three minute thesis

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3MT at the University of Kansas

Brilliant ideas conveyed in three minutes or less.

What is the 3MT® Competition?

The  Three Minute Thesis  (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. This event challenges graduate students to present a compelling speech about their research and its significance to non-academic persons in just three minutes using only one presentation image. 3MT® commenced in 2008 and is currently held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide. In 2020, the 3MT® competition moved to a temporary virtual format due to COVID-19 and continues to be held around the world in either a virtual or live format (depending on local COVID-19 restrictions).

The goals of the competition are to (1) highlight the excellent research conducted by graduate students and (2) improve graduate students’ communication of research to non-specialist and non-academic audiences. The judges of the competition are educated professionals in a variety of positions in corporate, government, and non-profit industries. 

3MT® Timeline

March-april.

Graduate students are invited to register for the 3MT® Competition.

Graduate students registered for the 3MT® Competition will be required to participate in workshops to prepare them for the competition.

The Preliminary Heats usually take place in the first week of November to determine the graduate students that will advance to the final round of the competition one week later.

The KU winner moves on to represent KU at the regional 3MT® Competition, which takes place in late March or early April during the annual meeting of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS). 

RELATED LINKS

• MAGS 3MT® Competition
• University of Queensland 3MT® Competition

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PREVIOUS COMPETITIONS

• 2022 KU 3MT® Competition
• 2021 KU 3MT® Competition
• 2020 KU 3MT® Competition

3MT® Competition @ KU

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• Three-Minute Thesis

What is the 3MT?

An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present. The 3MT time limit ... 3 minutes.

• The 3-Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a research communication competition that challenges students to communicate the significance of their projects without the use of props or industry jargon, in just three minutes.
• Originally established by the  University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008 , the competition challenges research students to communicate the significance of their projects in just three minutes, with the aid of a single, static slide.

3MT develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to quickly explain their research in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience leaving them wanting to know more. 

Competitions at the University of Minnesota

Collegiate-level 3MT Competitions

• Inquire with your Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) to find out if your college hosts a 3MT competition. 
• Collegiate-level 3MT winners advance to the University-wide competition. 
• All collegiate-level participants receive a Maroon Digital Badge from the Graduate School. 

University-wide 3MT Competition

• The Graduate School hosts a University-wide competition held every November .  
• All active graduate students who have advanced from their collegiate competition are eligible. 
• Previous 3MT winners  (first prize, runner-up, and people's choice) are not eligible to compete a second time.
• The 1st place winner advances to a 3MT competition hosted every March by the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS).
• All finalists may be invited to present to the University's Board of Regents. 
• All University-wide competitors receive a Gold Digital Badge from the Graduate School. 

3MT Competition Rules

• Single static PowerPoint slide. No slide transitions, animations, or “movement” of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from beginning of oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, lab equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum, and participants exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps, or songs).
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts her presentation through either movement or speech.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

3MT Preparation Resources

• Prepare with  the Graduate School's 3MT e-course
• 2023 - Watch competition in its entirety

Who can I talk to about 3MT?

Please contact Dr. Noro Andriamanalina, Assistant Vice Provost, Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Initiatives: [email protected]

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Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.  While the original competition was for graduate students, a number of colleges are now sponsoring undergraduate competitions. The Writing Center sponsored Harvard's first undergraduate Three-Minute Thesis competition in April 2019. 3MT offers seniors the opportunity to create an accessible and interesting presentation of their senior thesis research for an audience of non-specialists. All finalists were offered the opportunity to work with a writing tutor and a public speaking tutor to craft their final presentations.

If you are a senior interested in entering this year's 3MT, you can find information on this page.  

First Prize

Meera Nair (MCB): ""M2 Macrophages: The Bodyguards of Metastasis."  (video unavailable)

Second Prize

Harrison Ngue (Biomedical Engineering): ""Beating Cancer Twice: Understanding How "Sleeping" Cancer Cells Become Resistant to Chemotherapy

Third Prize

Nour Khachemoune, "Animals, Diet, and Societal Collapse at the Maya Site of Copán, Honduras"

Alison Chen (Philosophy/History) "Where Mind Meets Body: Descartes on Knowledge in Everyday Life"

Yousuf Amiel Bakshi (Government): "Block to the Future: Understanding Why Certain Countries Use Blockchain for e-Government"

Henry Cerbone (Ontology of Autonomous Systems): "Running on Water: A Multi-Disciplinary Look at Basilisk Lizards"

Nikhil Dharmaraj (History and Literature/Comp Sci): "System Update: Historicizing Facial Recognition Technology in Hindutva India"

Laura Murphy (English): "The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Fiction, Journalism, and Personal Journals of the Plague"

Jeromel Dela Rosa Lara (Social Anthropology/Comparative Religion): "Smugglers of Faith": The Enduring Presence of Filipina Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East"

Isha Puri (Applied Mathematics): "Shifting Paradigms of AI Explainability and Reasoning"

Sam Saba (NELC/Government): "Digitalization & Divide: Global Divides in the Digital Age"

Aristotle Vainikos (Government): "Thinking Outside the Disciplinary Box: The Role of Designers in Military Technology Innovation"

Michael Wallace (History): "How the National Park Service Created Environmentalism"

Zoe Weiss (Molecular and Cellular Biology): "RNA in a Haystack"

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Three Minute Thesis (3MT®)

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Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland. The competition develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of students' capacities to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

During each competition, graduate students will have three minutes to present a compelling discussion on their research topic, including its significance and relevance, to the general public. 3MT® is not an exercise in trivializing or "dumbing down" research, instead, it forces competitors to consolidate their ideas and crystallize their research discoveries. This is a fast-paced competition where the top 10 finalists compete by summarizing their two to three-plus years of research in only three minutes with only one slide.  Cash awards are given to the winner, runner-up, and People's Choice Award winner.

3MT® at Purdue

Enrolled graduate students in all disciplines at Purdue University are eligible to participate in 3MT®. Research presented must have been conducted at Purdue University, not from a previous degree, and should be in the final stages so students have some sound conclusions and impacts to present. Purdue Alumni are not eligible to participate.

Purdue holds its annual 3MT® competition early each spring. It is a celebration of the discoveries made by graduate students and will allow the broader community to learn about ongoing research at Purdue. It is free and open to the public. Cash awards are given to the winner, runner-up, and People's Choice Award winner.

2024 Competition Timeline

• Friday, February 9, 11:59 PM -  Faculty Nominations Due
• Monday, March 3, 11:59 PM - Student Submissions Due
• Monday, April 14  - Rehearsal, Fowler Hall 5:00 p.m. EST - mandatory
• Tuesday, April 15 -  Competition, Fowler Hall, 7:00 p.m. EST

 Cash Awards

• 1st place $5,000 
• 2nd place $3,000 
• People's Choice $2,000 

A panel of judges will select the first and second-place winners, while the People's Choice Award will be selected by the audience.

2024 Winners

First place: kevin alessandro bautista, engineering.

Second Place: Thomas Clarke, Science

People’s Choice: Jeanine Arana, Agriculture

Graduate Student Submissions

The Graduate School welcomes submissions from all Purdue University disciplines. For help with presenting and visual aids please see the following free professional development workshops.

Please read the 3MT® competition rules in the drop-down button below.

Video Competitor Guide

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or "movement" of any description).
• No additional electronic media (e.g., sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g., costumes, musical instruments or laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum, and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
• The decision of the judging panel is final, and People's Choice voting results will not be released.
• All presentations will be videotaped and will appear on the graduate school 3MT® website.
• Students who are over the cost of attendance allowance may not be eligible for prizes.

Each 3MT® presentation will be judged based on communication style, comprehension, and engagement. Please view our archive of video presentations made by past winners .

Please email the program administrators at  [email protected]  if you have any questions!

Higher Degrees by Research...Start your 3MT journey here

An 80,000 word phd thesis would take 9 hours to present. your time limit... 3 minutes..

• What is 3MT?
• Why Participate?

The Three Minute Thesis competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by Doctor of Philosophy students. Developed by The University of Queensland, 3MT cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

The idea for 3MT came about at a time when the state of Queensland was suffering severe drought. To conserve water, residents were encouraged to time their showers, and many people had a three minute egg timer fixed to the wall in their bathroom. The then Dean of the Graduate School, Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, put two and two together and the idea for the 3MT competition was born.

The first 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2008 with 160 Higher Degree by Research candidates competing. In 2009 and 2010 the 3MT competition was promoted to other Australian and New Zealand universities and enthusiasm for the concept grew. Due to its adoption in numerous universities, a multi- national event was developed, and the Inaugural Trans- Tasman 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2010. Since 2011 the popularity of the competition has increased and 3MT competitions are now held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide. In November 2013, the first Universitas 21 (U21) 3MT competition was held with several universities from around the world competing in a virtual competition. 2016 bought about an expansion of the Trans-Tasman 3MT competition to include universities from South-East and North Asia regions. The competition is now called the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition and is hosted annually by UQ.

In 2020 3MT moved to a temporary virtual format due to COVID-19 and has continued to be held around the word in either a virtual or live format (depending on local COVID-19 restrictions).

2008 - The first 3MT competition was held at UQ  with 160 Higher Degree by Research candidates competing.

2009 - The 3MT competition was promoted to other Australian and New Zealand universities and enthusiasm for the concept grew.

2010 - A multi- national event was developed, and the Inaugural Trans-Tasman 3MT competition was held at UQ.

2013 - The first Universitas 21 (U21) 3MT Competition was held with several universities from around the world competing in a virtual   competition.

2016 - The Trans-Tasman 3MT competition expanded to include universities from South-East and North Asia regions and was renamed the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition and is hosted annually by UQ.

2020 - 3MT moves to a temporary virtual format due to COVID-19.

2021 - 3MT continues to be held around the world in either a virtual or live format (depending on local COVID-19 restrictions)

Now - 3MT is held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide .

Skills development for research candidates Participating in 3MT develops academic, presentation and research communication skills, while developing research candidates’ ability to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. Building research culture in universities 3MT provides a valuable opportunity for HDR candidates to come together (live or virtually), get to know one another and talk about their research. It also provides a supportive environment in which schools, institutes and universities can provide presentation skills training. Building external relations for the university 3MT winners may go on to represent their university at national and international 3MT competitions which provides an excellent networking and professional development opportunity. Previous 3MT finalists have benefited from invitations to a variety of other networking events following their participation in the competition. Winner of the 2014 UQ 3MT Dr Megan Rossi talks about how the 3MT competition helped her career.

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22 The 3 Minute Thesis

Read time: 2 minutes

This chapter will provide an overview of the 3 Minute Thesis oral presentation format.

Sections in this chapter

What is it.

• 3MT examples

The three-minute thesis (3MT) is a new format of research presentation that builds on the classic “elevator pitch”. The challenge in this type of presentation is to explain your research to an intelligent non-specialist audience in under 3 minutes with limited visual aids. Often there are specific rules for the visual aid: a single 4:3 slide, no animations or video, and no props.

For a successful 3MT talk, you need to follow completely different rules from normal scientific presentations. You can skip common things like introducing yourself, thanking all your lab mates and colleagues, or funding. You typically don’t show data unless it is presented in a very simple figure.

