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Three Minute Thesis Competition

Nicole Pek, 2024 Three Minute Thesis first place winner.

UC's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition challenges students to summarize their research or scholarship for a non-specialist audience using only three minutes of speech and a single PowerPoint slide.

2024 3MT Competition at UC

2024 Three Minute Thesis Competition Wednesday, February 28 at 1 PM Kresge Auditorium (MSB E701)

The first place winner of the 3MT competition will receive a $1,000 award . Second place will receive $750 , and third place will receive $500 .  The audience will select a people's choice winner , who will receive $1,000 . Someone who wins first, second, or third place may also be awarded the people's choice. All prize funds will be posted to the winners' Catalyst student account. 

The winner of UC's annual Three Minute Thesis competition will be registered to compete in the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' regional 3MT® competition . The competition will be held during the MAGS annual meeting, April 4-6, 2024 at the LeMeridien Hotel St. Louis Clayton, MO. Travel expenses will be paid by the Graduate College.

Event Booklet

View the 2024 Three Minute Thesis Competition booklet as a PDF . (To view this document, you will need  Adobe Acrobat Reader , a free download.)

Please email the Graduate College 3MT organizers ([email protected]) with questions. 

Three Minute Thesis Competition 2023

Congratulations to our winners!

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

Thank you to all who attended our live final on Thursday 31 August. It was a fantastic evening! 

Huge congratulations to our winners

• Major prize: Senada Meskin (Faculty of Arts and Design) 
• Runner-up: Sara Chica Latorre (Faculty of Health) 
• People’s Choice Award: Sara Chica Latorre 

Special thanks to all our finalists, judges, MC, and UC Media Team for making this such a memorable event. 

This year’s all-female finale saw seven Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates, representing four of the University’s five faculties, pitch their thesis in three minutes or less for prizes and the opportunity to represent the University at the Asia-Pacific Semi-Final at the University of Queensland in September.           

#UC3MT   #UniCBR

2023 Winners

Senada Meskin, Major Prize Winner

Senada meskin.

Faculty of Arts and Design

Australian Muslim Women and Paid Work!

Senada is an international research student, a mother of three, a university employee, and a visibly Muslim woman. Each of those identities was, at some point, a part of the academic inquiry. If, however, we intersect two or more of those identities, we would encounter a whole new world. Senada’s thesis investigates the severely under-researched phenomenon of how it feels to be a Muslim woman in Australia as well as an employee in a competitive industry.

Sara Chica-Latorre, Runner-up and People's Choice Winner

Sara chica-latorre.

Faculty of Health

Tackling a bloody problem for women in sport

Sara feels fortunate to combine her biggest passions – research, exercise, and nutrition – as she investigates the management of menstrual symptoms in sportswomen through diet, aspiring to make a positive difference for women in sports research. Sara graduated from ANU in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science (Hons). She spent two years working in research, and four year working in the health, fitness, and vocational education sectors. In 2021 Sara completed a Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetics and commenced her PhD at the University of Canberra.

2023 Finalists

Check out our  #UC3MT finalists for 2023.

Ayrin Assadimoghadam

How can a building's façade learn from nature.

Ayrin’s research intersects across architecture, sustainability, and efficiency. Her 3MT Pitch is about adaptive facade strategy and its potential for optimising building façade performance for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. Ayrin’s research highlights current gaps in applying adaptive façades through building codes, principles, and guidelines for high-rise residential buildings. In these cases, optimised design frameworks and adaptive façade strategies could have significant environmental advantages, especially in countries with high solar coverage like Australia.

Kithmini Aviruppola

Faculty of Education

Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Unveiling the Path to Equitable University Education

Kithmini’s research promotes equity in education to ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. Kithmini’s research is searching for effective measures to close the opportunity gap between the privileged and the underprivileged students, ensuring that all students are given the chance to succeed.

