three minute thesis utu

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) -kilpailu

3MT, eli Three Minute Thesis, on australialaisen Queenslandin yliopiston kehittämä akateeminen kilpailu, jossa väitöskirjatutkijat kilpailevat esittelemällä kolmessa minuutissa tutkimusaiheensa ja sen merkittävyyden mahdollisimman mielenkiintoisesti siten, että suuri yleisö ymmärtää mistä tutkimuksessa on kyse.

Turun yliopiston tutkijakoulu (UTUGS) on ollut kilpailussa mukana vuodesta 2017 lähtien. Esityksen tukena on yksi powerpoint-dia ja esitys pidetään englanniksi. Palkintona jaetaan matka-apurahoja, ja lisäksi voittaja pääsee etenemään Coimbra Groupin kansainväliseen kisaan. Kaikki osallistujat saavat 1 op:n merkinnän UTUGS / Tiedeviestinnän opintoihin​. 3MT-tiedeluentokilpailussa väitöskirjatutkijat oppivat popularisoimaan tutkimustaan. Väitöskirjatutkijat voivat suorittaa tämän kurssin missä tahansa jatko-opintojensa vaiheessa, mutta eniten siitä on hyötyä jatko-opintojensa loppuvaiheessa oleville.

3MT-kilpailu järjestetään jälleen: linkki intraan.

Lyhyesti 3MT-kilpailusta

Ensimmäinen 3MT-kilpailu järjestettiin Queenslandin yliopistossa vuonna 2008. Osallistujamäärä oli huikeat 160 jatko-opiskelijaa. Vuonna 2009 ja 2010 kilpailu laajeni myös muihin Australian ja Uuden-Seelannin yliopistoihin. Vuodesta 2011 kilpailu on kasvattanut suosiotaan yli 170 yliopistoon 18:ssa maassa maailmanlaajuisesti.

Turun yliopistossa ensimmäinen 3MT-kilpailu järjestettiin vuonna 2017. Katso edellisten vuosien voittajat sivun alta.

• Vain yksi staattinen PowerPoint dia on sallittu. Diasiirtymät, animaatiot tai 'liikkeet' eivät ole sallittuja. Dia on esitettävä esityksen alusta asti.
• Muita elektronisia välineitä (esim. ääni- ja videotiedostoja) ei sallita.
• Rekvisiitan käyttö (esim. naamiaisasut, soittimet, laboratoriovälineet) ei ole sallittua.
• Esitykset ovat rajattu maksimissaan tasan kolmeen minuuttiin. Kaikki ajan ylittävät esitykset hylätään kilpailusta.
• Puhuminen on ainoa sallittu esitystapa (ei runo, rap tai laulu).
• Esitys tapahtuu lavalta.
• Esityksen katsotaan alkavan, kun puhuja aloittaa esityksensä joko liikkeen tai puheen kautta.
• Arviointilautakunnan päätös on lopullinen.
• Käsiteltiinkö esityksessä tutkimuksen taustaa ja sen merkitystä?
• Kuvailtiinko esityksessä tutkimuksen keskeisiä tuloksia?
• Oliko esitys selkeä ja looginen?
• Olivatko tutkimuksen aihe, keskeiset tulokset ja tutkimuksen merkitys kerrottu sopivalla kielellä muulle kuin asiantuntijayleisölle?
• Käyttikö puhuja tieteellistä 'ammattikieltä', selittikö puhuja terminologiaa ja antoiko puhuja riittävää taustatietoa ydinasioiden havainnollistamiseksi?
• Käyttikö puhuja riittävästi aikaa jokaiseen esityksen elementtiin - vai käytettiinkö liian pitkä aika yhteen asiaan? 
• Herättikö esitys kiinnostusta saada tietää aiheesta lisää?
• Trivialisoiko tai yleistikö puhuja tutkimustaan?
• Ilmaisiko puhuja innostustaan tutkimukseensa?
• Saavuttiko ja ylläpitikö puhuja yleisön huomion?
• Oliko puhujalla riittävä lavaläsnäolo, katsekontakti yleisöön sekä selkeä ja kuuluva puheääni?
• Tukiko PowerPoint dia esitystä - oliko se selkeä, ymmärrettävä ja ytimekäs?

3MT-kilpailun voittajat

Vuoden 2023 finaalin voitti Arno Ylitalo (Molekyylilääketieteen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Curing leukemia: a 'Clever’ approach". Ylitalo kertoi kilpailun voittaneessa esityksessään tutkimuksestaan, jossa hän etsii uusia hoitokeinoja leukemiaan.

Katso Arnon esitys tästä!

Toiseksi sijoittui Jinglu Chen (Turun kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Brain mechanisms for human altruism". Yleisöäänestyksen voitti  Albert Bellmunt Gil (Turun kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Losing control – Stuck in the game". Gil valittiin kilpailemaan myös SANORD 3MT-kilpailussa.

Mahdi Moghammad teknologian tohtoriohjelmasta voitti vuoden 2022 3MT-kilpailun esityksellään “Solid Boosted Flow Battery: a reliable approach to stop global warming”.

Katso Mahdin esitelmä tästä

Toiseksi sijoittui Zahra Jahanshah eksaktien tieteiden tohtoriohjelmasta esitelmällään "Protecting tiny apple slices in your smart phone".

Yleisöäänestyksen voitti kliinisen tohtoriohjelman väitöskirjatutkija Anne Abio esitelmällään “External causes of mortality in Seychelles”.

Vuoden 2021 finaalissa voittajaksi valittiin Felix Vaura (Turun kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Untangling hypertension". Vaura kertoi kilpailussa kolmessa minuutissa, miten hän tutkimustyöllään etsii keinoja kehittää korkean verenpaineen hoitoa.

Toiseksi sijoittui Tuulia Malén (Turun kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "The Goal Factory". Hän kertoi mielihyvään ja riippuvuuteen liittyvän aivotoiminnan tutkimuksestaan.

Yleisöäänestyksen voitti tiukassa kisassa yhdellä äänellä Nasrin Shahedifar (Turun kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Fitness to Drive Safely after Traumatic Brain Injury". 

