Samantha Burke, a C&IS PhD student, placed 4th in the 3-Minute Thesis Competition finals. The competition is held annually by UA’s graduate school.
“I enjoyed presenting in the 3-minute thesis finals! It presented a few challenges due to the format” said Burke, “Explaining a full dissertation in less than 3 minutes can be difficult, and furthermore, making sure that it is presented in such a way that it can be understood by a lay audience. Overall, I felt that this experience was an amazing practice in synthesizing information and making it accessible.”
Burke presented “News Ways to Study Grief: Public Memorials in the United States” which seeks to bring communication into the discussion of k-12 school shootings by examining the public memorials built to commemorate school shooting’s physical function and the discussions that surround them regarding grief and remembrance.
“This research seeks to better understand the ways in which school shootings are memorialized both in physical space and within the public discourse” stated Burke, “School shooting memorials sit at distinct intersection of protest, community healing, grief, and memorialization.”
She examines the communication behind these memorials as well, the architectural plans, city council meetings, social media and news, along with what the physical space itself communicates.
“Talking about school shootings makes people uncomfortable, and people don’t like talking about them. It results in research in this space being limited, and as such, I am seeking to further our collective understanding of these practices and spaces” said Burke, “I think it is particularly important to bring the study of school shootings into the field of communication; understanding the ways in which we talk about the remembrance and grief of school shootings can further our understandings of the implications of such tragedies.”
The 3-Minute Thesis Competition is a research communication competition, originally from the University of Queensland, where graduate students are challenged to present a compelling oration on their research and its significance in a three-minute timespan. Two students are nominated by their department, with Samantha Burke representing C&IS in the finals.
Burke won a $250 Scholarship from UA’s graduate school for placing 4th as a vote of confidence into her research and future career. Burke intends to continue her research after she completes her degree and hopes to teach at a collegiate level.