On March 25, Shegufta Shetranjiwalla stood before a dozens of her friends, fellow students and colleagues and asked them to scan themselves from head to toe.

The glasses they were wearing contained polycarbonates, she said. Their clothes contained polyesters. Their shoes were made up – in part – of polyurethanes.  Even the currency in their pockets had polymers within.

In just three minutes she challenged them to consider their use of polymers and envision how that could change for the betterment of the environment.

Ms. Shetranjiwalla, a graduate student in the Environmental and Life Sciences program at Trent, was one of 19 Trent scholars to take part in the third annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held on March 25 at The Venue in downtown Peterborough.

In her presentation, Ms. Shetranjiwalla quickly shared how her research into green plastics – replacing crude oil with vegetable oil – could allow people to still enjoy the benefits of polymers that they currently live with, but that those polymers would break down more quickly reducing the plastic waste footprint left behind by today’s generation.

Topics covered by other students included ‘agency and antagonism in the 21^st century war’, ‘a woman’s place in Shakespearean drama’, and ‘the foreign policy of President Richard Nixon’.

A panel of four judges, representing various sectors of the Peterborough community, adjudicated the competition seeking one student to go on to the provincial competition scheduled for next month at the University of Western Ontario.

This year, that prize went to Anna Rooke, also a student in the Environmental and Life Sciences program, who presented her thesis entitled ‘In hot water: can fish adapt to a warming climate?’

Dana Capell, an academic skills instructor at Trent University who helped organize the competition, said Ms. Rooke also received a $500 prize and was chosen as the Provost’s People’s Choice winner – good for another $250 – after ballots were distributed to those in attendance.

Ms. Shetranjiwalla wouldn’t go home empty-handed. The judges awarded her the runner-up prize of $250 for her thesis on polymers.

Ms. Capell was pleased to see so many students participate again this year. “All of the students did so well,” she said.

The 3MT event is an academic competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia for research students. At Trent University 3MT competition is sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies, the Academic Skills Centre, Trent Graduate Student Association, Traill College, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, and External Relations and Advancement.