23 OHIO students from the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, College of Arts and Sciences, Patton College of Education, Honors Tutorial College and Scripps College of Communication. Eight students advanced to the finals.

OSCARS Impact Competition winners

First Place

Two students received the first place award in the OSCARS Impact Competition and each received a $1,500 prize.

• Anna Miller: Bedside to Bench and Back Again: Understanding the Role of Sirt5 in osteoarthritis development in the hip joint
• Quinn Bennett: Carbon Dioxide Mineralization in Produced Water for Calcite Production

Third Place

The third place winner was awarded a $500 prize.

• Mimi Calhoun: Finding “身份” (Shēnfèn/Identity): Exploring the Effects of China’s One-Child Policy on Adopted Asian American Women

Finalists

Each finalist received $250.

• Octavia Hogue: Temperature Regulation of Virulence in Staphylococcus aureus
• Thien Pham: Harmonizing the Past and Present: Bridging Generation Gap in Culture Preservation
• Taylor Schneider: Monetary Impacts of Prison Gerrymandering
• Claire Smith: Probiotic Bacteria for the Prevention of COVID-19
• Savannah Swanson: Disrupting Education, Silencing Activism: The Threat to Student Voices

People’s Choice

• Anna Miller and Claire Smith also received the People’s Choice Award and a prize of $125 for their projects.

The prizes for this year’s competition were sponsored by OHIO graduate and employee Mike Dibenedetto, senior research program engineer in the Avionics Engineering Center.

For more information on the competition, see the OSCARS Impact Competition website.