Faculty of Science and Technology

From Hidden Tears to Genuine Smiles

Micro-expressions are almost undetectable to the human naked eye, but they can be the key to understanding concealed human emotions. Keira’s research leverages deep learning neural networks in the detection and recognition of micro-expressions to decipher human emotional states. Keira believes that studying the nuances of micro-expressions, no matter how subtle, is the key for harnessing the power of AI to improve human outcomes, particularly early and accurate diagnosis for clinical depression.

Tayne Ryall

Peer pressure in health training – we need more of it.

Tayne has worked as an acute care physiotherapist since 2005 and completed her Master of Health Professional Education in 2014. Tayne worked as the clinical educator in the Acute Physiotherapy Department at Canberra Hospital from 2015-2020. Tayne’s research investigates simulation as a training and assessment tool. Moreover, it determines if simulation can improve students’ work-readiness and predict their clinical performance on work-integrated learning placements.

Cherry Wang

A journey towards empathetic ai: investigating a computational model for text-based empathetic response generation.

By bridging the gap between AI and human emotions, Cherry’s research holds the potential to enhance human-computer interactions in a more empathetic manner. Her research revolves around designing a dialogue agent that combines large language models with psychological theories. Her goal is to create dialogue agent that can understand and respond to emotions in a supportive and contextually appropriate manner, akin to interacting with a compassionate friend.

Hala Batainah

Principal coach and founder, humanosity; chair, canberra innovation network (cbrin).

Peter Copeman

Adjunct professional associate, faculty of education, university of canberra.

Arvind Reddy

Manager, research grants, research & enterprise portfolio, university of canberra, major prize.

$4,000 towards the candidate's research funds

Runner up prize

$2,000 towards the candidate's research funds

People's Choice Award

$1,000 towards the candidate's research funds

Eligibility

All Higher Degree by Research candidates may participate in training and faculty heats.

Doctoral candidates who have passed confirmation are eligible for the UC Finals and can proceed to the Asia Pacific 3MT semi-finals. 

Not eligible to proceed to the UC Finals or Asia-Pacific 3MT competition:

• Masters (MPhil and coursework)
• Professional Doctorate
• Any HDR candidate who has not passed confirmation

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).
• 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. 

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

The HDR Development team would like to thank a few dedicated and talented people, without whom the 2023 UC Three Minute Thesis Final would not be possible.

To our MC  Associate Professor Leonie Pearson  and judges  Hala Batainah ,  Dr Peter Copeman , and  Arvind Reddy  for so generously donating their time, expertise, and insights for this event.

To  Associate Professor Bernie Bissett .  for providing pitch training in the lead up to the faculty heats and coaching with the finalists. Thank you for your energy and enthusiasm to help our finalists elevate their pitches to new heights.

To our faculties for organising the Faculty Heats during Research Festival which generated excitement for the competition and encouraged students at all stages to participate.

To the UC Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise,  Professor Lucy Johnston , for providing financial and event support.

Profound thanks to various teams across the university for their collaborative support:

• UC Web Team for putting the 2023 webpage together
• UC Design Team for designing all our 2023 UC3MT print and digital collateral 
• UC Media Team for producing the finalists’ pitch videos and profile photos, event photography and videography, and social media promotion

Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to all the competitors in the heats and our finalists for taking part in this event and helping to make it a success – without you, there is no 3MT event!

Contact the HDR Development team to learn more about this year’s 3MT® competition.

Other quick links

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Three-minute Thesis Competition

3 Minute-Thesis Competition (3MT) is an academic competition to challenge PhD students to communicate their thesis in 3 minutes.

“An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present. Your time limit: 3 minutes…”

Take this opportunity, share your thesis with us!

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Three Minute Thesis® UC Chile 2021 Contest has a Winner!

• Three Minute Thesis® UC…

Vania Macías, a fourth-year student of Biological Sciences, was chosen to represent UC Chile in the international final organized by the U21 network.

photo_camera Vania Macías Calvio, a Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences, mention in Cellular and Molecular Biology, presented the project: "Neuroprotective role of reelin in Parkinson's disease."