Vuoden 2020 3MT-kilpailun voittaja on Shruti Jain ​molekulaaristen biotieteiden tohtoriohjelmasta. Hänen esityksensä otsikko oli "Early detection of cancer". Jain voitti myös yleisön puolelleen, kun hänet valittiin äänestyksellä People's Choice -palkinnon saajaksi. Toiseksi sijoittui Pablo Pérez Chaves esityksellään "Mapping floristic patterns in Amazonia". Chaves valittiin myös kilpailemaan kaikkien aikojen ensimmäisessä SANORD 3MT-kilpailussa.

Vuoden 2020 voittajat Shruti Jain (keskellä vas.) ja Pablo Peréz Chaves (keskellä oik.) tapahtuman juontajien Tarek Omranin (vas.) ja  Khalil Shahramianin (oik.). keskellä kilpailun tulosten julkistamisen jälkeen.

Kuva: Sara Harju

Tiina Lehtiniemi (​molekulaaristen biotieteiden tohtoriohjelma) voitti vuonna 2019 pidetyn 3MT-kilpailun esityksellään "Quality sperm - How it's produced and the secrets within!". Toiseksi sijoittui Pooneh Sotoudehnia esityksellään "From food waste to saving lives" ja yleisön suosikin tittelin voitti Riikka Harikkala-Laihinen esityksellään "The power of positivity".

Voittaja Tiina Lehtiniemi, 2. sija Pooneh Sotoudehnia ja Yleisön suosikki Riikka Haarikkala (vasemmalta oikealle). Kuva: Hanna Oksanen

Vuoden 2018 3MT-kilpailun voitti Khalil Shahramian (hammaslääketieteen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Bioactive Coatings to Improve Implant-Gum Relationships & Soft Tissue Attachment Issues". Khalil oli myös yleisön suosikki kilpailussa. Hän pääsi finaaliin kansainvälisessä 3MT-kilpailussa Coimbra Groupin vuosikokoukseen Salamancassa, ja voitti myös siellä. Toisjeleksi sijoittui Pablo Pérez Chaves (biologian, maantieteen ja geologian tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Mapping Amazonia Using Machine Learning and Satellite Imagery".

Kuva: Hanna Oksanen

Tarek Omran (hammaslääketieteen tohtoriohjelma) voitti Turun yliopistossa vuonna 2017 järjestetyn 3MT-kilpailun. Hänen esityksensä otsikkona oli "Dental Composite Structures: Bio-memetic approach to dental mechanics". Toiseksi sijoittui Saana Myllyntausta (kliininen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "Retirement - a window of opportunity for better sleep?". Yleisö äänesti suosikikseen Kalypso Filippoun (koulutuspolitiikan, elinikäisen oppimisen ja vertailevan koulutuksen tutkimuksen tohtoriohjelma) esityksellään "A thesis on thesis!".

Voittaja Tarek Omran (3. oikealta), toinen sija Saana Myllyntausta (6. oikealta) ja People's Choice Kalypso Filippou (5. oikealta).

What the dickens is happening at the Department of English, Turku University

Your thesis in three minutes

Tags: PhD process · thesis

Thursday 9 March was an exciting day on campus, as it was the day for the final of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which was organized for the first time at the University of Turku.The competition was developed by the University of Queensland and the first 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2008. The idea is that doctoral candidates introduce their research to the public as interestingly as possible in three minutes. I decided to participate because the event offers an excellent opportunity to practice presentation skills. It also helps to understand the essence of your own research when you need to explain it to others in three minutes.

The competition started with two semi-finals in early February. The first semi-final was organized for the doctoral candidates within Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Law, and Economics, and the other for doctoral candidates within Science and Medicine. From both first rounds five top presentations were selected to the final and I was honored to learn that mine was one of them.

The 3MT final drew a large audience in the Tauno Nurmela hall. The atmosphere was full of excitement and it was very interesting to get to hear of other people’s PhD projects from different fields. There were also good prizes for the best ones. Moreover, the winner gets to participate in the Coimbra Group Competition with the video that was filmed during the final. Three best video recordings of the presentation will continue to compete in a live competition in Edinburgh in the beginning of June.

In addition to the diploma all finalists received at the event, we all gained useful experience in giving a presentation and summing up our research. All in all, the whole experience was very positive and I hope that the University of Turku organizes this event in the future too. I encourage all doctoral candidates to grab the opportunity!

Text: Johanna Rastas Photos: Johanna Rastas & The University of Turku

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Success at the Three Minute Thesis competition

Saana Myllyntausta, a doctoral candidate from the FIREA study, was the runner-up of Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at University of Turku.

Saana’s topic ” Retirement – a window of opportunity for better sleep” is part of the ongoing FIREA study. In the 3MT competition, originally developed by the Queensland Univeristy of Australia, doctoral candidates compete by presenting their research topic within three minutes. You can watch Saana’s presentation  here .

Samantha O'Sullivan (Physics / African American Studies)

Gullah Physics: Challenging English Language Hegemony in Science

Second prize expand_more

Sahar Mariam Mohammadzadeh (Government)

The Impact of Twitter on the Supreme Court

Third prize expand_more

Stephanie Alderete (Psychology)

Preschoolers' Ability to Think about Alternative Possibilities

Finalists expand_more

Alex Grayson (Molecular & Cellular Biology)

Comparing Fox and Human Brain Connectivity Patterns

Javin Pombra (Computer Science)

Unraveling the Black Box: Explainability for Artificial Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century

Zelin Liu (Classics / History)

Using the Past to Define Group Identity

Jerrica Li (Comparative Literature)

Diaspora: A Genre for This New Planetary Reality

Jahnavi Rao (Government)

The Spillover Potential of a Nudge

Daiana Lilo (Government / Data Science)

A Great Personality: How Different Characteristics Can Predict Supreme Court Decisions

The Graduate School

University information technology (uit), main navigation, three minute thesis.

Held in 85 countries  worldwide

Your thesis described in 3 minutes

900 universities participate

2023 3MT registration is CLOSED

What is 3mt.

The 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) program is designed to help students develop the communication skills necessary to make a compelling oral presentation on the value and impact of their research to a non-specialist audience.

As a research communication competition, the goal of 3MT is for students to articulate the significance of their research without using:

• Field-specific terminology
• Other language unfamiliar to those outside their fields of study

3MT training helps students hone their ability to quickly and effectively articulate the value of their research.  This skill-set is critical in many academic settings, whether communicating with collaborators, funding agencies, or trainees. Just as important, the communication skills learned in 3MT training are transferable and valued in many non-academic careers paths.

