On Feb. 13, a three-minute timer loomed over 35 graduate students competing for a spot in the Vice President for Research Fellowship.

The 14 participants in the 3 Minute Challenge who were selected to become VPR fellows will receive $4,000 in scholarship and travel support. Fellows will also participate in professional development workshops, mentorship, leadership and engagement opportunities over the 2017-18 academic year.

As students quickly summarized their research, judges from across the university scored on criteria associated with the content and comprehension of the presentation, as well as students’ effective engagement and communication skills.

“CSU students are incredibly talented and dedicated, and it is was a privilege to witness their success at the 3 minute challenge,” said Ellen Fisher, senior faculty advisor to the Office of the Vice President for Research and lead coordinator of the Fellows program. “Every one of the graduate students who participated demonstrated immense passion and an excellent ability to communicate their research to a diverse audience.”

This initiative was created in 2016 by the Office of the Vice President for Research to support excellence in graduate research and scholarly works and to promote cross-college and cross-department collaborations. Participants in the 3 Minute Challenge were selected from the CSU Graduate School’s Graduate Student Showcase.

“Our goals for the VPR Fellows program are to provide a transformative leadership experience and to help prepare the next generation of diverse, innovative, creators for the next stage of their careers in the global marketplace,” said Alan Rudolph, vice president for research.

Meet the Inaugural VPR Fellowship Cohort:

• Micah Battson, VPR Fellow representing the College of Health and Human Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “Microbes: Friend or Foe? Linking the Gut Microbiota to Heart Disease”

• Whitney Beck, VPR fellow representing the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

3 Minute Presentation: “Predicting Algal Blooms to Protect Drinking Water, Fish, and Recreation”

• Allison Cleymaet, VPR Fellow representing the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “Shedding Light on the Opioid Epidemic”

• Kristen Fedak, VPR Fellow representing the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “How Clean is Clean Enough?”

• Zachary Fox, VPR Fellow representing the Scott College of Engineering

3 Minute Presentation: “Biochemical Noise: Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities”

• Hannah Hausman, VPR Fellow representing the College of Natural Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “Beyond the Ivory Tower: Memory Researchers Need to Focus on Real Students”

• Jakob Lindaas, VPR Fellow representing the Scott College of Engineering

3 Minute Presentation: “Holy Smokes! Reactive nitrogen in wildfire smoke”

• Michelle Mann, VPR Fellow representing the College of Natural Scienc

3 Minute Presentation: “Harnessing the Power of Plasma for Clean Water: Improved antibacterial materials for separations”

• David Markman, VPR Fellow representing the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “Discovering a Trojan Horse Full of Plague”

• Lisa Mason, VPR Fellow representing the College of Agricultural Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “To Bee or Not to Bee: An Urban Ecology Question”

• Grey Monroe, VPR Fellow representing the Graduate Program in Ecology

3 Minute Presentation: “Using Nature to Nurture: Uncovering the Evolution of Drought Tolerance in Wild Plants”

• Nikki Seymour, VPR Fellow representing the Warner College of Natural Resources

3 Minute Presentation: “Sharing the Strain: Slip History of the Atacama Fault System, northern Chile”

• Mallory Shields, VPR Fellow representing the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “It Runs in the Family: Modeling Neuromuscular Disease in Fruit Flies”

• Rachel West, VPR Fellow representing the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

3 Minute Presentation: “Rethinking Oncogenes”