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a contest that challenges doctoral students to communicate their thesis to a non-specialized audience, speaking in English, and only in 3 minutes.

Since its origin in UC Chile, 181 doctoral students have participated in the competition organized by the Graduate School of the Office from the Vice President for Research . This year was in a virtual format for the second time. It had 200 spectators who followed the development of the competition via streaming.

"In this competition, the researcher must be able to transmit the result of his work clearly and persuasively. And demonstrating what's the contribution to the people's quality of life. The Three Minutes Thesis® is a window for the researcher. With joy and satisfaction, I observe the massive participation of our students in this contest", says Ignacio Sanchez, president of UC Chile.

Choosing the winning project

The 9th version of the 3MT UC Chile® 2021 contest had 21 doctoral students who sent their videos during July to be evaluated by the pre-selection committee.

They chose eight finalists:

• Video presentation: "Winter is coming: maternal immunization against the respiratory syncytial virus ."

• Video presentation: "The genetic butterfly effect ."

• "Urban air quality modeling with local climate zones."

• "Narrative identities of young Chileans: Mainstream convergences and deviant struggles."

• Video presentantion: "A flexible approach for Spatio-temporal modeling of mosquito-borne diseases." click here .

• Video presentation: "Neuroprotective role of reelin in Parkinson's disease."

• Video presentation: "The experience of social status in a Chilean sample as a predictor of health outcomes"

• Video presentation: "Effects of complex consumer behavior on the store location problem."

The grand finale

The final evaluation process was in charge of the following jury:

• Ignacio Sánchez , President fo UC Chile
• Diego Cosmelli , Director of the Graduate School
• Paloma Ávila , Deputy Director of the Turner News Center (CNN Chile and CHV News),
• Ramón Molina , director of the UC Innovation Center
• Carlos Ayram , the winner of the 3MT 2020 contest and Ph.D. student in Literature.

They decided on the first and second place of the contest:

• Project: "Neuroprotective role of reelin in Parkinson's disease."
• Project: "Winter is coming: maternal immunization against the respiratory syncytial virus."

The winner, Vania Macías happily commented:

"I am pleased with this achievement because working on a thesis that requires regular laboratory tests has been complex during the pandemic. Fortunately, this year, we have come back little by little and continue with our projects. The challenge of recounting your years of work in just 3 minutes gives you perspective and focuses you on the essentials."

"The experience of participating in Three Minutes Thesis® is necessary for the times we live in today. Never before has it been so urgent for society to understand scientific work. It is imperative to have access to information to make good decisions in a future as complex as what we are living today," says Paloma Avila, a member of the 2021 jury.

The public's favorite

While the jury's deliberation, 385 people chose their favorite video in real-time through an online voting platform.

With 25% of the preferences, Isidora Suazo Gálvez won the public's interest with her project "The genetic butterfly effect."

The fourth-year Ph.D. student plans to do an internship abroad before finishing her program of studies.

"It makes us happy and gives us hope, knowing we have a large group of students interested in contributing to development. They can effectively spread to the world the relevance and scope of the research worked for months or years," emphasizes Pedro Bouchon, Vice president for Research at UC Chile.

International Final

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition emerged in the midst of one of Queensland's (Australia) most severe droughts. The residents were encouraged to time their showers by attaching a three-minute timer to the bathroom wall.

Inspired by this, University of Queensland Graduate School Dean Emeritus Professor  Alan Lawson created the idea for the 3MT® competition.

In October, Vania Macias will represent UC Chile in the international final, organized by the U21 network .

On that occasion, the competition will be among the winners of 26 leading world-class institutions.

People's choice voting will open on September 20th.

"Each year, it's harder to choose a winner, which shows us that presentations quality increases with every competition and reflects the commitment of our students. Since UC Chile started the contest, students from 14 doctoral programs have participated. This allowed them to gain visibility to projects related to all areas of knowledge and creation," says Diego Cosmelli, the UC Chile Graduate School director.

