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A&S Students Selected as 5-Minute Fast Track Competition Finalists

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 28, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has announced the fourth annual 5-Minute Fast Track student research competition finalists. These undergraduates competed in the competition’s two preliminary rounds and were selected as Top 10 finalists to present their research during the final round on Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Gatton Student Center Worsham Cinema.

Finalists will present their research in five minutes in front of a panel of five judges and a live audience using only a single static slide. This challenges students to develop their academic, presentation and research communication skills while also allowing them to showcase their research in a captivating way.

The goal of this competition is to improve students’ abilities to communicate their undergraduate research effectively to a general non-specialist audience while creating a compelling story about their scholarly work.

Students will compete for cash prizes: $750 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place.

2021 Top 10 finalists are:

●      Maya Abul-Khoudoud — junior, biology and psychology major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

●      Kayli Bolton — junior, biology major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

●      Hannah Cleary — senior, agricultural and medical biotechnology major and biology minor. Mentor: Brittany Lasseigne in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s College of Medicine Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology.

●      Katelyn Collins — junior, biology and biochemistry major and classics minor. Mentor: Frederique Yiannikouris in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.

●      Laiken Griffith — junior, chemistry major. Mentor: Matthew Gentry in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

●      Claire-Marie Hall — senior, nursing major. Mentor: Elizabeth Salt in the UK College of Nursing.

●      Lauren Hudson — senior, neuroscience and biology major and Spanish minor. Mentor: Nathan Vanderford in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology.

●      Courtney Martin — senior, biology major. Mentor: Nathan Vanderford in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology.

●      Lexi Nolletti — junior, neuroscience major and biology and Spanish minor. Mentor: David Rodgers in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

●      Emma Olmstead — senior, mathematics major and biology and chemistry minor. Mentors: David Watt and H. Peter Spielmann in the UK College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

The 2021 5-Minute Fast Track Oral Research Competition is sponsored by the UK Office of Undergraduate Research. The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

For more information on the competition, visit https://our.uky.edu/5-minute-fast-track.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion four years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for" three years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes' list of "America's Best Employers."  We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for five straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.