Because of the challenge involved with presenting years of detailed research in only three minutes, Universities hold cross-faculty 3MT competitions. The first was founded by the University of Queensland, Australia, where you can find many great resources and videos .

The tips below were adapted from “10 Hints for Improving Presentations for the Three Minute Thesis” by Danielle Fischer at Charles Darwin University ( Full PDF here ):

• Don’t introduce yourself, don’t do acknowledgements, don’t show data.
• Start by introducing how your research relates to the bigger picture. Try to think of why any person might be interested in your work.
• Only include relevant things on your slide and make sure images are good quality. Carefully design your slide, don’t overcrowd it or use too much colour.
• Use simple and familiar analogies.
• Speak with an excited and engaged manner.
• Don’t wear anything distracting.
• Use body language: smiling, gestures, movement, and eye-contact.
• Finish by bringing the audience back to the big picture.
• Practice and get feedback from a wide variety of people.
• Use your time, but don’t go over it.

These are some 3MT slides made by previous CHEM 803 students.

There are many resources online about preparing a 3MT presentation. Below are some links to helpful videos, award-winning 3MT talks, and the many resources provided by Queen’s University.

Helpful Videos

These videos were prepared by are owned by Australian National University.

3MT: three tips to help you prepare a winning presentation

3MT: the three most common mistakes

Award-winning 3MT

These are videos of some award-winning 3MT talks. The first one has the best title,  it’s simple and concise!

Wind turbines and climate change – Rosemary Barnes

Hypoxia-activated pro-drugs: a novel approach for breast cancer treatment – jasdeep saggar, the development of anti-body-drug conjugate to specifically target and soften the crystalline lens in vivo – gah-jone won.

Check out the Queen’s University 2020 Competition results, where you’ll find two award-winning 3MT talks from our Chemistry Department by Morgan Lehtinen and Alastair Kierulf. [ In the video at this link, click “Playlist” to find their talks ]

Principles of Scientific Communication Copyright © 2020 by Amanda Bongers and Donal Macartney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Apr 11, 2023

How to design an impactful 3MT slide (with examples!)

What can you do in three minutes? Brush your teeth, make a coffee?

How about explain your entire PhD thesis? 😅

Believe it or not, that’s what thousands of people do each year in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT ® ); a global public speaking competition where PhD students explain the scope and impact of their research in, you guessed it, just three minutes . ⏰

And if you’re reading this, perhaps you’re an aspiring 3MT-er yourself, on the hunt for some inspiration to design an impactful 3MT slide to accompany your talk.

Sound like you? Then you’ve come to the right place.

Previously, we gave you some tips and tricks on how to write a winning 3MT script , but in this instalment of our 3MT series, we’re switching gears to cover another very important aspect:

We’ve trawled the internet to discover what actually makes a good three minute thesis slide, and in this blog, we’ll cover some do’s and don’ts to help you design one that’s memorable and impactful. To help bring these concepts home, we’ll also include some examples that we love from past 3MT winners and finalists.

But before we do that, let’s recap some important rules related to the 3MT slide:

So, in short, the 3MT slide obviously needs to be fairly simple. But that doesn’t mean it has to be boring.

Hold up… if the 3MT is a public speaking competition, why is the slide even important? Surely only what you speak about matters, right? WRONG! 🙅‍♀️

The 3MT competition is about so much more than just what you say. It’s also about what you do and what you show And what you show during your 3MT is where your nifty little slide comes in.

Not only is the PowerPoint slide a key component of the 3MT judging criteria , it also helps create a lasting mental image for the judges. After all, you can’t win the 3MT if the audience and judges can’t even remember what your research is about!

So, hopefully we’ve been able to convince you about just how important having a good slide is. But how do you design an impactful 3MT slide, you ask?

Well, here are 5 of our top tips:

Tip #1 : Avoid data dumping 📊

You might be familiar with those boring old PowerPoint presentations that seem to appear at every conference. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones cluttered with complex graphs, huge tables, and enough numbers to put even the most experienced professors to sleep.

May I present to you… Exhibit A:

Look familiar? Good. Now lock the memory away in a distant room of your mind palace, because that’s exactly what you DON’T want in a 3MT slide (or really, in any slide for that matter…)

Unlike a conference presentation, your 3MT slide should simply act to enhance and complement your script, rather than be used to display complex data and graphs. In fact, I would suggest avoiding the use of any complex graphs and data tables at all, because they just end up detracting attention from what you’re saying.

If you choose to present some important data or statistics in your 3MT slide, consider swapping out graphs with simple infographics , like pie charts or diagrams:

As you can see, simple infographics and eye-catching figures are a much more visually stimulating way to present information, especially compared to data-heavy graphs and tables. And they’re surprisingly easy to make using tools like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Express .

So, if in doubt, leave complex data out. 🚫

In fact, you’ll find that most successful 3MT-ers show little to no data at all in their slides and intentionally keep them very conceptual, which brings me to tip #2 .

Tip #2 : Keep it conceptual 💡

Perhaps you’re sensing a general theme here… that typically less is more when it comes to a 3MT slide. This allows the focus of the presentation to be on the speaker, the slide simply acting as a visual aid to complement the story . And when it’s a public speaking competition, I’d say that’s pretty important.

In our humble opinion, some of the most effective and memorable 3MT slides are those that present an image or diagram that conveys a single underpinning concept or idea .

You might recall from our ‘ How to Write a Winning 3MT Script ’ blog post, that many successful 3MT scripts incorporate things like humour, analogies , or fictional characters. In these situations, it can be helpful for the contents of the slide to reflect this.

One of my favourite examples of this comes from 2016 Asia-Pacific 3MT Winner, Joshua Chu-Tan , who spoke about his research on gene therapy treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to target the root of vision loss. In his winning presentation, he says:

Rather than using complex diagrams to show the theory, he opted for this simple, yet extremely powerful image that highlights the impact of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration. And, seeing as this image has stuck in my memory for years, I’d say it was a pretty good choice.

As another example, back when I won the 3MT , I used an analogy to draw parallels between A) cars carrying passengers on a highway, and B) nanoparticles carrying drugs along a blood vessel. So, my 3MT slide portrayed a busy highway with signage to show which hypothetical organs the cars were headed towards:

Basically, the overarching message is to keep it simple.

And that’s all well and good… But where do you even start?

Your first step is to write your 3MT script . Then, once you have your script prepared, use it as a tool to help you brainstorm ideas for your slide. Note whether you’ve used any analogies, introduced any characters, or covered certain concepts, and then based on this information, find or create a visual to match! 🖼 This might be a little different to your usual scientific presentations, where you would normally prepare your slides first, then come up with what you are going to say after, but trust me – it works!

Tip #3 : Choose an eye-catching visual… or make one 👀

In the same way that ‘ the hook’ in your 3MT script helps to pique the audience’s attention, the slide is another important tool to capture their attention and keep them engaged. But to do this, it needs to be eye-catching and interesting .

We’ve noticed that most winning 3MTs have slides that generally fall under one of two categories: images or diagrams .

These are usually photographs or illustrations that complement the script in some way — containing a reference to the concept, analogy or character(s) that were introduced in the script.

For example, let’s say you introduced a fictional character in your 3MT script. By visually showing this character in your slide, it helps the audience form a connection with them and taps into their sense of empathy. Let’s look at an example:

As you can see, using this photograph makes for a really effective and impactful slide because it elicits a strong emotional response. Come on… how can you not love that adorable little face, right? 🥺

However, the images don’t have to be of people to be effective – they can also be more conceptual.

For instance, one 3MT finalist spoke about their research on detecting diseases, like cancer, based on characteristic molecules present in the breath. In their slide, they showed an illustration of breath molecules exiting the lungs and mouth to be caught in a net:

Not only is this image a great reference to the net analogy used, but we (as the audience) are able to get a basic idea about the research concept based on the slide alone, which really helps it stick in our memory!

Of course, while we’ve highlighted some great examples, you should choose whatever image speaks to you and your research. Some useful resources to find images for your 3MT slide include iStock Photo and Adobe Stock Photos (making sure to provide attribution where required), or you can even be extra creative and take your own photo, or create your own image ! 📸

Aside from images, schematic diagrams can be another great way to conceptualise and visualise your research. However, to be effective as 3MT slides, the diagrams need to be simple and easy to understand.

Ideally, they should be short, and the outcomes immediately recognisable . Avoid using complex diagrams that you’ve directly copy-pasted from a paper, as these generally take a lot more time and concentration to understand.

A good example of a diagram for a 3MT slide was used by the 2020 Asia-Pacific 3MT winner , whose research focused on the development of a liquid glue to help measure electrical signals from plants as a way to measure their health:

In this example, it’s easy to understand what the research is about, what’s being measured, and what the desired outcomes are, thanks to the clear illustrations and emotive flower drawings.

So, if done well, diagrams can be a really powerful tool to conceptualise your research. If you want to try and create one yourself, there are lots of useful tools you can use, like Adobe Illustrator , Canva , or BioRender , to name a few.

Get creative!

Tip #4 : Minimise text 💬

When it comes to presentations, there’s nothing worse than being in the audience, staring at a PowerPoint slide, only to find a wall of text staring back at you. Not only is it super distracting, but aesthetically, it also leaves much to be desired.

And let’s be honest, if the audience is reading your slide, then they’re not listening to you… and vice versa. Which, for the 3MT, is a very big problem.

To prevent this, try to avoid including large bodies of text on your 3MT slide . See if you can verbally communicate the information instead, or alternatively, replace the text with an image that conveys the same message. After all, they say a picture speaks a thousand words.

If you really need to include some text, as in the case of simple diagrams, try to keep it to a minimum and limit yourself to 15 words maximum.

Any text you do include should use a font size that can be easily seen from the back of the room (i.e., 24 pt. minimum). And, while they sometimes have their time and place, try to avoid using any cursive, funky, or hard-to-read fonts . Comic sans, I’m looking at you. 😒

Tip #5 : Negative space is your friend 🔲

You might be tempted to fill every visible inch of your PowerPoint slide with images, diagrams, or just something to compensate for the very little time you have to present your 3MT.

Though, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you did, because a little negative space can go a long way towards designing a great 3MT slide.

But what is negative space? Put simply, it’s the empty space around and between objects.

Leaving some negative space in your slide gives the audience some breathing room and helps them focus on what’s important .

For photographs, this might mean choosing an image that has one focal point. This doesn’t necessarily mean the background needs to be plain, but it may simply be out of focus to allow the objects in the forefront to stand out.

For diagrams, this means leaving some empty space between sections so that there’s a clearer distinction between them, or reducing the number of sections entirely.

Here are some great examples of 3MT slides that use negative space to draw our attention to a particular person or object:

By leaving some negative space, our eyes are immediately drawn to one particular focal point, letting us focus on what’s important: You.

The take-home message 📝

And that brings us to the end of the second blog for our 3MT series!

The 3MT slide can truly make or break a 3MT presentation, but the right one can take it to the next level. And, by following these simple tips, you’re well on your way to designing a slide that captures your research in an effective and impactful way:

Avoid complex graphs and data

Keep it conceptual

Choose an eye-catching image or diagram, or make one

Keep text to a minimum, and

Don’t be afraid of negative space

So get creative! And remember, if you want to learn more about how to create amazing graphics, or how to up your public speaking skills, we’d love to show you how in our in-person science communication workshop s or online courses!

