The countdown is on, as contestants in the Three Minute Thesis competition prepare for the initial heats Tuesday and Wednesday, March 24 and 25.

The public is invited to hear master’s and doctoral students explain the relevance of their thesis or dissertation work in less than three minutes. There are cash prizes, and UWindsor’s champion will represent the University, all expenses paid, at the provincial final to be held in London on April 23.

Both sets of heats begin at 3 p.m. in Vanier Hall’s Katzman Lounge. Presenting Tuesday are:

• Meagan McCloskey, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, “Bold fish, shy fish, calm fish, scared fish: Measuring behaviour of yellow perch as a tool for conservation”
• Ahmad Soleimani, School of Computer Science, “A cyber look at emotion dynamics”
• Benjamin Phalavong, Department of Kinesiology, “Focusing your focus: directing your attention matters to improve performance and learning”
• Jenny Carstens, Department of Psychology, “Teaching Students Strategies to Achieve Goals”
• Molly Cairncross, Department of Psychology, “ADHD Treatment: Does Mindfulness Matter?”
• Shravan Kumar Sadhu, Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering; “The Green Monster Car”
• Sara Santarossa, Department of Kinesiology, “#SocialMedia: Somethin' to tweet about”
• Katherine Balasingham, Department of Biological Sciences, “Fishing for DNA”

The March 30 finals, at 2 p.m. in the Ambassador Auditorium, are also open to the public. Find more information on the contest website.