The Graduate School and the Career and Professional Development Center collaborate to offer training and sponsor a University of Utah 3MT competition.  In addition to prizes at our local event, the winner goes on to represent the U at the Western Association of Graduate Schools competition !

In 2008 the University of Queensland in Australia held the first official 3MT competition with 160 competitors in that first year .  More recently , the 3MT program has spread to over 85 participating countries worldwide.  The University of Utah began holding a 3MT competition in 2013 . 

Participants from across campus competed against each other to determine who could give the most compelling summary of their dissertation or thesis in three minutes or less.  Enjoy these videos as a taste of the excellent graduate work being done at the University of Utah.

2023 Grad School 3MT Showcase

University of Utah 3MT Videos

2022 Regional 3MT Competition Video

Testimonials

" Although I did not win the competition, being selected as one of the finalists was a great experience. I’m glad I got to participate in it." - 2023 Showcase Finalist

"Francine was such a great facilitator and our group was very helpful at making each speech as effective as possible." - 2023 Showcase Finalist

"I liked the opportunity to practice public speaking, i.e. speaking in front of an audience. I also enjoyed meeting peers, getting feedback from them and thinking on how to explain my research in an easy, non too specific way." - 2023 Showcase Finalist

• Nov 21, 2022

How to write a winning 3MT script

That’s how many words are in a typical PhD thesis. Years of gruelling research, sleepless nights, and history-making breakthroughs… culminated into one VERY thick book. To present something of this scale would take you approximately 9 hours. 🤯

But what do you do when you only have 3 minutes? ⏰

Well, that’s exactly what thousands of PhD students worldwide do each year in the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition. Not only do they explain their super complex research in the time it takes to make a coffee, but they do it in a way that can be understood by a non-specialist audience.

But we know what you’re thinking…

So, how do you even win a competition like that? Well first of all, you’re going to need a 3MT script. And we’re about to teach you how to write a WINNING one. 🏅

Not only that, but this blog post marks the beginning of a multi-part series that will cover all the important aspects of preparing a winning 3MT – from writing a captivating speech, to creating an effective slide, and of course, nailing your delivery.

What is the 3MT competition?

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition is an annual public speaking competition, where PhD candidates describe the impact and scope of their research in 3 minutes to a non-specialist audience. It was launched by the University of Queensland in 2008 and has since gained traction in over 85 countries around the world! 🌍

Put simply, it’s a fancy elevator pitch. Just imagine that it’s a really slow elevator.

Like any good competition, the 3MT has some rules. Here’s a run-down of some of the big ones:

Rules of the 3MT® competition:

You must use a single static PowerPoint slide with no transitions or animations.

You are limited to 3 minutes maximum. Competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.

Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs)… Sorry to all the aspiring rapper-researchers out there.

You can find a comprehensive list of the rules on the official UQ 3MT website.

Well, now that’s out of the way, let’s get into our tips on how to write a winning 3MT script! In this article, I’ll discuss some strategies that I used to craft my own winning 3MT script, but I’ve also watched lots of other award-winning 3MT presentations and identified some common features they share, so that you don’t have to. 😉

#1 : The hook 🪝

Every great 3MT presentation starts off with an attention-grabbing opener, otherwise known as ‘the hook.’ It’s a storytelling essential, and is undoubtedly one of the most important components of the 3MT script.

One clever way to hook the audience in a 3MT presentation is to start off by asking a question , which creates a sense of open dialogue with the listener. For instance, these 3MT finalists began their presentations by asking:

Full videos: Sarah Mokrzycki | Merryn Baker

You can see how the simple act of asking a question makes us reflect on our own personal views and encourages us to engage with the presentation. 💭 Another way to achieve a similar effect is to begin your talk by prompting the audience to act. An effective example of this is presented here:

Full video: Amanda Khamis

Prompting the listener to act is a powerful way to immerse the audience into a particular scenario by making use of their senses. It can be easily achieved by asking the audience to look around the room, visualise a scene using their imagination, or simply taking a deep breath. 😮‍💨

Finally, several fantastic 3MT presentations also begin with a hook that startles the reader by making an unusual, interesting, or thought-provoking statement. This can be done numerous ways, such as through the use of:

Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two contradicting words (i.e., ‘deafening silence’ and ‘old news’).

Paradox: A self-contradictory statement that may actually be true (i.e., ‘less is more’).

Irony: Use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning (i.e., telling a rude customer to ‘have a nice day’).

Here are some good 3MT examples where the presenter has opened with a startling hook:

Full videos: Sophie Jano | Kylie Sturgess

The success of this technique arises from its element of surprise, which keeps the listener intrigued and curious. Basically, the more shocking or unexpected the hook, the better. 😲

However, with all this being said, there’s certainly no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to begin your 3MT, and that’s the beauty of creativity. But in case you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few sentence starters to give you some inspiration for creating a compelling hook for your 3MT script:

Once you’ve got the crowd hooked, it’s a prime opportunity to reel them in for your story. 📖

#2 : Tell a story

If you watch all the award-winning 3MT presentations, you’ll notice that they have one thing in common: they all tell a story. And they do it well.

But how do we turn our own complex, and often niche, research into a compelling story? Well, thankfully, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can stand on the shoulders of SciComm giants... 👣

No one is more of an expert at the ins and outs of storytelling than Dr Randy Olson ; scientist-turned-filmmaker, and co-author of the book Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking ( a.k.a. our SciComm holy bible). Many of the principles discussed in this section come straight from this remarkable work, which made it to our top 5 must-read science communication books . 📚

As we know from pretty much every Hollywood blockbuster, all good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. In Connection , Randy further develops this idea by outlining what he calls the ‘ABT Template’, which stands for ‘And, But, Therefore.’ These represent the three key components that make up every good story. We’ve talked about the ABT template before , and how it can be used to elevate your storytelling. But, in case you missed it, I’ll use my own research as an example as we work through this concept.

Typically, in the beginning of a story, there’s some exposition. These are facts that help set the scene and ensure that the speaker and audience are all on the same page (pun intended). 😉 These facts can be connected using the word AND. For example:

“Cancer is deadly and traditional chemotherapy is one treatment option.”

Any statements we connect with ‘and’ are typically things that everyone would agree with, so you can quality-check your ‘and’ section by making sure you agree with all the facts you are connecting.