Contact us here to find out more. 🤩

Cintya Dharmayanti

Dr Tullio Rossi

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How to write a winning 3MT script

5 epic science communication conferences for your travel bucket list

The history of science communication methods and their evolution over time

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The Three Minute Thesis Competition  

An 80,000 word ph.d. thesis would take 9 hours to present. their time limit...3 minutes. special thanks to our sponsor riverstone for supporting this event.  .

The 2024 3MT Competition is taking place in February and April! Thirty applicants will be selected to compete. Applications are now closed.

3MT Overview

Three Minute Thesis (3MT ® ) celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students around the world. Developed by  The University of Queensland (UQ) , the competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Presenting in a 3MT competition increases their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes , in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. Competitors are allowed one PowerPoint slide , but no other resources or props.

The 8 th  annual 3MT competition took place in March 2023. We had 32 students compete and witnessed some fantastic presentations. We can't wait to see what our new and returning participants bring in 2024. To help students prepare for the 3MT we offer a workshop series that will guide students through the whole process-- developing the talk, creating the slide, and practicing the presentation. view all the 2023 preliminary and final round presentations

Past Participants

The UNH Graduate School Media Channel hosts videos of the 3MT competitions from every year! Browse the channel at the link below to find 3MT presentations from participants across a range of disciplines and subjects. You can find direct links to the videos of our award winners from each year in the "Past 3MT Winners" section on this webpage as well.

UNH Graduate School Media Page Official 3MT Website

2023 3MT Winners

2024 3MT Competition Schedule

Preliminary Round 1 - February 27th from 3-5pm, MUB Theater I Preliminary Round 2 - February 28th from 3-5pm, MUB Theater I 3MT Final Round - April 8th from 4-6pm, MUB Theater II (followed by a reception from 6-7pm)

Preparing for your 3MT

Upcoming workshop open to all UNH graduate students and postdocs

Introduction to the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Come for an overview of what the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is and what makes a good 3MT, from content to audience to the way you present your research, orally and visually. Attendance can be in-person or virtual. 

When : December 13, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Where : Hamel Recreation Center room 107C or via Zoom

Register here

Past 3MT Winners

• 1 st place: Melanie Smith ,  Master's Student in Marine Biology
• 2 nd place: Manjot Rekhi , PhD Student in Earth and Environmental Science
• 3 rd place: Diana Reyes Gomez , PhD Student in Agricultural Sciences
• People's Choice Award: Ava Boutilier , Master's Student in Biochemistry
• 1 st place: Sathya Jagadeesan ,  PhD student in Chemical Engineering
• 2 nd place:  Nikolai Matukhno , Master's Student in Mechanical Engineering
• 3 rd place & People’s Choice Award:  Nick Pollak , PhD candidate in Chemistry
• 1 st place: David Heit , Msc Wildlife and Conservation Biology
• 2 nd place: Via D'Agostino , MFA Fiction Writing
• 3 rd place: Hannah Lightcap , PhD Psychology
• People’s Choice Award: Jess Flarity , PhD English Literature
• 1 st place: Jordan Pierce , MS Oceanography
• 2 nd place: Allison Giannotti , PhD Composition & Rhetoric
• 3 rd place: Isaiah Paolo Atienza Lee , PhD Molecular and Evolutionary Systems Biology
• People’s Choice Award: Danial Mirzaiyanrajeh , PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering
• People’s Choice Runner Up: Kerry Dykens , MS Oceanography
• 1 st place: Sidney Birch , PhD Molecular & Evolutionary Systems Biology
• 2 nd place & People’s Choice Award: Zane Relethford , PhD Chemistry
• 3 rd place: Katherine Ineson , PhD NRESS
• 1 st place: Jovana Milosavljevic Ardeljan , PhD Education
• 2 nd place: Devon O'Rourke , PhD Molecular and Evolution Systems Biology
• 3 rd place & People’s Choice Award: Kaitlyn Belknap , M.S. Genetics
• 1 st place: Drummond Biles , PhD, Mechanical Engineering
• 2 nd place: Meagan Wengrove , PhD Ocean Engineering
• 3 rd place: Ryan Stevens , PhD Natural resources
• People’s Choice Award: Rev. Holland Prior , MFA Creative Nonfiction
• People’s Choice Runner Up: Jovana Milosavljevic Ardeljan , PhD Education
• 1 st place & People’s Choice Award: Lesley Atwood , PhD Agroecology
• 2 nd place: Susan Deily Swearingen , PhD History
• 3 rd place: Maria Marin Jarrin , PhD Oceanography
• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations, or "movement" of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g., sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g., costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment, etc.) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g., no poems, raps or songs).
• Presentations are to commence from the front of the theater.
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Judging Criteria

3 Minute Thesis presentations are judged using the following criteria:

Comprehension and Content

• Did the presentation provide an understanding of the background to the research question being addressed and its significance?
• Did the presentation clearly describe the key results of the research including conclusions and outcomes?
• Did the presentation follow a clear and logical sequence?
• Was the thesis topic, key results and research significance and outcomes communicated in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
• Did the speaker avoid scientific jargon, explain terminology and provide adequate background information to illustrate points?
• Did the presenter spend adequate time on each element of their presentation - or did they elaborate for too long on one aspect so that other aspects of the presentation felt rushed?

Engagement and Communication

• Did the oration make the audience want to know more?
• Was the presenter careful not to trivialize or generalize their research?
• Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?
• Did the presenter capture and maintain their audience's attention?
• Did the speaker have sufficient stage presence, eye contact and vocal range; maintain a steady pace, and have a confident stance?
• Did the PowerPoint slide enhance the presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?

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About 3 Minute Thesis

Information about the competition and details of who to contact.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.

About the competition

The 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition requires doctoral researchers to compete to deliver the best research presentation in just 3 minutes (and one slide). It is based on a concept developed by the University of Queensland which quickly spread across Australia and New Zealand, and has gone global.

The University of Edinburgh has run a 3MT competition every year since 2013.

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Eligibility

Active PhD and Professional Doctorate (Research) candidates who have successfully passed their confirmation milestone (including candidates whose thesis is under submission) by the date of their first presentation are eligible to participate in 3MT competitions at all levels. Graduates are not eligible.

Judging Criteria

Comprehension and content

• Did the presentation provide an understanding of the background and significance to the research question being addressed, while explaining terminology and avoiding jargon?
• Did the presentation clearly describe the impact and/or results of the research, including conclusions and outcomes?
• Did the presentation follow a clear and logical sequence?
• Was the thesis topic, research significance, results/impact and outcomes communicated in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
• Did the presenter spend adequate time on each element of their presentation - or did they elaborate for too long on one aspect or was the presentation rushed?

Engagement and communication

• Did the oration make the audience want to know more?
• Was the presenter careful not to trivialise or generalise their research?
• Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?
• Did the presenter capture and maintain their audience's attention?
• Did the speaker have sufficient stage presence, eye contact and vocal range; maintain a steady pace, and have a confident stance?
• Did the PowerPoint slide enhance the presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?

More information about 3 Minute Thesis

Find detailed information about the 3 Minute Thesis Competition, including tips on how to prepare, in our new handbook for participants:

3 Minute Thesis participant handbook (PDF)

You may also find our web information helpful:

• How to enter and competition criteria  
• Frequently asked questions

College Prizes

At each College heat, three winners will be selected to go through to the University final; further prizes to be confirmed.

University Prizes

All those who take part at the University competition will have their presentations filmed and uploaded to the University YouTube channel. Our thanks go to the Principal for the generous donation of funds for this year’s prizes for the winners of the 3 Minute Thesis Finals. We are very grateful for this support, and are happy to announce this year’s prizes:

1st Prize : £1000

Runner up:  £400 

Peoples’ Choice Award : £400 

The winner of the University of Edinburgh competition is then entered into the UK Competition and the international Universitas 21 Competition.

Details of the final prizes are still to be confirmed by Universitas 21.

Feedback from previous winners

Read our guest blog posts from Owen Gwydion James 2018 winner of the UK competition,  Chen Zhao, 2015 Competition Winner, Emma Hodcroft, 2014 Competition Winner, and Mara Götz, 2013 ‘People’s Choice’ Winner on their experience of the competition:

Read Owen Gwydion James's guest blog post

Read Emma Hodcroft's guest blog post

Read Mara Götz's blog post on participating in 3MT

Read Chen Zhao's blog post

Contact information

Please contact Louise if you have any questions:

Louise McKay

Events Operations and Doctoral Programme Manager

Contact details

• Work: 0131 651 7189
• Email: [email protected]

This article was published on 2024-02-26

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Sussex Researcher School

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• Three Minute Thesis

Preparing your 3MT presentation

• Back to previous menu
• Eligibility, Rules and Judging Criteria
• Sussex 3MT 2023
• Sussex 3MT 2022
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NOTE: Familiarise yourself with the 3MT rules and judging criteria  before starting your preparation. This guidance is taken from the University of Queensland's  official 3MT competitor resources .

Even the world’s best public speakers prepare before important presentations. To assist you with your preparations, please find a few suggestions below that will help you in writing your presentation, creating your slide and practising your verbal presentation.

Drafting your 3MT

Write for your audience The judges will look for evidence that you can explain your research to a non-specialist audience. You may like to:

• avoid jargon and academic language
• explain concepts and people important to your research - you may know all about Professor Smith’s theories but your audience may not
• highlight the outcomes of your research, and the desired outcome
• imagine that you are explaining your research to a close friend or fellow student from another field
• convey your excitement and enthusiasm for your subject

Tell a story

• You may like to present your 3MT as a narrative, with a beginning, middle and end.
• It’s not easy to condense your research into three minutes, so you may find it easier to break your presentation down into smaller sections.
• Try writing an opener to catch the attention of the audience, then highlight your different points, and finally have a summary to restate the importance of your work.

Have a clear outcome in mind

• Know what you want your audience to take away from your presentation.
• Try to leave the audience with an understanding of what you’re doing, why it is important, and what you hope to achieve.
• Proof your 3MT presentation by reading it aloud, firstly to yourself and then to an audience of friends and family.
• Ask for feedback.
• Ask your audience if your presentation clearly highlights what your research is  about and why it is important.

Creating your 3MT slide

Before you start work on your slide, you should take the following rules into account:

• one single static PowerPoint slide is permitted;
• no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description are permitted;
• your slide is to be presented from the beginning of your oration; and
• no additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.

Suggestions

You may like to consider some of the following suggestions:

• Less is more : text and complicated graphics can distract your audience – you don’t want them to read your slide instead of listening to your 3MT. 
• Personal touches : personal touches can allow your audience to understand the impact of your research.
• Creativity drives interest : do not rely on your slide to convey your message – it should simply complement your oration.
• Work your message : think about how your slide might be able to assist with the format and delivery of your presentation – is there a metaphor that helps explain your research?
• An engaging visual presentation can make or break any oration, so make sure your slide is  legible, clear and concise .

