Congratulations to Thomas Cadenazzi, Civil Engineering PhD candidate in the College of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, who took home the People’s Choice Award at the University of Miami Graduate School’s third annual Three-Minute Thesis Competition on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Cadenazzi’s dissertation is titled “The Halls River Bridge Case Study: Constructability, Economical, and Sustainability Aspects for an FRP Reinforced Concrete Bridge.”
During his thesis, Cadenazzi discusses his work on the Halls River Bridge – a 186-foot-long vehicular bridge made up of a wide variety of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials (primarily fiberglass rebar) in the complete structure. The Department of Transportation spends a major portion of bridge maintenance budget on rehabilitating bridges because of corrosion. The Halls River Bridge case study is the first vehicular bridge entirely reinforced with noncorrosive FRP bars, which should prevent the corrosion problem of traditional reinforced concrete elements.
“My research topic is very important to me because it is not only fulfilling my professional vocation as an engineer, but also it could potentially change some construction industry practices and methods by using innovative, durable and sustainable materials for better construction designs,” Cadenazzi said.
At the conclusion of the presentations, judges and audience members voted to determine the winners. The top winners all received a cash reward, along with the runner-up and the student with the audience’s highest praise.
The Three-Minute Thesis competition originated at University of Queensland in 2008 when Australia was suffering from a drought. Citizens were asked to take three-minute showers and the dean of the graduate school thought the time limit could apply to other concepts, such as summarizing a research project. Thus, the idea for the competition was born.
“The 3MT competition is a brilliant way to concisely package my thesis topic. I immediately realized it is unique way of improving both presentation and public speaking skills,” Cadenazzi said. “Additionally, it is most useful to me as a learning experience, not only because of the in presenting multiple years of research in just three minutes, but because it helps me see how a research project fits within a larger picture.”