Okay, so we’ve set the scene. But this isn’t really a story yet, is it? The actual story doesn’t begin until there’s a source of tension or conflict , and the simplest word to make this happen is the word BUT:

“Cancer is deadly and traditional chemotherapy is one treatment option, but it comes with a lot of side effects.”

You can see that the ‘but’ is what makes things interesting. It’s what keeps the audience wanting more and makes them ask “Well, what happens next?”

It doesn’t have to be the word ‘but’ either – there are a lot of words that essentially do the same thing, such as however, although, except , and unfortunately, to name a few… (The thesaurus could be your best friend here). What these words have in common is that they create this critical sense of tension.

Following this, is the outcome , which is where the THEREFORE comes in.

“Cancer is deadly and chemotherapy is one treatment option, but it comes with a lot of side effects. Therefore , in our research, we load these drugs into tiny carriers called nanoparticles, which can help to reduce their adverse effects.”

‘Therefore’ is the word that brings everything together. It marks the beginning of a journey of discovery, which eventually leads to the resolution.

You can see how, by simply including these three key words: and, but and therefore , we have generated the foundations of a good story. Your 3MT script will obviously need to be longer than two sentences, but the ABT template provides a useful scaffold that you can build from to ensure that your story is compelling. If you’re interested in reading more on the ABT template and how it can be utilised, make sure to give Connection a read. 📖

To help you shape your story using the ABT template, here are some questions you can aim to answer in the beginning, middle, and end of your 3MT script:

Hopefully this outline can help you create a captivating and persuasive story to communicate your research effectively. Because, in the wise words of Dr Randy Olson, “Tell a good story and the whole world will listen.”

So, we’ve got our story. But what other strategies can we use to make it a little more interesting? Let’s unpack our storytelling toolkit to see how we can spice things up. 🌶

#3 : Your storytelling toolkit: analogies, humour & creation of a character

In addition to using the ABT template to write a compelling narrative structure, there are also several other tools that you can use to connect with your audience and make your story as easy to understand as possible.

One powerful way to do this is to relate your research to a more common experience by using an analogy . Analogies allow us to compare similarities between two seemingly different things. For instance, when I did the 3MT, I used an analogy to compare nanoparticles – a topic that’s not very common – to cars, something that almost everyone is familiar with:

Full video: Cintya Dharmayanti

As you can see, this works because the analogy serves to provide a simpler, more easily understood explanation using concepts and examples from everyday life. 🚗

Besides analogies, another useful tool to create a captivating story is the use of humour . Because who doesn’t like a good laugh, right? 😂 Comedic relief can help you create a bond with the listener and provide some emotional reprieve for what may otherwise be a serious presentation.

Humour is used well in this winning 3MT presentation:

Full video: Trevyn Toone

In this example, humour helps to keep us engaged with the presentation and gives us a good impression of the presenter. However, some care does need to be taken with the use of humour, so as to not devalue the presentation. Don’t worry if you’re not a comedian though (or if your research topics are too grim to joke about), there are still other effective ways to make your story shine.

Some of the most immersive 3MTs are those that introduce a character , fictional or not, and follow that character’s story. This is a particularly useful tool if your research involves a topic that strikes a strong emotional response. The following example executed this well, where the speaker refers to a photo of an adorable young infant with a feeding tube:

This is so effective because it encourages us to empathise with the character and persuades us to see the importance of the presenter’s research. Whether it’s analogies, humour, or the creation of a character, there are lots of ways to make your story relatable and more easily understood.

Now that we’ve got some ideas from our storytelling toolkit, let’s move on! 🙌

#4 : Goodbye technical jargon 👋

Imagine being in a different country, where you don’t speak the native language. You’re chatting with a local, but they can’t speak your language very fluently. The conversation is interspersed with foreign words that you can’t quite understand, so the meaning of the exchange ultimately becomes lost.

That’s what it’s like trying to understand complex research when it’s filled with terminology and jargon only an expert in that field would know. 🤓

Remember that the 3MT is for a non-specialist audience, which is very different to a conference presentation that’s mostly filled with experts in the field. As scientists, it’s our job to make sure that we are speaking the same language as our audience, and for the 3MT, that means avoiding the use of language that’s too niche or technical. We can still explain complex concepts using language that’s easy to understand!

But how do you do that, when you’ve spent years in academia doing the opposite? 😅

The best way to avoid the overuse of jargon is to simply seek the help of a non-specialist. Ask someone that’s not in your field of research to listen to your presentation and provide feedback. Perhaps this is a friend, family, or fellow student from a completely different department. Does your story make sense to them? If not, it probably won’t make sense to many people in the 3MT audience.

I remember when I was preparing my 3MT script, I went through this exact process! Reading it aloud to my mum, sister, and pretty much anyone who would listen, to make sure each sentence was easy to follow and understand. It’s actually what helped me come up with the idea of the car- analogy in the first place! So, keep iterating and tweaking your presentation until it makes sense to the mailman, the bus driver, and the neighbour down the road.

Also, make sure to keep your story focused on the big picture, rather than getting bogged down in the details and data. Not only will this make your presentation hard to understand, but it’s also more likely to make it B.O.R.I.N.G. and lead to blank stares !

When you’ve ticked all these boxes – great! You’re ready to move on.

#5 : The finisher: Coming full circle

Good job! You’re almost done. Time to add the finishing touch. We can all agree that a strong finish makes for a more memorable presentation. One trend that’s very common amongst winning 3MT presentations is the way that they finish: by bringing their story full circle. As the name suggests, this essentially means that the presenter refers back to the beginning of the story, especially if a particular character, scenario, or analogy is used.

For instance, in this winning 3MT example, the presentation begins with:

Then, as the presentation comes to a close, the final segment ends by referring back to the opening sentence:

Full video: Matthew Shaw

By bringing the story full circle, the audience gains a sense of satisfaction and closure as the cycle returns to its beginnings and the status quo is restored.

Take-away messages

The thought of distilling years of research down to just 3 minutes can be daunting, especially when it’s a competition. 😰 However, if you:

Create an attention-grabbing hook

Tell a captivating story using the ABT template

Use tools such as analogies, humour, and characters

Get rid of technical jargon, and

Bring your story full circle

You’re well on your way to writing a fantastic 3MT script! So, what are you waiting for? Let’s tell your story. Time is ticking. 😉⏰

And remember – if you want to further master your storytelling and public speaking skills, we’d love to show you how in one of our online or in-person science communication workshops .