Practising your 3MT presentation

Practice, practice, practice Feeling nervous before you present is natural, and sometimes a little nervousness can even be beneficial to your overall speech. Nonetheless, it is important to practice so you can present with confidence and clarity. Practicing will also help you gauge the timing of your 3MT so that you keep within the time limit.

Vocal range

• Speak clearly and use variety in your voice (fast/slow, loud/soft).
• Do not rush - find your rhythm.
• Remember to pause at key points as it gives the audience time to think about what you are saying.

Body language

• Stand straight and confidently.
• Hold your head up and make eye contact.
• Never turn your back to the audience.
• Practise how you will use your hands and move around the stage. It is okay to move around energetically if that is your personality, however it is also appropriate for a 3MT presentation to be delivered from a single spot on stage.
• Do not make the common mistakes of rolling back and forth on your heels, pacing for no reason or playing with your hair as these habits are distracting for the audience.

Record yourself

• Record and listen to your presentation to hear where you pause, speak too quickly or get it just right.
• Then work on your weaknesses and exploit your strengths.

Look to the stars!

• Watch your role models such as academics, politicians and journalists, and break down their strengths and weaknesses.
• Analyse how they engage with their audience.
• Visit  the Queensland 3MT website , the Vitae 3MT webpages or search YouTube to view presentations from previous 3MT finalists.
• While there is no dress code, if you are unsure of how to dress you may like to dress for a job interview or an important meeting. It is important that you feel comfortable so you can focus on your presentation.
• If you are presenting on a stage that has a wooden floor, be aware of the noise your footwear might make.
• Do not wear a costume of any kind as this is against the rules (as is the use of props).

Further resources

There are many resources available online for further help. Useful ones might include:

Presenting your research effectively and with confidence - By previous 3MT finalists (Taylor & Francis resource)

How a competition changed my academic life - By Jamie Khoo, 2018 UK People's Choice winner

Is it worth doing the three minute thesis?  - By Mary Woessner, Victoria University

How to win the 3 minute thesis  - By Dr Inger Mewburn (aka @thesiswhisperer)

Making the most of your 3 minutes  - Simon Clews, University of Melbourne

Talk nerdy to me  - Melissa Marshall's TED talk

Vitae's 3MT webpages

These guidance pages are part of the University of Queensland's official 3MT competitor resources

E : [email protected]

Copyright © 2024, University of Sussex

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Graduate School Updates>

The latest COVID-19 news and information is available at  Penn State's Coronavirus Information website . 

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Update

On March 11 th  the University announced that beginning March 16 th  instruction for all students will be moving to a remote delivery format. Graduate students enrolled in resident courses should plan on participating remotely, and not coming to campus specifically for face-to-face instruction. Learn more at gradschool.psu.edu/covid19 .

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Three Minute Thesis

•  /  Career and Professional Development
•  /  Three Minute Thesis

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. Through the competition, graduate and professional students can hone their academic and research presentation skills and their ability to effectively explain their research to a general audience. Each competitor has three minutes to speak and can use only one presentation slide.

The Graduate School will be hosting the 2024 Three Minute Thesis competition in partnership with the Graduate and Professional Student Association and the Graduate School Alumni Society .

Watch the Final Round

3MT at Penn State in 2024 

Penn State’s first University-wide 3MT Competition will take place over two rounds. To compete, graduate students must upload a video presentation during the submission period (January 8–February 9) and be available for the final, in-person round on Saturday, March 23, on the University Park campus.

Competitor Information

Learn more about eligibility requirements, the upcoming timeline, prize money, and more.

Judge Information

Learn about remote judging for the opening round, who can be a judge, judging criteria, and more.

Prizes 

• First Place: $1,000
• Second Place: $500
• People's Choice: $500

Competition Format

Opening Round — Video Format expand_more

Open call to any Penn State graduate or professional student conducting research to submit three-minute videos. Submissions will be judged by alumni, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, staff, and others. The top 10 students get invited to the final round as well as a free lunch at Penn State’s annual Doctoral Alumni Recognition Luncheon hosted by the Dean of the Graduate School. 

Final Round — In-Person Format expand_more

Saturday, March 23  10:00-11:15 a.m.  Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center 

The final round will be live streamed from the University Park campus and will include a people’s choice prize selected by virtual and in-person audience ballots. Winners will be announced shortly after the competition.

Regional and National Competitions expand_more

The top-scoring Ph.D. student from Penn State’s final round will be invited to the regional 3MT competition hosted by the Northeast Association of Graduate Schools in April 2024 (exact date to be determined). Winners of the regional competition are invited to the national competition hosted by the Council of Graduate Schools. Students in master's and professional degree programs are eligible to participate in Penn State's competition but are not eligible for the regional or national competitions.

Why participate?

Megan Rossi, past 3MT winner at the University of Queensland, discusses how the 3MT competition helped her career.

Contact  

Direct all questions about Three Minute Thesis at Penn State to: [email protected] .  

Three Minute Thesis, Graduate Exhibition, or Both?

In spring 2024, Penn State graduate students can participate in two major research and scholarship communication events, the Three Minute Thesis and the  Graduate Exhibition . Students are welcome to participate in both but should be aware that each event has its own application process and deadlines.

Florida State University

FSU | The Graduate School

Main navigation Pulldown

The graduate school, three minute thesis (3mt™).

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT™) is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland, Australia. The exercise develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of students' capacities to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

Doctoral students have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their dissertation topic and its significance. 3MT™ encourages students to consolidate their ideas and crystalize their research discoveries.

Congratulate the 2023 3MT Winners!

1st Place:  Hyosoon Yim

Sport Management Promoting Sport Participation among Older Adults: Application of the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

2nd Place:  Tania Sultana

Biomedical Sciences ZIKV NS3 Drives Assembly of a Viroplasm-Like Structure (VLS)

3rd Place:  Meng Tian

Communication The Stereotypes of Female eSports Players

People's Choice:  John Akintola

Chemistry and Biochemistry Functional Polyelectrolyte Complexes

2023 3MT Competition Finalists!

Sima Sabbagh

Neuroscience Unmasking the Architects of the Brain: Marvelous FMRP

Art Education Art May Facilitate Community Building to Alleviate Chinese International Students' Alienation

Andre Juliao

Condensed Matter Experimental Physics Nb3Sn for Axion Detection

Hemant Goswami

Molecular Biophysics Development of an Ultrasensitive and Rapid Virus Detection Method Based on CRISPR-Cas Enzyme

Toshiaki Kanai

Physics  Quantum Computer on Solid Neon 

Qiushan Liu

Developmental Psychology Investigating Strategy Flexibility in Algebra

Click here to read the FSU News Article

Click here to see the 2023 3MT Competition Gallery

Your graduate research. 3 minutes. 1 slide.

Why Participate?

Skills development for research candidates Participating in 3MT develops academic, presentation and research communication skills, while developing research candidates’ ability to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

Building external relations for the university 3MT winners go on to represent FSU at regional and national competitions which provides an excellent networking and professional development opportunity. 

Are you eligible?

Currently enrolled doctoral students at Florida State University are eligible to participate in the 3MT™. 3MT® presentations must represent the primary research the student has conducted in their graduate program.

Master's students are not eligible.

What are the prizes?

• 1st Place -  $1,000
• 2nd Place -  $750
• 3rd Place -  $500
• People's Choice (selected by the audience): $250

What are the judging criteria?

At every level of the competition each competitor will be assessed on the judging criteria listed below. Each criterion is equally weighted and has an emphasis on audience.

Comprehension and content

• Presentation provided clear background and significance to the research question
• Presentation clearly described the research strategy/design and the results/findings of the research
• Presentation clearly described the conclusions, outcomes and impact of the research

Engagement and communication

• The oration was delivered clearly, and the language was appropriate for a non-specialist audience
• The PowerPoint slide was well-defined and enhanced the presentation
• The presenter conveyed enthusiasm for their research and captured and maintained the audience’s attention

What are the rules?

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description), and the slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration and remain in view for the duration of the oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum, and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• The decision of the judging panel is final.

Helpful Resources

• Click here to view the Three Minute Thesis Virtual Competition Handbook.

3MT Recording/Editing Links

• OpenShot Editing Video
• Kapwing Website
• 3MT Workshop Recording of Kapwing Editor: this video is a demonstration of the software
• Kapwing Tutorial
• FSU Canvas Support Center Tutorial : Best Practices for Student Video Production (iMovie and Movie Maker)
• Vimeo Website

Past 3MT™ Competitions

Fall 2023 3MT™

Doctoral student in Sport Management, Hyosoon Yim took first place at this year's 3MT competition and won $1,000. Read more .

Fall 2022 3MT™

Doctoral student in Science Education, Dionne Wilson took first place at this year's 3MT competition and won $1,000. Read more .

Fall 2021 3MT™

Doctoral student in Art Education, Chris Omni took first place at this year's 3MT competition and won $1,000.  Read more.

Fall 2020 3MT™

Mark Duslak (Educational Leadership & Policy Studies) and Matthew Martenson (Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences) finished first this year. Read more.

Fall 2019 3MT™

Judges selected Alyssa Henderson (Physics)and Sara Jones (Biomedical Sciences) as this year’s first-place winners. Read more.

Fall 2018 3MT™

Doctoral student in biological science, Eve Humphrey took first place at this year's 3MT competition and won $1,000. Read more.

Fall 2017 3MT™

For the first time, a student from the College of Education, Shannon Gooden (Teacher Education), won the $1,000 prize. Read more.

Fall 2016 3MT™

Madhuparna Roy (Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering)won first place in this year's competition. Read more.

Fall 2015 3MT™

Aniket Ingrole (Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering) won first place in the 3MT™ competition. Read more.

Fall 2014 3MT™

Kimberly Smith (Neuroscience) won first place in this year's 3MT™ competition. Read more.

View the past 3MT competition galleries

/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="three minute thesis"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Asian literature, religion, and culture ph.d. candidate wins three minute thesis competition.

“So, this is a coin from 12 th century Sri Lanka. And, like many coins, it’s inscribed with the name of the monarch who commissioned it,” began Bruno Shirley, a doctoral candidate in Asian literature, religion, and culture at the seventh annual Cornell University Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

Alongside seven other finalists, Shirley presented his dissertation research in just three minutes to a panel of judges and a virtual audience from across campus and around the world. Presentations were judged by how clearly and compellingly students summarized their research to a general audience, using only one static slide.

His presentation, “Constructing Buddhist kingship in medieval Sri Lanka,” earned him first place and $1,500. Second place and $1,000 was awarded to physics doctoral candidate Vaibhav Sharma for his presentation, “What happens when atoms colder than outer space are spun around?”

After nearly 100 audience members cast their ballots, votes were tallied and the People’s Choice Award and $250 were presented to plant pathology and plant-microbe biology doctoral candidate Juliana González-Tobón for her presentation, “Can bacteria smell their food?”

For Shirley, whose fieldwork plans were disrupted by the pandemic, entering the 3MT enabled him to reengage with his dissertation research.

“These three-minute talks are more than just elevator pitches; the process helped me to really hone-in on what’s most important in my dissertation topic,” he said. “It’s so easy to lose sight of the woods for the trees when we’re deep into dissertation-land, and this was a valuable opportunity to step back and re-orient.”

