Kathleen Tierney ’23 put an inspired twist on her calf research to win first place February 27 in the Illinois State University Graduate School’s ninth annual Three Minute Thesis competition.

The master’s student compared beef calves’ transition to weaning to new students’ first days at school.

“It’s your first day at your new college … and you are now left to navigate life on your own. … I’m sure you can all remember some of the stress and uncertainty that you were feeling as you adapted to your new normal. Believe it or not, animals go through this too. In a process called weaning, animals learn to live without parental support, and this generally causes a lot of stress for the animal. … Reducing weaning stress is important to maintain the health and productivity of the animals.”

Tierney explained how she utilized heart rate monitors to look at the physiological stress on beef calves. “I compared two common commercial methods of weaning. The first is called abrupt meeting, where the calf and the mom are completely separated, allowing no further physical or visual contact. You could consider this group of calves the on-campus residents. The second method of weaning is called fenceline weaning, where the calf and the mom are separated only by a fence between them. … You can consider the fenceline group the commuter students.

“… Results of my study indicated that there were no differences in heart rate or respiration rate based on the method of weaning that the calves were assigned.”

Tierney and her fellow graduate students presented their research before a lively crowd, which included Illinois State President Aondover Tarhule, Dr. Roosmarijn Tarhule, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. Ani Yazedjian, college deans, department chairs, mentors, friends, and family, who filled the historic Normal Theater in Uptown Normal. A lot of brainpower was fit into the one-hour event, which required the 10 participants to condense possibly years of research into punchy presentations that could not exceed 180 seconds and with the aid of a single static slide.

Presenters were judged on communication, delivery, and organization by a three-member panel comprising Laurel Straub, assistant vice president at State Farm Enterprise Research; Vasudha Gadhiraju, director of innovation and technology for the Town of Normal; and Desiree Quizon-Colquitt; senior manager of global external supply at Pfizer. 

“I think it’s important for us to communicate research in a way that it is more palatable, without the specialized language, without the words that many people might not necessarily be able to understand or pronounce right,” said Graduate School Interim Director S. Gavin Weiser. “As a scholar, I strive to make sure that my research is able to be used. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of research if it just gets put in an article that only other scholars are going to read? And so this is an opportunity to present scholarship to 200 people, and even more online.”

Watch the livestream of the Graduate School’s Three Minute Thesis competition.

Participating in the event helped teach Tierney how to explain her research concisely to a general audience. She credited her mentor, Dr. Drew Lugar, an assistant professor of animal science, and said her interest in the research topic began as an undergraduate student.

“I got my bachelor’s degree from here in animal science, and I loved all my hands-on work at the ISU Farm,” Tierney said. “And I really fell in love working with cattle, so I knew that I wanted to do something with that.”

Tierney received $750 for placing first and will move on to compete at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools contest.

Gallery of 3MT finalists

Sierra Mack-Erb, an anthropology master’s student in the Stevenson Center’s Applied Community and Economic Development Fellows program, received $500 for placing second in the competition. She researches the impact of community-centered design on rural areas. A multimedia exhibit of her work is currently being shown at the Illinois Art Station before moving to Rachel Cooper’s student art gallery on campus starting in mid-March. She said winning the award was validating.

“Because my research is so niche, being about design, being about rural communities, I’m not sure that it will always resonate with people,” she said. “Having the chance to share it with so many and to see the research recognized and be valued really means the world to me as a graduate student.”

Mack-Erb treated her presentation like a performance.

“You find your rhythm, you practice over and over again, and you really just enjoy it for the experience that it is to share your own creative interests and your research with others,” she said. “And I’m really thankful to my friends and peers and faculty who listened to me as I prepared for the event.”

Tuba Yasmin Lubna, a master’s student in the Department of Agriculture, also credited her supporters for helping her prepare for her successful Three Minute Thesis appearance, for which she won $750 for the People’s Choice award, voted on by those in attendance. Last fall, Yasmin Lubna also was recognized through the Graduate School’s GradBird Scholar award for her cross-disciplinary work. Involving the Departments of Agriculture and Health Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences, her research focuses on converting cover crops into renewable energy through anaerobic digestion.

“I’m so lucky to have these amazing mentors,” she said. “They’re so great. I think it would not be possible without them here.”

Lubna noted that her research could be beneficial to the environment and farmers through the development of biofuel and other eco-friendly products. “By adopting cover crops and converting them into volatile fatty acids, we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, lower greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate climate change, and help farmers to earn extra income,” she said during her presentation.

The Graduate School organizes the University’s competition—similar academic competitions are held worldwide and originated at the University of Queensland in Australia—to showcase the scholarly work and creative activities conducted by master’s and doctoral students at Illinois State. This year’s participants represented units in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Applied Science and Technology, College of Education, Mennonite College of Nursing, and the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts.

“One of the things that continually impresses me with our graduate students is the interdisciplinarity of their thoughts and approaches to tackling contemporary problems that ail the world,” Dr. Weiser said. “They’re pulling across the traditional siloed disciplines of scholarship to create new and innovative knowledges that try to push us forward as a society and the culture to make the world a better place.”