Feel free to contact us to find out more!

Cintya Dharmayanti

Dr Juan Miguel Balbin

Dr Tullio Rossi

Illustration

Alvin Yanga

Related Posts

What does it mean to be a science communicator?

5 tips for improving your public speaking skills as a researcher

How to write effective analogies for communicating research

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

Three minute thesis.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a competition for doctoral students to develop and showcase their research communication skills.

3MT Competition

Could you present your 80,000 word thesis or dissertation in three minutes? Do you want the excitement of competing with other graduate students for a total of $2,500 in prizes and the opportunity to participate in the Northeastern (U.S. and Canadian) round or even to showcase your research at the annual Council of Graduate Schools meeting?

 3MT is an annual competition sponsored by the Cornell Graduate School. 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. All enrolled doctoral students at the research stage (with at least some results to share) are eligible. In 2024, the Graduate School 3MT is also open to research master’s students. The next competition will take place in Spring 2025.

Learn more about the 2024 Graduate School 3MT competition.

Email [email protected] with any questions.

All newly created videos on this website are accessible. Closed captions are available for the video on this page, and selecting the option to watch in YouTube will provide a transcript for the video. For an accommodation for this archival video, please contact [email protected] .

The first 3MT was held at The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008 with 160 graduate students competing. Enthusiasm for the 3MT concept grew, and its adoption by numerous universities led to the development of an international competition in 2010. Today students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Asia-Pacific region take part in their own regional and national events.

Cornell Graduate School hosted its ninth 3MT competition final round event on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Video submissions for the preliminary round was due on March 1, 2024, and was reviewed by a panel of volunteer judges using a common scoring rubric to select the finalists.

At the final round event, held in person on the Ithaca campus, a panel of judges scored presentations and selected the top two finalists. Additionally, audience members were able to vote for their favorite presenter for the People’s Choice Award.

3MT Resources

• Watch videos of finalists from Cornell’s 3MT contests .
• Learn more about the 2024 3MT winners and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2023 3MT winners and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2022 3MT winner and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2021 3MT winner and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2019 3MT winner and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2018 3MT winner and finalists .
• Learn more about the 2017 3MT winner and finalists .
• Watch a video of the inaugural 2019 Ivy 3MT event . Read more about the 2019 Ivy 3MT event .
• Watch videos of winning presentations from around the world .
• Read more about the Three Minute Thesis in Science Magazine .
• Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (i.e. no poems, raps, or songs).
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when presenters start their presentation through movement or speech.
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or ‘movement’ of any kind) and 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.
• Zoom backgrounds are considered props. Please ensure your background is a blank screen or wall. 
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Judging Criteria

Each of the judging criteria has equal weight. Note what each criterion has in common: An emphasis on audience.

Comprehension and Content

• Did the presentation provide a clear background and significance to the research question?
• Did the presentation clearly describe the research strategy/design and the results/findings of the research?
• Did the presentation clearly describe the conclusions, outcomes, and impact of the research?

Engagement and Communication

• Was the oration delivered clearly, and in language appropriate for a non-specialist audience?
• Was the PowerPoint slide clear and did it enhance the presentation?
• Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research, and capture and maintain the audience’s attention?

For more information about the Cornell competition, email  [email protected] .

Graduate Success Center

The three minute thesis (3mt®).

The College of Graduate Studies hosts the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition to provide graduate students with the opportunity to gain valuable skills and network with fellow graduate students. Read below for more information about the competition!

About the 3mt®

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic competition during which students must effectively explain their graduate research in three minutes or less to an audience of specialists and non-specialists alike. 

The idea for the 3MT® competition 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 UQ 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 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  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 600 universities and institutions across 63 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 select number of Asian universities. The competition is now called the  Asia-Pacific 3MT® competition .

Why should I participate?

• The competition builds presentation and communication skills.
• This is an opportunity to expand your network and develop new friendships!
• Participants learn to craft their very own elevator pitch that emphasizes why their research is so important!
• You'll be able to explain your research to potential employers who may not be experts in your research area.

Past Winner Testimonials

Read what past participants have shared about their experiences below!

“In a practical sense, the 3MT® competition successfully bridges the gap between academia and the public, an enormously beneficial task considering today’s surging population and exponential growth of information sharing."

Andrew Fialka , University Of Georgia, 2015 Winner

"It's very important to be able to explain your research in 3 minutes in a way that is easy to understand and conveys the general goal of your project...Being able to talk about my research in a few minutes has been very helpful for job interviews as well."

- Gilbert Castillo , North Carolina State University, 2016 Winner

" Preparing for and participating in the 3MT® competition was an incredible chance to develop my presentation skills and my research ‘pitch’. I had the opportunity to think very carefully about the ‘big picture’ aspect of my research."

- Erin Macri , University Of British Columbia-Vancouver, 2014 Runner-Up And People's Choice Winner

Watch past 3mt® winners.

Watch Rachel's (College of Medicine and Life Sciences alumna) winning presentation from 2020!

Watch competitors share their research from all over the world!

Read below for rules of the competition and how judges evaluate challenger presentations!

Who Can Participate?

All graduate students in good academic standing who have successfully passed their qualifying exams and are working on a thesis, dissertation, or scholarly project may participate.

Presentation

Challengers must present their research in three minutes or less in a spoken word format and can have a single, static presentation slide if they wish (most contestants opt for one!). They can't use any props, videos, or audio to present.

The timer starts once the challenger makes a movement or begins speaking. If they go over three minutes, they lose! 

A panel of 3-5 judges from different areas of speciality will evaluate the presenters based on the criteria below. Each of the below items is weighed equally and places emphasis on the audience's experience. The decision of the judges is final. 

Comprehension & 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 a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
• Did the presenter 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? 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 presenter have sufficient stage presence, eye contact and vocal range; maintain a steady pace, and have a confident stance?
• Did the presentation slide enhance the the presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?

What to expect

3mt® information sessions and registration.

In September 2024, the registration form to compete in the competition will be available on this website. Want to learn more before jumping in? We offer a series of information sessions to answer questions and provide more details about the competition! 