Sharma, while enthusiastic about his research, struggled to articulate it clearly and compellingly to friends and family in the past. Through the 3MT, he learned valuable skills about concisely summarizing his complex research.

“Before 3MT, I didn’t believe I could talk about my research in just three minutes. The 3MT preparation stage was an eye-opener for me, and I realized the value of each and every sentence. There was no benefit to adding a single ‘filler’ or useless word. I learned how to cut down on verbosity and explain even difficult concepts in brief and easy to understand language. It will help me in the long run if I write shorter and better papers,” he said. “And now if anyone asks me about my research, I can just give them the link to my 3MT video.”

González-Tobón wanted to enter the 3MT since she began her doctoral program and appreciated that this year’s virtual platform allowed for a larger audience.

“It was a great opportunity to invite friends and family from around the world. As an international student, being able to invite everyone felt fantastic and was so heart-warming!” she said. “Also, since the finalists were both international and domestic and from several different research areas, it was amazing to see how diverse this community is and how different our expertise areas are.”

The 3MT competition was first held in 2008 at the University of Queensland and has since been adopted by over 900 universities in over 85 countries. 3MT challenges research degree students to present a compelling story on their dissertation or thesis and its significance in just three minutes, in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

Cornell’s Graduate School first hosted a 3MT competition in 2015 and the event has grown steadily since that time. Cornell’s winner will go on to compete in the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools 3MT competition in late April.

“We are so proud of each and every one of our finalists,” said Jan Allen, associate dean for academic and student affairs. “They not only gave excellent presentations, but learned important skills about research communication in the process that will benefit them as they graduate and move into new roles.”

Cornell’s seventh 3MT final round competition was held on March 22, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. on Zoom.

Spring 2022 3MT Finalists

Watch the 2022 three minute thesis competition finale ., first place: bruno shirley , asian literature, religion, and culture doctoral candidate.

Watch Bruno Shirley’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “Constructing Buddhist kingship in medieval Sri Lanka”

Special Committee Chair: Anne M. Blackburn

Area of Research: Buddhist political thought

Biography: Originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Bruno is an intellectual historian of medieval South Asian Buddhism, de- and re-constructing ideas about political thought, gender, and devotion. He is interested in theories and methods that challenge our assumption both about “the past” and about possible futures.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: The view out over the lake from up in Olin Library.

Second Place: Vaibhav Sharma , physics doctoral candidate

Watch Vaibhav Sharma’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “What happens when atoms colder than outer space are spun around?”

Special Committee Chair: Erich Mueller

Area of Research: Ultra-cold atoms and quantum information

Biography: Vaibhav Sharma is a Ph.D. student in theoretical physics. His research focuses on studying atoms cooled down to almost absolute zero temperatures. Vaibhav does calculations to understand and explain their quantum mechanical behavior. He grew up in Delhi, India. Outside physics, he enjoys playing tennis, traveling to stunning landscapes, and learning to speak Spanish.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: The open culture of respect and fostering a free flow of ideas.

People’s Choice: Juliana González-Tobón , plant pathology and plant-microbe biology doctoral candidate

Watch Juliana González-Tobón’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “Can bacteria smell their food?”

Special Committee Chair: Melanie Filiatrault

Area of Research: Bacterial plant pathogens, host-pathogen molecular interactions, RNA regulation, chemotaxis

Biography: Juliana, a Ph.D. candidate at PPPMB, studies bacteria that infect potatoes and how they sense the environment. She is originally from Colombia, a writing/presenting tutor at ELSO, and has created a community in social media to communicate science to the general public, mainly in Spanish, and a support network with tips and challenges about academia.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: At Cornell, I feel like I can take on any project I can think of. So many great minds and a supportive community around me every day!

Sebastian Diaz Angel, history doctoral candidate

Watch Sebastian Diaz Angel’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “Nuclear excavations to dam the Amazon, clear the jungles, and prevent Communism (1964-1973)”

Special Committee Chair: Raymond B. Craib

Area of Research: Latin American history, historical geography, environmental history, map studies, history of technology, Cold War

Biography: Sebastian has a B.A. in political science, a B.A. in history, and an M.A. in geography. His dissertation, “Weaponizing the Wilds. Counterinsurgency mappings and the geographical engineering of development in Cold War Latin America,” traces intersecting histories of technology, environment, and politics in the Cold War.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: Its diversity.

Fernanda Fontenele, mechanical engineering doctoral candidate

Watch Fernanda Fontenele’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “The tension of a crush”

Special Committee Chair : Nikolaos Bouklas

Area of Research: Mechanics of composite materials

Biography: Fernanda Fontenele joined the field of mechanical and aerospace engineering as a Ph.D. student in 2018. She is studying how composite materials, such as tendons, fail under conditions of overuse and repetitive loading. The ultimate goal of her research is to develop treatment methods and preventive strategies for diseases such as tendinopathy.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: Adherence to the motto, “any person…any study.”

Shagun Gupta , computational biology doctoral candidate

Watch Shagun Gupta’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “Sparking joy with LAVA!”

Special Committee Chair: Haiyuan Yu

Area of Research: Mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Biography: Shagun Gupta is a Ph.D. candidate in computational biology. She is working on finding the best ways to accurately quantify signal from noisy datasets produced with mass spectrometers and using structure-based approaches to shed light on the role of proteins in our bodies. In her free time, she can be found reading sci-fi and taking hikes in Ithaca.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: The clock tower and its holiday-specific versions!

Watch Andrew Legan’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “Chemical communication in wasps”

Special Committee Chair: Michael Sheehan

Area of Research: Insect molecular ecology and evolution

Biography: Andrew moved from Nashville, TN to Ithaca in 2016. He is curious about animal behavior and evolution and has focused on studying paper wasps during his graduate studies. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer and hiking with his dog.

Favorite Thing About Cornell: My favorite thing about Cornell is the people. I am lucky to have met so many different curious and kind people during my time in Ithaca!

Yanle Lu , civil and environmental engineering doctoral candidate

Watch Yanle Lu’s presentation .

Presentation Title: “How long can we trust a model prediction?”

Special Committee Chair: Qi Li

Area of Research: Fluid dynamics, tracer dispersion, and heat transfer in urban environments

Biography: Yanle Lu is a Ph.D. candidate in the City-Climate-People lab in civil and environmental engineering. With a focus on urban climate, her research is about the fluid dynamics, tracer dispersion, and heat transfer in urban environments. Her current research topics are the predictability of dispersion in the surface layer over urban environments and the representation of urban land surface in high resolution numerical models. 

Favorite Thing About Cornell: Beautiful nature!

2022 Final Round 3MT Competition

The Three Minute Thesis final competition for 2022 was held virtually on Tuesday, March 22 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. ET. Eight finalists competed for first and second prize in the judging and people’s choice award winner.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an annual competition for doctoral students to develop and showcase their research communication skills, sponsored by the Cornell Graduate School.

Preliminary Rounds

2022 Preliminary round registration was open to all current doctoral candidates with research results to present. Preliminary round virtual competitions were held live from March 1-3.

Zoom Information sessions were held on the following dates and times.

• Tuesday, February 1 at 4:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, February 2 at 12:00 p.m.
• Friday, February 11 at 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, February 15 at 5:00 p.m.

Email  [email protected] with any questions about the Cornell Three Minute Thesis competition.

3MT - 3 Minute Thesis

2024 3MT University Competition Participants

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a research presentation competition that originated at the University of Queensland in 2008. Since then, the program has spread to universities worldwide. Students participating in the 3MT competition have three minutes to give an oral presentation based on their research. The presentation should avoid discipline-specific jargon and be presented so a lay audience can understand the significance of the research. 

Competitions are held in graduate departments and at the college level to determine which graduate student will advance to the university-wide competition. The competitor who wins first place will receive $2,000, second place will receive $1,500, third place will receive $1,000, and the Presenter's choice will win $500. The remaining participants will each receive $250.

For video examples of past 3MT presentations, visit the official 3MT website .

The following are the competition rules as given directly from 3MT:

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations, or 'movement' of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to a maximum of 3 minutes and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (eg. no poems, raps, or songs).
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

For a complete list of rules and more information on judging criteria, please visit the 3MT website .

Congratulations to the winners from our 2024 3MT Event!

Jared Steele Life Sciences Leveraging SuperShoe Technology for Clinical Care 1 st place winner

Luke Taylor Engineering Improving Medical Capsule Localization 2 nd place winner

Khiara Cardoza Family, Home, and Social Sciences Exploring Gender Differences in Infertility 3 rd place winner and Presenter's Choice

2024 3MT University Competition Winners

• Schedule 2024
• Judging Criteria
• Eligibility
• Resources for Participants
• Testimonials
• 2023 Finalists
• 2022 finalists
• 2021 Finalists
• 2020 Finalists

• Winners of the 2024 3MT competition

Participate or join the fun in this year’s 3MT

Questions about participating in 3MT?

Latest News

• Graduate students compete in the Finals
• Watch the Semi-Final events
• Arts graduate student wins UBC 3MT competition
• Watch the 2023 UBC 3MT competition

Three Minute Thesis Competition: Start

• 3MT Details
• Past 3MT Competitions

2024 3MT Competition

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an internationally recognized competition that challenges Ph.D students to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance in just 3 minutes, in language that anyone can understand. 3MT is not an exercise in trivializing or ‘dumbing-down’ research but requires students to consolidate their ideas, crystallize their research discoveries and capture the imagination of their audience.

Who's Eligible to Compete? All CMU Ph.D Students regardless of year in program. Whether it's your first year or last year, Come one - come all!

Why Compete? 3MT offers CMU doctoral candidates of any level the opportunity to gain early career recognition, connect with the campus community, and win prizes of up to $3,000. It's a great way to practice sharing your research with a non specialist audience and get listeners excited about your area of study. Students get to hear from fellow Ph.D. students across campus, which can spark interdisciplinary collaboration. They also get to present before staff, faculty, and alumni from a wide range of departments, as well as an extensive alumni network. Preliminary round winners receive $250 cash.

What Happens Next? Start practicing! All 3MT registrants will be scheduled to compete in preliminary rounds between January and February.

Then What? Winners of preliminary rounds go on to compete in-person in the CMU 3MT Championship, on Thursday, March 14, 2024 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm EST. Finalists will compete for an additional $500-$3,000 in cash prizes in the Three Minute Thesis Championship. Prizes are given for 1st ($3,000), 2nd ($2,000), and 3rd ($1,000) as well as the live audience-votes for People's Choice ($500) and virtual-vote for the Alumni Award ($750).

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• Last Updated: May 2, 2024 11:33 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.cmu.edu/3mt

Four Win Prizes in Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

by Holly Foster

May 14, 2024

Express Yourself

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Open to all members of the senior class, the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition offers cash prizes to students who can most effectively summarize their senior research projects in three minutes or fewer. In addition, participants must tailor their explanations to a broad audience.

The first,- second-, and third-place prizes were determined by a panel of judges from the Clinton and Utica area; the People's Choice Award goes to the speaker with the most audience votes.

History major Hannah Jablons ’24 took second place with their presentation titled Dan’s Manhattan Plaza , and interdisciplinary concentrator in public health Aliana Potter ’24 won third with Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns in Health Provider Shortage Areas and non-HPSAs. Biology major Bobbi Roca ’24 won the People’s Choice award for her speech  Climate Change and Trees: Which ones are built different.

