Nigerian wins thesis competition at US university

A Nigerian doctoral student at the University of Texas, Dallas, Muneer Yaqub, has emerged winner of the university’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT).

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Mr Yaqub, a final year doctoral student in Molecular and Cell Biology, emerged winner out of the 14 shortlisted finalists in the competition with his work titled “When Antibiotics Fail: Fighting 21st-Century Superbugs with 21st-Century Science”.

For the feat, he was awarded a $1,000 cash prize.

Alexis Tudor with the presentation “The AI that Socrates Would Have Made”, emerged the first runner up and Stephanie Yamauchi’s “Elucidating The Effects of Chronic Inflammation on Cancer Growth” emerged the second runner up. They were awarded $750 cash prize each.

Ally DiCarlo’s “Preserving History” emerged as People’s Choice as selected by the audience at the competition. DiCarlo receives $500 as the winner.

Three Minute Thesis

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students.

Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills.

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The winner would also have the opportunity to compete in other competitions.

“The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience,” the university said.

About winner

Mr Yaqub is a PhD candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), where he investigates highly drug-resistant hospital-acquired pathogens.

Before moving to the US on a fully funded fellowship, Mr Yaqub earned his Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria.

At the University of Texas, he has held several leadership roles, including the first Graduate Student Representative for the Department of Biological Sciences, and the pioneer President of the UTD Global Ambassadors programme for international students.

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His academic excellence has been recognised with over a dozen awards, scholarships and fellowships, including the Julia Williams Van Ness Merit Scholarship, the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Travel Award, and the American Society for Microbiology’s Future Leaders Mentorship Fellowship. He has presented his research at major conferences such as ASM Microbe and Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory.

Mr Yaqub is also the author of “Greener Pasture: How to Secure a Fully Funded Master and PhD Scholarship in the US.” His writings have appeared in outlets such as The New York Times and Science Magazine.