A University of Guelph graduate student looking at ways to safely preserve fruit longer is taking part in this year’s national 3MT (Three-Minute Thesis) competition.

Besides competing for the overall championship, plant agriculture master’s student Shanthanu Krishnakumar has an opportunity to win the People’s Choice Award, with voting open to the public until May 26.

Voting takes only a few seconds and can be done without registering or creating an account.

Held by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, the annual 3MT event requires students to discuss their thesis within three minutes, using just one PowerPoint slide.

The event challenges students to present complex research in an engaging, accessible way.

The National 3MT winner will be selected by a judging panel in the first week of June.

Krishnakumar’s presentation took fifth place in the Ontario competition, held at the University of Waterloo April 12.

Krishnakumar, whose advisers are Profs. Jay Subramanian and Al Sullivan, spoke about lengthening the shelf life of fruit using hexanal, a natural plant-derived compound.

He said keeping fruit such as nectarines from softening and spoiling quickly would benefit farmers, grocery stores and consumers.