Hamilton is one of only a few undergraduate institutions that sponsors the competition. Three Minute Thesis traditionally “celebrates the exciting research conducted by Ph.D. students. Developed by the University of Queensland, the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills.”

Funding for the 3MT at Hamilton comes from the Ferguson Endowment, which advances oral communication across campus.

Related News

Six Win Prizes in Annual Public Speaking Competition 

Six students won prizes in three categories at Hamilton’s annual public speaking competition held on March 1 in the Chapel. Presentations were either persuasive or informative in nature, and in one category, students addressed an assigned topic.

Opportunity Program Takes to the Mic 

Hamilton is among several New York State colleges that administer the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, known on the Hill as simply “the Opportunity Program” or just “OP.” The Opportunity Program, designed to support students whose transition from high school to college may be made more difficult by their educational, socioeconomic, or personal circumstances, helps 30 to 40 new students each year acclimate to the College’s academic standards and social life.

Help us provide an accessible education, offer innovative resources and programs, and foster intellectual exploration.

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Win $500 in just 3 minutes!  All you have to do is talk about your scholarly work.

Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals pffp@iupui.edu IU Graduate School Indianapolis University Library UL 1170

Apply to PFFP

The Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals (PFFP) Annual Pathways Conference includes the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) and Three Minute Pitch (3MP) competitions.  The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a research communication completion developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. 3MT develops graduate students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in 3 minutes to a non-specialist audience. A great presentation will tell the audience what the research is, how the doctoral researcher is doing it, what they have discovered, and why the research is significant. Graduate students seeking Master’s Degrees (i.e. M.S., M.A., M.P.H., M.P.A, etc.) or Graduate Certificates should register for the 3MP (Three Minute Pitch) competition.

Save the Date

3MT/3MP Competition 2024

November TBD

The first 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2008 with 160 Research Higher Degree students competing. In 2009 and 2010 the 3MT competition was promoted to other Australian and New Zealand universities and enthusiasm for the concept grew. Due to its adoption in numerous universities, a multinational event was developed, and the Inaugural TransTasman 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2010.

Since 2011, the popularity of the competition has increased and 3MT competitions are now held in over 600 universities across more than 65 countries worldwide. In November 2013, the first Universitas 21 (U21) 3MT competition was held with several universities from around the world competing in a virtual competition. 2016 brought an expansion of the Trans-Tasman 3MT competition to include a South-East Asia and North-East Asia. This competition is now called the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition.

The PFFP program at IUPUI has been a 3MT partner organization since 2015 and has successfully held 3MT and 3MP competitions at the PFFP Annual Pathways Conference.

Eligibility

3MT - Active PhD and Professional Doctorate (Research) candidates who have successfully passed their confirmation milestone (including candidates whose thesis is under submission) by the date of their first presentation are eligible to participate in 3MT competitions at all levels, including the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition. Graduates are not eligible.

*Professional Doctorate (Research) (program composed of at least 2/3 research) and funded via the Research Training Program (for Australian students). Professional Doctorate (coursework) students and Masters students are not eligible for the 3MT® Asia-Pacific competition.

3MP-Graduate students pursuing a Certificate, Master’s or PostDoc.

Maximum Number of Participants

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations or ‘movement’ of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) is permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
• The decision of the judging panel is final.

Judging Criteria

At every level of the competition each competitor will be assessed on the judging criteria listed below. Each criterion is equally weighted and has an emphasis on audience.

Comprehension & Content

• Did the presentation provide an understanding of the background and significance to the research question being addressed, while explaining terminology and avoiding jargon?
• Did the presentation clearly describe the impact and/or results of the research, including conclusions and outcomes?
• Did the presentation follow a clear and logical sequence?
• Was the thesis topic, research significance, results/impact and outcomes communicated in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
• Did the presenter spend adequate time on each element of their presentation – or did they elaborate for too long on one aspect or was the presentation rushed?

Engagement & Communication

• Did the oration make the audience want to know more?
• Was the presenter careful not to trivialize or generalize their research?
• Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?
• Did the presenter capture and maintain their audience’s attention?
• Did the speaker have sufficient stage presence, eye contact and vocal range; maintain a steady pace, and have a confident stance?
• Did the PowerPoint slide enhance the presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?

Testimonials

I was absolutely shocked at the thought of describing your 5 years' worth of work in just 3 minutes, but I took it upon as a challenge and learned how to talk science to a non-scientific audience. It was a very exciting, exhilarating, and refreshing experience to watch people explain complex technologies and science via interesting everyday analogies. - Sukrati Kanojia, 2022 participant

Even thought I didn’t win, the experience was well worth it since I now have the words to describe my research in ways I didn’t before. - Megan Hillier-Geisler, 2022 participant

This competition hones one's communication skills and the art of presenting in front of an audience, which is not only a requirement for a graduate student but will take one far into their respective careers thereafter. - Radhika Bhaumik, 2022 3MT Winner

Tips for Effective Use of 3MT Slides

Iupui 3mt/3mp videos.

YouTube video: 2023 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2022 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2022 3MP Competition

YouTube video: 2021 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2020 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2019 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2018 3MT Competition

YouTube video: 2017 Winner - Antja Joy Hartley

YouTube video: Three Minute Thesis 2013 QUT Winner - Megan Pozzi »

YouTube video: Three Minute Theses People’s Choice Award 2012 - Ludmilla Khodai »

YouTube video (57minutes-multiple examples): University of Melbourne Three Minute Thesis Final Competition » 

Mandatory Practice Session (For Registered Participants Only)

 Dates for 2024 practice sessions TBD. 

*All participants must attend this in-person practice session to be eligible for the competition*

Competition Winners

2023 3mt/3mp winners.

Soumilee Chaudhuri, School of Medicine, won the 3MT competition and People's Choice Award . Chaudhuri's topic was "Heart & Brain Tango: Unmasking Alzheimer's Secrets." Chaudhuri  won $700 and will represent IUPUI at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Annual Conference in St. Louis, Missouri this upcoming spring.

The 3MT Runner up was Ifeoma Akobi. Her topic was "Burnout in the Nonprofit Sector." 

While the Three Minute Thesis Competition is for PhD students, the Three Minute Pitch (3MP) is for master’s and professional students.  The winner of this competition and the People's Choice Award was Nithika Sanghi, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering with the topic “ChatGPT - Friend or Foe.”

The 3MP Runner Up  was Festus Segun Ajiboye, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. His topic was "Technology: Possibility to Quick Detection. "

2022 3MT/3MP Winners

Radhika Bhaumik, School of Science, won the 3MT competition. Bhaumik's topic was "Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and holding them at bay!" Bhaumik  won $500 and will represent IUPUI at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this upcoming spring.

The 3MT Runner up and People's Choice Award was Madhumita Sridharan, School of Science. Her topic was "The Devil Is In The Details." 

While the Three Minute Thesis Competition is for PhD students, the Three Minute Pitch (3MP) is for master’s and professional students.  The winner of this competition and the People's Choice Award was Rieanna McPhie, School of Science with the topic “Does Being Religious Protect Against Problem Substance Abuse?”

The 3MP Runner Up  was Barakha Jain, School of Informatics and Computing. Her topic was " Development & Evaluation of a Special Care Tele-Dentistry OSCE Involving Visually Impaired Standardized Patients."

2021 3MT/3MP Winners

Watch Shonda Nicole's award winning video

While the Three Minute Thesis Competition is for PhD students, the Three Minute Pitch (3MP) is for master’s and professional students. The winner of this competition was Julie Marie Frye, School of Education with the topic “Care in a Border Town Public Library.” Frye won $400. 

2020 3MT/ 3MP Winners

Daenique Jengelly

Daenique Jengelly, 3MT Award winner and People's Choice Award winner at the 2020 Pathways Conference.

Watch Daenique's award winning video

Isheka Orr, 3MP Award winner and People's Choice Award winner at the 2020 Pathways Conference.

Watch Isheka's award winning video

2019 3MT/ 3MP Winners

Elizabeth Swallow

Elizabeth Swallow 3MT Award winner, with Tabitha Hardy at the 2019 Pathways Conference. Elizabeth’s topic was “Holes - why do we care?"

  Swapnali Chavan

Swapnali Chavan's topic was “Are Older women being pushed out of labor force?”

2018 3MT/3MP Winners

Sarvesh Chelvanambi

Sarvesh Chelvanambi, 3MT Award winner, with Tabitha Hardy at the 2018 Pathways Conference. Sarvesh’s topic was “The persistence of HIV viral protein Nef and the perplexingly high prevalence of vascular disease in HIV patients”

Grad Kepler

Grady Kepler,  3MP Award winner, with Tabitha Hardy at the 2018 Pathways Conference. Grady’s topic was “The Language Teacher's Imperative: Understanding Learner Responsiveness to Innovative Instruction”

2017 3MT Winners

Antja-Voy Hartley

Antja-Voy Hartley, from Pharmacology in the IU School of Medicine, was the first place winner of the 2017 3MT Competition. Pictured here with Dr. Tabitha Hardy. Hartley's topic was “What you know can kill you: targeting unique features of cancer cells for drug development”

Watch Antja's award-winning video . 

Janet Panoch

People's Choice Winner, Janet Panoch, Communication Studies in the IU School of Liberal Arts. Pictured here with Dr. Tabitha Hardy. Panoch's topic was “Preparing High School Students to Communicate Effectively with Healthcare Professionals”

Watch Janet's award-winning video

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Zach Schiffman wins Colorado Three Minute Thesis competition

CU Boulder doctoral student takes first prize in state 3MT competition for presentation on the urea molecule

Zach Schiffman (right) accepting a certificate recognizing his accomplishment.

Zach Schiffman, a doctoral candidate in chemistry, beat out Colorado’s other universities to win the state Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition last month. He won with his presentation, “The Urea Molecule: From Fertilizer . . . to Climate Change?”

This is the second win for Schiffman, who took first prize in the Graduate School’s annual 3MT competition earlier this year. As part of his winnings, he was then invited to represent the university at both the regional (Western Region of Graduate Schools) and state (Colorado Council of Graduate Schools) competitions.

The 3MT event, which began at the University of Queensland in 2008, challenges graduate students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience. To prepare, CU Boulder graduate students participate in a series of workshops focusing on storytelling, writing, presentation skills and improvisation comedy techniques. The Graduate School then holds a preliminary competition to whittle down the competition to ten finalists, who participate in the final competition at the beginning of February.

More information about the 3MT competition, including how to get involved in the 2024–25 school year, is available on the 3MT webpage .

• Spring 2024
• Three Minute Thesis

Texas A&M Hosts Promising Young Scientists Ahead Of Prestigious Nobel Laureate Meetings

A select group of young scientists gathered at Texas A&M University last week in preparation for the upcoming 73rd Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, Germany.

The young scientists — a total of 32 students and post-doctoral researchers from across the country — will join more than 600 of their peers from around the world at this year’s meetings, set for June 30-July 5.

Seven students and one post-doctoral researcher from Texas A&M will be among the participants. The scientists were nominated to participate in the gathering by their institutions and then selected by a Lindau’s scientific review panel.