Prep 4 Success 4 the 3MT® Workshop Series

Excited to participate, but don't quite know where to begin? We've got you covered. We'll be kicking off October 2024 with a series of preparatory workshops designed to help you develop your very own presentation and confidently present it at our qualifying round! 

Writing a Recipe for a Tasty 3MT®

How do you transform your research into a concise, meaningful, and engaging verbal presentation that fits within 3 minutes? Where do you start? During this workshop, we equip you with a worksheet that helps you build the foundation of your presentation, but that's not all! In this workshop, we also share tips and tricks for "seasoning" your presentation to make it truly unique and yours. If you're new to Three Minute Thesis, you especially won't want to miss this!

Telling Your Visual Story for the 3MT®

Three Minute Thesis challengers get to have one, static presentation slide to accompany their presentation. What makes an impactful slide? We can help. This workshop will take you through useful tenets of design while providing you with effective and not-so-effective slide examples.  

Presentation Skills for the 3MT®

Delivery is an essential part of a successful Three Minute Thesis presentation. During this workhshop, we share our favorite bits of advice for confidently explaining your research.

3MT® Practice Labs

We always advise challengers to practice, practice, practice! You'll have the opportunity to put your script to the test while receiving feedback on compositon and delivery.

Qualifying Round

The following applies to all but Judith Herb College of Education graduate students, as the college hosts its own qualifying round via the THInC-3M Research Competition! 

In early November 2024 , the College of Graduate Studies will hold a qualifying round and 10 challengers (including two from the THInC-3M Research Competition) will advance to the final round.

Challengers, keep an eye on your Rockets email! You will receive a message from the 3MT® competition coordinator with your qualifying round time slot based on the preferences you shared in the registration form. 

Following the final qualifying round presentation, scores will be tallied and all participants will receive an email within the same week with the results as well as the judging sheets with feedback. Even if you do not advance to the final competition, we invite you to come and cheer on your fellow Rockets!

Final Competition

The final competition will take place in front of a public audience comprised of the various members of the challengers' support systems! This is a celebration of the hard work all participants have put into the competition and we invite all students, staff, faculty, and community members to attend.

A panel of judges will select a first-place winner, runner-up, and honorable mention while the audience will select a People's Choice Award winner . The competition will commence and be followed by a reception. Then, everyone will return and winners will be announced!

2024 competition

The 7th Annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Final Competition will take place on Thursday, November 21st on Main Campus. 

Stay tuned for updates and details coming in Summer 2024! 

Questions About your Application?

Questions about your degree progress, other questions.

Graduate School

• Three Minute Thesis

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) celebrates the exciting research you are doing as a graduate student. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008, this competition cultivates your academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports the capacity to effectively explain your research in three minutes or less, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience while using just 1 static PowerPoint slide.

The 2023 competition is in person and will take place in the Student Union Building on Friday, October 6th.

Eligibility

Currently enrolled master's and doctoral students in all disciplines at Texas Tech University will be eligible to participate in 3MT™. Work presented must have been conducted at Texas Tech University. Students should be in the final stages of graduate school so they have sound conclusions and impacts from their research. Distance students are eligible to participate. Please see Competitors Guide or the Competitors Guide for Distance Students for more information. 

Competition Rules

• 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).
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment and animated backgrounds) are permitted within the recording.
• 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 speech.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Judging Criteria

Comprehension and content

• Presentation provided clear background and significance to the research question
• Presentation provided clear positionality of the presenter to the research and research approach. 
• 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

First, second, and third prizes will be awarded to the top students in the final heat of the competition. A People's Choice award will also be awarded. The first-place winner will advance to the Three Minute Thesis Competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools to represent Texas Tech. Award amounts will be disclosed to winners after the competition. 

 Timeline & Deadlines

Deadlines for this event are firm. Production of the event program, assignment of judges, and scheduling of presentations require advanced planning. Additionally, these deadlines allow our staff to review all applications and slides so students can provide revisions if necessary. We appreciate your cooperation. 

• Abstract/Slide Due - Friday, September 15th by 5:00 p.m. CST 
• Videos Due (Distance Students ONLY) - Friday, September 22nd by 5:00 p.m. CST 
• Competition - Friday, October 6th 

Questions? 

If you have any questions, please contact Graduate Student Life at [email protected] .  

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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.

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

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Students Showcase Research at 3MT Competition

KENNESAW, Ga. | Apr 12, 2024

By Tracy Gaudlip

On Thursday, April 4, 2024, the Graduate College held its 9th annual 3-Minute Thesis competition (3MT), tasking master’s and doctoral students with presenting their research to a non-specialist audience within a strict three-minute timeframe.

William Reed, a master’s in exercise science student, clinched the top spot with his presentation titled “Kinetic and Kinematic Effects of Unilateral Flag Carrying on Referee Sprinting and Agility Performance.” Yongshuai Wu, currently pursuing a master’s in information technology, secured both the Runner-Up position and the People’s Choice award for his presentation titled “Autonomous Robots for Inventory Tasks in Unstructured Environments via Zero-Shot Imitation Learning.”

Reed’s presentation centered on the differences between normal sprinting motions and that of “flag-carrying” soccer referees. From his own experience he explained, “We referees have a distinct lack of research around us in comparison to the players we officiate, so finding a way to add to that limited research base was the goal. Referees receive very little assistance when it comes to specialized training, so working to analyze the intricacies of our own performance expectations led us to this premise of running with only one moving arm, as the flag must be carried in the other.” He added that while there is some research on the effects of restricting both arms in track athletes, none have looked at the effects of running with only one arm moving.

In addition to the 1080Sprint machine, he used tests standardized by soccer governing bodies to determine what kind of change flag-carrying has on running. He tracked kinetic data for each test and compared the tests within individuals. 

Now that the competition is over, Reed said he “feels a sense of calm” and is looking forward to the next challenge. 

Wu’s research delves into robotic reasoning, which involves training robots to mimic human behavior. To evaluate their methods, he explained that they chose robot radio-frequency identification (RFID) because it’s a challenging task for robots. This technology uses radio waves to identify and track tags attached to objects and is used in applications such as inventory management.

“The concept of RFID inventory is that each product will have an RFID tag, which can be scanned by a reader within a short distance. This is why we need to train the robot to approach those places where the products are located.”

Wu explained that grasping robotic reasoning can be daunting for those unfamiliar with robotics. “Summarizing this into a 3-minute presentation is tough,” he said. He opted to focus on key milestones rather than narrate the entire journey, and it turned out to be effective.