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November 28, 2023

Craft Your Three-Minute Thesis to Submit to Grad Slam 2024

By Ally Gleason

You could win cash prizes and state-wide recognition while you further your professional development skills!

Attention all graduate students, from all disciplines! It’s that time again: time to begin preparing for Grad Slam. Grad Slam is a competition where graduate students doing original research distill their work into a 3-minute, TED Talk-like elevator pitch that can be understood by a broad audience. 

We invite you to take advantage of this tremendous professional development and networking opportunity so that you can master your presentation and communication skills and receive feedback and coaching — not to mention the cash prizes and state-wide recognition! Enter the 2024 Grad Slam competition today and start your journey towards making research accessible and building confidence in professional communication.

How do I start?

GradPro will offer two Information and Prep Session:

• Register for session Thursday, December 14, 1:00-2:30 p.m. 
• Register for session Monday, December 18, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

These workshops are open to all graduate students wishing to hone their research communication skills, and they will also prepare students to enter Grad Slam, if they choose. These workshops will include a run through of information about the Grad Slam competition, review of past Grad Slam talks, input on creating effective slides, and an introduction to techniques for presenting with confidence. Additional coaching and feedback sessions will be offered in January for those interested in submitting a presentation to the competition.

Grad Slam is for everyone – whether you’re already a practiced public speaker, or not. As Adelaide Bernard, the winner of UC Berkeley’s 2021 competition and 3rd place winner at the systemwide competition , put it, “I did not speak English that well at the time, but I thought to myself it would be such a cool challenge to participate in something like this when I felt ready. At the university, I first heard about the post-doc slam and then learned there was also a grad student version, so I decided to give it a try!”

Want to Enter? Submit Your Video by January 31!

Once your presentation is ready to go, enter the competition by submitting a three-minute video by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Record the video yourself, or enlist the assistance of a colleague. Your entry will not be judged on the quality of the recording (as long as the recording can be heard clearly and your slides are clear and legible). For submission instructions and guidelines, please visit the Grad Slam website.

Up to ten semi-finalists will be selected from the video submissions in early February to participate in a virtual campus competition on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. All semi-finalists will receive a prize of at least $300, with the first-place, second-place, and People’s Choice winners taking home $3,000, $1,000, and $750 respectively. 

The winner of the campus competition will represent Berkeley at the UC systemwide Grad Slam competition in early May. This ten-campus competition will showcase the research of one graduate student from each UC campus. Each student will give a three-minute presentation pitched to a general audience and will have a chance to win an even bigger cash prize.

Public Speaking: A Lifelong Skill

Aside from the prizes and glory, there’s another reason to take advantage of this opportunity: learning how to make research accessible and engage the public is a critical skill for all scholars. Berkeley’s 2018 campus-wide runner-up, Daniel Drew, said of the competition, “I learned that every sentence — word! — counts when you need to communicate motivation, inspiration, progress, and the grand vision, all in three minutes. This is a very valuable skill for the academic job hunt (and life afterwards).”

To learn more about how events like Grad Slam can help you hone communication skills that are valued in a variety of careers, see the Graduate Student Professional Development Guide .

For more detailed information, please visit the Grad Slam website .

Adapted from a previous GradNews article written by Ally Gleason, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering, and a former Professional Development Liaison (PDL) with the Graduate Division.

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

3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition

Winner:  Tasheney Francis (University of Manitoba) Runners Up: Chloe Brotherton and Peter Torres (UC Davis)

Click on individual thumbnails to watch the individual presentations and click on the large thumbnail below for full video.

Date & Time: July 17, 2019 (Wednesday) | 7:00-9:00pm Location:  Student Community Center – Multipurpose Room Program: The event starts with  Gretchen McCulloch’s  talk followed by the contest proper.

