Space Shuttle Challenger: One Slide and Three Minutes in the Grad Slam to Discuss Asbestos and Asbestos Substitutes

Having submitted my Master of History thesis on the Space Shuttle Challenger (we have three theses in this program, so don’t get excited), I decided to join the ultimate challenge for either an attorney or a historian; brevity. I need to condense my 74 pages down to a one page slide supported by a three minute maximum presentation in what is called a “Grad Slam” opened to all UCCS graduate students who want to present their research in this fashion.

Why am I doing this? Money (if I place within the top three), the challenge, and prestige. Mostly the money.

So, I am looking for comments on my slide. My draft is currently as follows. The judges will be looking at this slide the entire presentation at the same time they are looking at and listening to my presentation in a Zoom split screen mode:

So that you can put the slide into the context of my thesis arguments, I have included three thesis pages below. The first is my Title Page:

Second is my Abstract:

And third are the reviews which I have received on the thesis from scientists who helped me out:

I have practiced my presentation and it is 2:58 seconds when talking to myself out loud and so I likely want to cut it down another 10 or 15 seconds just to cover being nervous. Over 3 minutes, or under 2 minutes and 40 seconds, and and the presenter is disqualified.

Help me out here. Let me know what you think of my proposed slide and provide any and all suggestions to me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. I won’t split the prize money (like I have a chance against these kids), but you will earn my eternal gratitude.

Also, let me know if you want an electronic copy of the complete thesis. If you have an interest in asbestos, I guarantee that you will learn something. Thanks. Marty