Last week’s gathering on the Texas A&M campus gave the participants an opportunity to tour the campus and research facilities, network with the group members and meet with Texas A&M faculty and administrators. With support from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the College of Arts and Sciences , the group visited the Cyclotron Institute , Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering , and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics , among other sites.

Kamal Rudra, who recently completed a master’s degree at the University of Michigan, said the workshop on campus was a great opportunity to meet peers and faculty and learn about what motivated their interest in their research.

“What I keep noticing in their stories is that innovative scientists often encounter initial rejection of their ideas,” Rudra said. “I am always inspired by how people persevere through those kinds of challenges. At Lindau, we’re going to get to meet people who overcame those challenges and conducted research that changed the world. What’s more inspiring than that?”

The campus visit was coordinated by the Office of the Provost, in collaboration with the Division of Research, the Graduate and Professional School, the Office for Faculty Affairs and the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study.

The two-day event represents one aspect of a larger initiative at Texas A&M.

The university has reached a four-year agreement with the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Foundation to be one of the organization’s main U.S. academic partners outside California; the University of California System has a similar agreement with Lindau to provide opportunities for young scientists from California. As part of that agreement, Texas A&M will conduct a first round of nomination reviews before forwarding selected nominees on to the Lindau scientific review panel to make final decisions and extend invites to the annual meeting. The university will then host a pre-Lindau Meeting preparatory session on campus and support the travel for a number of those invited.

This summer, Texas A&M will support 21 of the 32 students and post-docs selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. The other 11 will be supported by corporate partner Amgen. In addition, Texas A&M will host “International Day” at Lindau, which opens with a partner breakfast and panel discussion on the role of physics in solving the global problems of the 21st century featuring Nobel Laureate Bill Phillips and two faculty and one young scientist from Texas A&M. The day will conclude with cross-cultural sharing of food and activities.

Dr. Joerg Steiner, university distinguished professor of veterinary medicine and faculty liaison for the Office of the Vice President for Research, has spearheaded the initiative. “Texas A&M is filling an important need in the U.S.,” Steiner said. “Outside of California, there’s no U.S. academic institution doing what we’re doing.”

Dr. Alan Sams, executive vice president and provost at Texas A&M, said it was an honor to host the scholars to help them prepare for the meeting in Germany.

“Attending a Nobel Laureate Meeting is transformational for a young scientist. We’re giving the most promising students and post-docs at Texas A&M and around the country a chance at a potentially life- and career-changing experience and we’re preparing them to make the most of that experience,” Sams said. “In addition, we get an opportunity to showcase our university by bringing young scholars from around the country to our campus and showing them all our university has to offer, then sending them to Lindau as a cohort supported by Texas A&M.”

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings provide an international forum for intellectual exchange and collaboration. The event, which was established in 1951, feature lectures, discussions and workshops that cover a range of scientific disciplines, rotating annually between physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine, with a meeting dedicated to economics every three years. This year, nearly 40 Nobel Laureates in physics will be in attendance.

Hannah Dattilo, a doctoral student at Vanderbilt University, said she is most interested in the exchange of ideas with such accomplished researchers. “Events like this and Lindau,” Dattilo said, “are hallmarks of what collaboration looks like, and they contradict the stereotype of the mad scientist working alone in a lab. Working together and sharing ideas and insights is how we move science forward.”

Texas A&M students said they enjoyed having the workshop on campus and are proud that Texas A&M has partnered with Lindau.

“These two days have been like a crash course in cutting-edge research,” said David Thomas, a senior mechanical engineering major. “I am just trying to soak it all in, and having a small community will make it easier to interact with the larger community at Lindau. This has been a great primer.”

Alex Strasser, a Texas A&M doctoral student in materials science and engineering, said he was excited about the university’s effort through the initiative to connect students and the university with the international scientific community.

“I am interested in philosophical questions surrounding physics,” Strasser said. “I have already been blown away by the diversity of ideas on this topic just from the students and post-docs I’ve met here. I’m excited to see the perspectives from people of different cultures I’ll encounter at the meeting in Lindau.”

Sams said he was pleased that the students and post-docs were getting so much out of the workshop and were excited for their upcoming trip.

“We hope we are building lifelong relationships between our university and these future scholars. Perhaps the next time they visit Lindau, they will be faculty researchers representing Texas A&M as Nobel Laureates.”

Students and Post-Docs Selected to Attend the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Supported by Texas A&M:

• Kevin Allen, Doctoral Student, Rice University
• Hillary Diane Andales, Undergraduate Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Keyu Ding, Doctoral Student, University of South Dakota
• Madison Edwards, Doctoral Student, Texas A&M University
• Addy Evans, Doctoral Student, Texas A&M University
• Pratiksha Balasaheb Gaikwad, Doctoral Student, University of Florida
• Shachar Gottlieb, Undergraduate Student, Texas A&M University
• Alex Hilty, Undergraduate Student, Texas A&M University
• Gabriel Larios, Post-Doc, Texas A&M University
• Adrià Delhom i Latorre, Doctoral Student, Louisiana State University
• Siyang Li, Doctoral Student, Johns Hopkins University
• Ali Binai Motlagh, Doctoral Student, Columbia University
• Emery Nibigira, Post-Doc, University of Tennessee
• Junellie Gonzalez Quiles, Doctoral Student, Johns Hopkins University
• Alex Strasser, Doctoral Student, Texas A&M University
• David Thomas, Undergraduate Student, Texas A&M University
• Sarah Vickers, Master’s Student, University of North Carolina
• Jiaxuan Wang, Doctoral Student, Texas A&M University
• Ziqin Yue, Doctoral Student, Rice University
• Barkotel Zemenu, Undergraduate Student, Yale University
• Michael Zengel, Undergraduate Student, University of Alabama

Students and Post-Docs Attending the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and the Pre-Meeting Workshop, Supported by Amgen 

• Jeffrey Backus, Doctoral Student, Princeton University
• Hannah Dattilo, Doctoral Student, Vanderbilt University
• Dipa Ghindani, Post-Doc, Harvard University
• Miriam Hiebert, Post-Doc, University of Maryland
• Noah Hoppis, Doctoral Student, University of Maryland
• Pratik Prasad Joshi, Post-Doc, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Anurag Panda, Post-Doc, Harvard University
• Kamal Rudra, Master’s Student, University of Michigan
• Adam Shaw, Doctoral Student, California Institute of Technology
• Ariana Shearin, Doctoral Student, University of Maryland
• Kathryn Sturge, Doctoral Student, University of Maryland

Media contact: Rob Dixon, [email protected] , 979-458-8584

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• MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff

News Roundup Spring 2024

CEGE Spring Graduation Celebration and Order of the Engineer

Forty-seven graduates of the undergraduate and grad student programs (pictured above) in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering took part in the Order of the Engineer on graduation day. Distinguished Speakers at this departmental event included Katrina Kessler (MS EnvE 2021), Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and student Brian Balquist. Following this event, students participated in the college-wide Commencement Ceremony at 3M Arena at Mariucci. 

UNIVERSITY & DEPARTMENT

The University of Minnesota’s Crookston, Duluth, and Rochester campuses have been awarded the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement, joining the Twin Cities (2006, 2015) and Morris campuses (2015), and making the U of M the country’s first and only university system at which every individual campus has received this selective designation. Only 368 from nearly 4,000 qualifying U.S. universities and colleges have been granted this designation.

CEGE contributed strongly to the College of Science and Engineering’s efforts toward sustainability research. CEGE researchers are bringing in over $35 million in funded research to study carbon mineralization, nature and urban areas, circularity of water resources, and global snowfall patterns. This news was highlighted in the Fall 2023 issue of  Inventing Tomorrow  (pages 10-11). https://issuu.com/inventingtomorrow/docs/fall_2023_inventing_tomorrow-web

CEGE’s new program for a one-year master’s degree in structural engineering is now accepting applicants for Fall 2024. We owe a big thanks to DAN MURPHY and LAURA AMUNDSON for their volunteer work to help curate the program with Professor JIA-LIANG LE and EBRAHIM SHEMSHADIAN, the program director. Potential students and companies interested in hosting a summer intern can contact Ebrahim Shemshadian ( [email protected] ).

BERNIE BULLERT , CEGE benefactor and MN Water Research Fund founder, was profiled on the website of the University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF). There you can read more about his mission to share clean water technologies with smaller communities in Minnesota. Many have joined Bullert in this mission. MWRF Recognizes their Generous 2024 Partners. Gold Partners: Bernie Bullert, Hawkins, Inc., Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and SL-serco. Silver Partners: ISG, Karl and Pam Streed, Kasco, Kelly Lange-Haider and Mark Haider, ME Simpson, Naeem Qureshi, Dr. Paul H. Boening, TKDA, and Waterous. Bronze Partners: Bruce R. Bullert; Brenda Lenz, Ph.D., APRN FNP-C, CNE; CDM Smith; Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA MN); Heidi and Steve Hamilton; Jim “Bulldog” Sadler; Lisa and Del Cerney; Magney Construction; Sambatek; Shannon and John Wolkerstorfer; Stantec; and Tenon Systems.

After retiring from Baker-Tilly,  NICK DRAGISICH  (BCE 1977) has taken on a new role: City Council member in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. After earning his BCE from the University of Minnesota, Dragisich earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas. Dragisich retired in May from his position as managing director at Baker Tilly, where he had previously served as firm director. Prior to that, he served as assistant city manager in Spokane, Washington, was the city administrator and city engineer in Virginia, Minnesota, and was mayor of Chisholm, Minnesota—all adding up to more than 40 years of experience in local government. Dragisich was selected by a unanimous vote. His current term expires in December 2024.

PAUL F. GNIRK  (Ph.D. 1966) passed away January 29, 2024, at the age of 86. A memorial service was held Saturday, February 24, at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), where he started and ended his teaching career, though he had many other positions, professional and voluntary. In 2018 Paul was inducted into the SDSM&T Hardrocker Hall of Fame, and in 2022, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame, joining his mother Adeline S. Gnirk, who had been inducted in 1987 for her work authoring nine books on the history of south central South Dakota.

ROGER M. HILL  (BCE 1957) passed away on January 13, 2024, at the age of 90. His daughter, Kelly Robinson, wrote to CEGE that Roger was “a dedicated Gopher fan until the end, and we enjoyed many football games together in recent years. Thank you for everything.”

KAUSER JAHAN  (Ph.D. 1993, advised by Walter Maier), PE, is now a civil and environmental engineering professor and department head at Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering. Jahan was awarded a 3-year (2022- 2025), $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The grant supports her project, “WaterWorks: Developing the New Generation of Workforce for Water/Wastewater Utilities,” for the development of educational tools that will expose and prepare today’s students for careers in water and wastewater utilities.

SAURA JOST  (BCE 2010, advised by Timothy LaPara) was elected to the St. Paul City Council for Ward 3. She is part of the historic group of women that make up the nation’s first all-female city council in a large city.

