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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 . The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

For more information on the competition, visit .

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