Lucy McGowan and Barituka Bekee, both doctoral candidates in agricultural and applied economics, took top honors at Mizzou’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. McGowan placed first, and Bekee tied for second and won the People’s Choice award. 3MT competitions challenge students to explain their research in a three-minute presentation that uses only one slide.

McGowan titled her presentation “Using Simulations to Better Understand Entrepreneurial Decision Making.” She advances to represent Mizzou at the Midwest 3MT competition, which the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools will host at its annual meeting in April. Randall Westgren serves as McGowan’s adviser.

Bekee presented “Livelihood Resilience of Rural Households.” Corinne Valdivia serves as his adviser.

Pictured are Xuanyou Liu, Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, (tied for second place), Lucy McGowan and Barituka Bekee.