Reed was awarded $1,000 for his first-place presentation, while Wu earned $750 for second place and an additional $350 for winning the people’s choice award.

Dr. Amy Buddie, the Director of Undergraduate Research, along with Dr. Karin Scarpinato, the Vice President of Research, and Dr. Jessica Rudd, an alumna of KSU’s Ph.D. program, and a past 3MT champion who currently serves as Senior Data Engineer and Technical Lead at Intuit Mailchimp, were the judges for the competition.  

2024 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Participants

• Kimberly Green, Ed.D. in Teacher Leadership , Faculty advisor: Dr. Nicholas Clegorne, Perceptions of the Differing Prepatory Needs of Teacher Leaders and Educational Leaders

• Lacey Harper, Master of Science in Exercise Science , Faculty advisor: Dr. Garrett Hester, The Power of the Mind to Enhance Strength Training Adaptations in Older Women

• Anthoanette Kommeh, Ph.D. in International Conflict Management , Faculty advisor: Dr. Christopher Pallas, The Impact of NGO Sensitivity to Local Gender Dynamics on Project Outcomes and Social Relations in Northern Ghana

• Srivastsa Mallapragada, Ph.D. Analytics and Data Science , Faculty advisor: Dr. Ying Xie, Multi-Modality Transformer for E-Commerce: Inferring User Purchase Intention to Bridge the Query-Product Gap

• William Reed, Master of Science in Exercise Science , Faculty advisor: Dr. Jacob Grazer, Kinetic and Kinematic Effects of Unilateral Flag Carrying on Referee Sprinting and Agility Performance

• Kimberly Wang, Master of Science in Information Technology , Faculty advisor: Dr. Chloe Yixin Xie, How Tiny Interactions in GPR56 Control Your Health?

• Yongshuai Wu, Master of Science in Information Technology , Faculty advisor: Dr. Shaoen Wu, Autonomous Robots for Inventory Tasks in Unstructured Environments via Zero-Shot Imitation Learning

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3 Minute Thesis Competition Returns to USU

Graduate students at the uniformed services university (usu) competed in a 3 minute thesis competition on april 3., april 8, 2024 by ian neligh.

Graduate students at the Uniformed Services University (USU) once again battled the clock as they presented their big ideas during the 3 Minute Thesis Competition on April 3. 

“This event helps students with learning how to convey knowledge to the public, practice with public speaking, and working on explaining their work,” says Summer Paulson, Graduate Student Council President and a member of this year’s 3 Minute Thesis competition planning committee. “Any thesis project from a graduate student can be presented, regardless of which of the USU Ph.D. graduate programs they hail from.”

Prizes were awarded to Air Force 2nd Lt. Cecelia Mangione for both first place and People’s Choice, to Marana Rekedal for second place and Mydirah Littlepage-Saunders for third place.

Starting at USU in 2018, the 3 Minute Thesis originally began at the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008. The competition is now held at universities around the world.

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2023 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition at UTM Registration

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a preliminary heat to the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at UTM, on Wednesday, December 6th, 2023, in IB150, beginning at 3:00 pm.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is open to graduate students enrolled in Canadian universities. Participants have three minutes or less to present their research to a panel of non-specialist judges, and competitions are held at local, provincial, and national levels. The challenge is to present complex research information in an engaging, accessible, and compelling way.

This competition is a unique opportunity for graduate students to showcase their innovative and significant research to a wider audience, across disciplines within the University, and to the broader public. This year’s competition at the University of Toronto will be open to all master’s students and students from both research-stream and professional programs at the masters and Ph.D. level.

Please see below the website provided by the University of Toronto’s School of Graduate Studies for competition rules, eligibility, and more information:

https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/resources-supports/gpd/three-minute-thesis-3mt-at-u-of-t/

Please see the links below to register:

Deadline to register is Wednesday, November 22nd, by 5:00 pm

Register to Speak

Register to Attend

From left: Paul DiStefano, Dean Levon Esters, Auja Bywater and Aditya Sapra. Credit: The Graduate School. All Rights Reserved.

Chemical engineering graduate student wins first place at Three Minute Thesis contest

March 27, 2024

Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News .  

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Aditya Sapre, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering, won first place in the final round of Penn State’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held on March 23 at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center. He won a $1,000 cash prize and will advance to represent Penn State at the regional Three Minute Thesis competition at the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools.    

“It’s very, very exciting,” Sapre said. “I have been practicing this for a long time and it’s all with the support of my group members and my professor who helped me trim the pitch in a particular way to convey all the points of our research and stay in three minutes.”   

Two other Penn State graduate students were honored as award recipients in the final round of the contest.  

“We have some extremely talented students,” said Levon Esters, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School following the event's presentations. “It really makes me feel proud to be dean of the Graduate School at Penn State and know I’m going to come to work every day and be in the midst of talented students like yourselves. You all are going to do great things for years to come. A lot of the research we learned about today is going to change lives in so many impactful ways.”    

Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in food, science and technology, was awarded the $500 second-place prize. Paul DiStefano, a doctoral student in cognitive psychology, earned $500 and the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Association. Sapre and Bywater were selected by a panel of invited judges, and DiStefano’s award was chosen via in-person and online voting from the audience after the competition ended.    

The judges for the final round included Penn State alumnus Bimal Balakrishnan, professor and associate dean for research, College of Arts and Architecture, Mississippi State University; Kathy Drager, associate dean for research and graduate education, College of Health and Human Development, and professor of communication sciences and disorders; Esther Obonyo, associate professor of architectural engineering and director of Penn State’s Global Building Network; and Priyanka Paul, Penn State doctoral student in human development and family studies.    

The award recipients were three of 11 finalists that competed on March 23. That group came from a group of 60 students from 42 graduate programs who submitted videos as part of the first round of the competition earlier this year.   

Sapre’s presentation was titled “High Throughput and Cost-Effective Ways of Protein Identification,” and focused on one of the foremost challenges in drug discovery, pinpointing the specific target protein that can bind with the correct drug. Bywater’s presentation was titled “Improving Food Safety: Exploring Bacterial Diversity in Hydroponic Farming,” and shared her study that carried out a longitudinal assessment of microbial load of nutrient solution in different hydroponic farming systems. DiStefano’s presentation, titled “Is a Hotdog a Sandwich?: Measuring Overinclusive Thinking and Creativity,” provided an overview of a novel measure he developed that is designed to assess overinclusive thinking.    