The 2024 ASCE Western Great Lakes Student Symposium combines several competitions for students involved in ASCE. CEGE sent a large contingent of competitors to Chicago. Each of the competition groups won awards: Ethics Paper 1st place Hans Lagerquist; Sustainable Solutions team 1st place overall in (qualifying them for the National competition in Utah in June); GeoWall 2nd place overall; Men’s Sprint for Concrete Canoe with rowers Sakthi Sundaram Saravanan and Owen McDonald 2nd place; Product Prototype for Concrete Canoe 2nd place; Steel Bridge (200 lb bridge weight) 2nd place in lightness; Scavenger Hunt 3rd place; and Aesthetics and Structural Efficiency for Steel Bridge 4th place.

Students competing on the Minnesota Environmental Engineers, Scientists, and Enthusiasts (MEESE) team earned second place in the Conference on the Environment undergraduate student design competition in November 2023. Erin Surdo is the MEESE Faculty Adviser. Pictured are NIKO DESHPANDE, ANNA RETTLER, and SYDNEY OLSON.

The CEGE CLASS OF 2023 raised money to help reduce the financial barrier for fellow students taking the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, a cost of $175 per test taker. As a result of this gift, they were able to make the exam more affordable for 15 current CEGE seniors. CEGE students who take the FE exam pass the first time at a rate well above national averages, demonstrating that CEGE does a great job of teaching engineering fundamentals. In 2023, 46 of 50 students passed the challenging exam on the first try.

This winter break, four CEGE students joined 10 other students from the College of Science and Engineering for the global seminar, Design for Life: Water in Tanzania. The students visited numerous sites in Tanzania, collected water source samples, designed rural water systems, and went on safari. Read the trip blog: http://globalblogs.cse.umn.edu/search/label/Tanzania%202024

Undergraduate Honor Student  MALIK KHADAR  (advised by Dr. Paul Capel) received honorable mention for the Computing Research Association (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award for undergraduate students who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

AKASH BHAT  (advised by William Arnold) presented his Ph.D. defense on Friday, October 27, 2023. Bhat’s thesis is “Photolysis of fluorochemicals: Tracking fluorine, use of UV-LEDs, and computational insights.” Bhat’s work investigating the degradation of fluorinated compounds will assist in the future design of fluorinated chemicals such that persistent and/or toxic byproducts are not formed in the environment.

ETHAN BOTMEN  (advised by Bill Arnold) completed his Master of Science Final Exam February 28, 2024. His research topic was Degradation of Fluorinated Compounds by Nucleophilic Attack of Organo-fluorine Functional Groups.

XIATING CHEN , Ph.D. Candidate in Water Resources Engineering at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory is the recipient of the 2023 Nels Nelson Memorial Fellowship Award. Chen (advised by Xue Feng) is researching eco-hydrological functions of urban trees and other green infrastructure at both the local and watershed scale, through combined field observations and modeling approaches.

ALICE PRATES BISSO DAMBROZ  has been a Visiting Student Researcher at the University of Minnesota since last August, on a Doctoral Dissertation Research Award from Fulbright. Her CEGE advisor is Dr. Paul Capel. Dambroz is a fourth year Ph.D. student in Soil Science at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in Brazil, where she studies with her adviser Jean Minella. Her research focuses on the hydrological monitoring of a small agricultural watershed in Southern Brazil, which is located on a transition area between volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Its topography, shallow soils, and land use make it prone to runoff and erosion processes.

Yielding to people in crosswalks should be a very pedestrian topic. Yet graduate student researchers  TIANYI LI, JOSHUA KLAVINS, TE XU, NIAZ MAHMUD ZAFRI  (Dept.of Urban and Regional Planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology), and Professor Raphael Stern found that drivers often do not yield to pedestrians, but they are influenced by the markings around a crosswalk. Their work was picked up by the  Minnesota Reformer.

TIANYI LI  (Ph.D. student advised by Raphael Stern) also won the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation (DDET) Fellowship for the third time! Li (center) and Stern (right) are pictured at the Federal Highway Administration with Latoya Jones, the program manager for the DDET Fellowship.

The Three Minute Thesis Contest and the Minnesota Nice trophy has become an annual tradition in CEGE. 2023’s winner was  EHSANUR RAHMAN , a Ph.D. student advised by Boya Xiong.

GUANJU (WILLIAM) WEI , a Ph.D. student advised by Judy Yang, is the recipient of the 2023 Heinz G. Stefan Fellowship. He presented his research entitled Microfluidic Investigation of the Biofilm Growth under Dynamic Fluid Environments and received his award at the St. Anthony Falls Research Laboratory April 9. The results of Wei's research can be used in industrial, medical, and scientific fields to control biofilm growth.

BILL ARNOLD  stars in an award-winning video about prairie potholes. The Prairie Potholes Project film was made with the University of Delaware and highlights Arnold’s NSF research. The official winners of the 2024 Environmental Communications Awards Competition Grand Prize are Jon Cox and Ben Hemmings who produced and directed the film. Graduate student Marcia Pacheco (CFANS/LAAS) and Bill Arnold are the on-screen stars.

Four faculty from CEGE join the Center for Transportation Studies Faculty and Research Scholars for FY24–25:  SEONGJIN CHOI, KETSON ROBERTO MAXIMIANO DOS SANTOS, PEDRAM MORTAZAVI,  and  BENJAMIN WORSFOLD . CTS Scholars are drawn from diverse fields including engineering, planning, computer science, environmental studies, and public policy.

XUE FENG  is coauthor on an article in  Nature Reviews Earth and Environment . The authors evaluate global plant responses to changing rainfall regimes that are now characterized by fewer and larger rainfall events. A news release written at Univ. of Maryland can be found here: https://webhost.essic. umd.edu/april-showers-bring-mayflowers- but-with-drizzles-or-downpours/ A long-running series of U of M research projects aimed at improving stormwater quality are beginning to see practical application by stormwater specialists from the Twin Cities metro area and beyond. JOHN GULLIVER has been studying best practices for stormwater management for about 16 years. Lately, he has focused specifically on mitigating phosphorous contamination. His research was highlighted by the Center for Transportation Studies.

JIAQI LI, BILL ARNOLD,  and  RAYMOND HOZALSKI  published a paper on N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) precursors in Minnesota rivers. “Animal Feedlots and Domestic Wastewater Discharges are Likely Sources of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) Precursors in Midwestern Watersheds,” Environmental Science and Technology (January 2024) doi: 10.1021/acs. est.3c09251

ALIREZA KHANI  contributed to MnDOT research on Optimizing Charging Infrastructure for Electric Trucks. Electric options for medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks (e-trucks) are still largely in development. These trucks account for a substantial percentage of transportation greenhouse gas emissions. They have greater power needs and different charging needs than personal EVs. Proactively planning for e-truck charging stations will support MnDOT in helping to achieve the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. This research was featured in the webinar “Electrification of the Freight System in Minnesota,” hosted by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies. A recording of the event is now available online.

MICHAEL LEVIN  has developed a unique course for CEGE students on Air Transportation Systems. It is the only class at UMN studying air transportation systems from an infrastructure design and management perspective. Spring 2024 saw the third offering of this course, which is offered for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Research Professor  SOFIA (SONIA) MOGILEVSKAYA  has been developing international connections. She visited the University of Seville, Spain, November 13–26, 2023, where she taught a short course titled “Fundamentals of Homogenization in Composites.” She also met with the graduate students to discuss collaborative research with Prof. Vladislav Mantic, from the Group of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis at the University of Seville. Her visit was a part of planned activities within the DIAGONAL Consortium funded by the European Commission. CEGE UMN is a partner organization within DIAGONAL, represented by CEGE professors Mogilevskaya and Joseph Labuz. Mantic will visit CEGE summer 2024 to follow up on research developments and discuss plans for future collaboration and organization of short-term exchange visits for the graduate students from each institution. 

DAVID NEWCOMB  passed away in March. He was a professor in CEGE from 1989–99 in the area of pavement engineering. Newcomb led the research program on asphalt materials characterization. He was the technical director of Mn/ROAD pavement research facility, and he started an enduring collaboration with MnDOT that continues today. In 2000, he moved from Minnesota to become vice-president for Research and Technology at the National Asphalt Pavement Association. Later he moved to his native Texas, where he was appointed to the division head of Materials and Pavement at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, a position from which he recently retired. He will be greatly missed.

PAIGE NOVAK  won Minnesota ASCE’s 2023 Distinguished Engineer of the Year Award for her contributions to society through her engineering achievements and professional experiences.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced ten inaugural (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines awards, with a potential $1.6 billion investment nationally over the next decade. Great Lakes ReNEW is led by the Chicago-based water innovation hub,  Current,  and includes a team from the University of Minnesota, including PAIGE NOVAK. Current will receive $15 mil for the first two years, and up to $160 million over ten years to develop and grow a water-focused innovation engine in the Great Lakes region. The project’s ambitious plan is to create a decarbonized circular “blue economy” to leverage the region’s extraordinary water resources to transform the upper Midwest—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Brewing one pint of beer generates seven pints of wastewater, on average. So what can you do with that wastewater?  PAIGE NOVAK  and her team are exploring the possibilities of capturing pollutants in wastewater and using bacteria to transform them into energy.

BOYA XIONG  has been selected as a recipient of the 2024 40 Under 40 Recognition Program by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. The award was presented at the 2024 AAEES Awards Ceremony, April 11, 2024, at the historic Howard University in Washington, D.C. 

JUDY Q. YANG  received a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Award. This two-year award recognizes promising assistant professors and is intended to advance the careers of individuals who have the potential to make significant contributions to their departments and their scholarly fields. 

Professor Emeritus CHARLES FAIRHURST , his son CHARLES EDWARD FAIRHURST , and his daughter MARGARET FAIRHURST DURENBERGER were on campus recently to present Department Head Paige Novak with a check for $25,000 for the Charles Fairhurst Fellowship in Earth Resources Engineering in support of graduate students studying geomechanics. The life of Charles Fairhurst through a discussion with his children is featured on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki at https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Charles_Fairhurst#00:00:14_INTRODUCTION

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Rotc graduates recognized for talents, leadership, and service.

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Yale honored its graduating Air Force, Naval, and Army ROTC students during a joint commissioning ceremony held in Battell Chapel on Monday afternoon following the university’s Commencement celebration. During the ceremony, cadets and midshipmen from Yale College’s Class of 2024, as well as graduates from other area colleges, received their official appointments as military officers.

During the ceremony, Air Force ROTC Commander Col. Les Oberg noted the “incredible talents, leadership, and commitment to service” of each of the cadets and midshipmen.

“ You will no doubt lead our armed forces to new heights,” he said. “And our services, like our country, need you for the daunting challenges ahead. Thank you for stepping up.”

Oberg also expressed gratitude to Yale President Peter Salovey, attending his final commissioning ceremony as Yale’s leader before his planned return to the faculty in June, and First Lady Marta Moret for their “continued and unwavering investment and support” of Yale’s ROTC programs. “The levels of success we have achieved in such a short amount of time on campus are a direct result,” he said.

A keynote address was offered by Bill Nelson, a NASA administrator and former U.S. senator who was an Army ROTC graduate in Yale’s Class of 1965. Since Nelson was unable attend the ceremony because of professional obligations, his remarks were read by Bruce Smathers, a former secretary of state for the state of Florida and Nelson’s roommate at Yale.

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