The Three Minute Thesis is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia. Through the competition, graduate and professional students honed their academic and research presentation skills and their ability to effectively explain their research to a general audience. Each competitor had three minutes to speak and could use only one presentation slide.    

The Graduate School hosted the first University-wide 3MT competition in 2024 and plans to host another competition in the 2024-25 academic year. More information will be available on the Graduate School’s website in the fall 2024 semester.    

The event was live streamed and recorded, and community can view the competition on the Graduate School’s YouTube channel.

The Graduate School: 2024 Three Minute Thesis Competition. Credit: The Graduate School at Penn State

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Three-Minute Thesis Grand Finale winners announced

Doctoral researcher Denis Ruto was awarded first place for his 3-minute thesis presentation on “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.”

The Office of Graduate Education and Life announced the winners of the annual  Three-Minute Thesis Competition , which was held on April 3 during WVU Graduate Student Appreciation Week and Research Week.

Story by WVU Today Photos by WVU Today

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

For the first time in WVU 3MT competition history, two doctoral students tied for first place. Denis Ruto, from the Statler College , and Paige Zalman, PhD candidate from the College of Applied Human Services, received the same scores to win. Zalman also won the People’s Choice Award. 

Even though Ruto acknowledged that it was a great challenge to narrow down his dissertation and research to under three minutes, he impressed the judges on his presentation titled “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.” 

Meanwhile, Zalman scored points with both the judges and audience members with her presentation on “Exploring Music Major Mental Health Using Photovoice and Narrative Inquiry.” She emphasized the importance of qualitative methodologies that can help people better understand the nature of problems people are researching today.

Second place was awarded to Kayla Steinberger, an immunology specialist in the School of Medicine, for her presentation on “Hypoxia Regulates Vessel-Modifying Macrophages and Vice Versa in Tumors.” She emphasized that, as a future scientist, it’s important to know how to best communicate her science to the public, so she takes every opportunity to get in front of people and “make stuff that's really hard, sound really easy.” 

Vaishakhi Suresh, an industrial and management systems engineering student in the Statler College, received third place for her research presentation on “Exploring the Challenges of Handling Mass Fatalities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” When asked why she entered the competition, Vaishakhi said, “It's a great opportunity to talk about her research to the rest of the WVU community.” She was also excited to meet other students in different fields and learn more about their research.

This year’s judges included Ming Lei, senior associate vice president in the Office of Research and Graduate Education and vice dean of research in the School of Medicine; Rachel Morris, biology doctoral student in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; Mikylah Myers, associate dean of artistic and scholarly achievement in the College of Creative Arts; Patricia Slagel, assistant director of advising and student operations of graduate programs in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics; and Daniel Totzkay, assistant professor of communication studies in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. 

The internationally renowned 3MT competition, originally founded by the University of Queensland in Australia, challenges doctoral students to present their research topic and its significance in three minutes using a single PowerPoint slide. Competitors develop academic, presentation and research communication skills while gaining experience pitching their research succinctly to a non-specialist audience. 

Grand Finale prizes include: 

• First Place Prize: $1,000 

• Second Place Prize: $750 

• Third Place Prize: $500 

• People’s Choice Prize: $250 

Read more about all ten grand finale finalists and learn more about the WVU 3MT Competition.

Contact: Paige Nesbit Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources 304.293.4135, Paige Nesbit

For more information on news and events in the West Virginia University Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, contact our Marketing and Communications office:

Email: [email protected] Phone: 304-293-4135

Statler College Marketing and Communications

J. Paige Nesbit, Director Phone:   304.293.4135 |  Email:   [email protected]

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Monday, April 08, 2024

Three-Minute Thesis Grand Finale winners announced

The Office of Graduate Education and Life announced the winners of the annual Three-Minute Thesis Competition , which was held on April 3 during WVU Graduate Student Appreciation Week and Research Week.

For the first time in WVU 3MT competition history, two doctoral students tied for first place. Denis Ruto, from the Statler College, and Paige Zalman, PhD candidate from the College of Applied Human Services, received the same scores to win. Zalman also won the People’s Choice Award. 

Even though Ruto acknowledged that it was a great challenge to narrow down his dissertation and research to under three minutes, he impressed the judges on his presentation titled “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.” 

Meanwhile, Zalman scored points with both the judges and audience members with her presentation on “Exploring Music Major Mental Health Using Photovoice and Narrative Inquiry.” She emphasized the importance of qualitative methodologies that can help people better understand the nature of problems people are researching today.

Second place was awarded to Kayla Steinberger, an immunology specialist in the School of Medicine, for her presentation on “Hypoxia Regulates Vessel-Modifying Macrophages and Vice Versa in Tumors.” She emphasized that, as a future scientist, it’s important to know how to best communicate her science to the public, so she takes every opportunity to get in front of people and “make stuff that's really hard, sound really easy.” 

Vaishakhi Suresh, an industrial and management systems engineering student in the Statler College, received third place for her research presentation on “Exploring the Challenges of Handling Mass Fatalities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” When asked why she entered the competition, Vaishakhi said, “It's a great opportunity to talk about her research to the rest of the WVU community.” She was also excited to meet other students in different fields and learn more about their research.

This year’s judges included Ming Lei, senior associate vice president in the Office of Research and Graduate Education and vice dean of research in the School of Medicine; Rachel Morris, biology doctoral student in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; Mikylah Myers, associate dean of artistic and scholarly achievement in the College of Creative Arts; Patricia Slagel, assistant director of advising and student operations of graduate programs in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics; and Daniel Totzkay, assistant professor of communication studies in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. 

The internationally renowned 3MT competition, originally founded by the University of Queensland in Australia, challenges doctoral students to present their research topic and its significance in three minutes using a single PowerPoint slide. Competitors develop academic, presentation and research communication skills while gaining experience pitching their research succinctly to a non-specialist audience. 

Grand Finale prizes include: 

• First Place Prize: $1,000 

• Second Place Prize: $750 

• Third Place Prize: $500 

• People’s Choice Prize: $250 

Read more about all ten grand finale finalists and learn more about the WVU 3MT Competition.

For more information, contact Betty Mei at  [email protected].