Gretchen McCulloch , co-creator and host of the Lingthusiasm podcast, opened the event with a talk titled: 

How to do LingComm – Communicating linguistics effectively with broader audiences

Meet the finalists:.

The inaugural 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition provides emerging linguists with an opportunity to present their research to a diverse and general audience comprised of students, faculty, and non-specialist community members from various backgrounds. Without the help of notes and with only three minutes to present, 3MT contestants must present the fundamental points and significance of their thesis in a clear, direct, and interesting way.

Contestants must also impress a panel of judges, who will be looking for effective and clear presentations that are also highly engaging and entertaining. The winner will a receive a free, one-year membership to the LSA, along with the title of being the first ever LSA Institute 3MT champion.

Students (undergraduate, masters, and doctoral) specializing in any area of Linguistics are invited to submit a 300-word abstract that will be evaluated by the 3MT committee. You can now submit your abstracts to the 3MT through Orbund, our course management system. You will find the link on your account’s homepage. Deadline for abstracts is on   June 7th  . Eight abstracts will be selected for the competition based on their potential to be accessible to the general public.

Three Minute Thesis

Unc-chapel hill’s 2023 3mt competition.

3MT was developed by The University of Queensland in 2008, and is now held in more than 900 universities in 85 countries around the world.

Master’s degree and doctoral students enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill from any discipline administered by The Graduate School are welcome to register and participate in the competition.

• 2023 Three Minute Thesis Winners
• 2022 Three Minute Thesis Winners
• 2021 Three Minute Thesis Winners
• 2020 Three Minute Thesis Winners
• 2019 Three Minute Thesis Winners

Preliminary rounds information

• Friday, October 13, 2023 Last day to register to participate in the preliminary rounds
• Monday, October 16, 2023 Preliminary Round 1, 3:00-5:00 p.m., Graduate Student Center, 211A West Cameron Ave.
• Tuesday, October 17, 2023 Preliminary Round 2, 3:00-5:00 p.m., Graduate Student Center, 211A West Cameron Ave.

Final 3MT competition

• Wednesday, October 25, 2023 , 4:00-5:00 p.m., held during University Research Week.
• First Place: $1000 and the opportunity to represent UNC Chapel Hill at the 3MT competition in Greenville, SC, March 13-15, 2024 as part of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual conference.
• Second Place: $600
• People’s Choice Award: $400

**Note, the presentations for the 2023 Preliminary Rounds and Final Competition will be live and in person. Video recordings or Zoom presentations will not be accepted**

Relevant workshops

Communicating your research to the public (in person) september 7 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.

You know your research really, really well–but do you know it well enough to explain it in a clear and compelling manner to the broader public? Whether you’re giving a presentation to a lay audience, delivering a job talk, interviewing for an exciting role, or teaching undergraduates, the ability to present your specialized knowledge to a nonspecialist audience is crucial. In this interactive workshop session, we will explore and practice strategies to help you highlight the broader impacts of your research, so you can confidently share a message that matters. This session is held only in-person. Lunch will be provided for attendees.

Professional communication skills boot camp (in person) October 2 @ 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

The Professional Communication Skills Boot Camp is intended to increase students’ confidence communicating to broader audiences and practice developing persuasive skills that will create effective messaging and relay the importance of one’s research. The Boot Camp takes a development approach and is based on practice and feedback. The expected outcomes include a polished elevator pitch for non-expert audiences, increased confidence in impromptu speaking as a novice scholar, and skills with responding to questions about your research. We anticipate participants to be from a broad range of disciplines.**Seats are limited. Please be sure to register only if you are able to attend the full day. Morning coffee and lunch provided. This is an in-person workshop only.** Facilitator: Bri McWhorter of Activate to Captivate.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) information session (virtual) October 4 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

This session will highlight the requirements necessary to create an effective presentation for the Three Minute Thesis competition. The session will also involve review of sample 3MT presentations using the official judging rubric as well as allow participants an opportunity to conceptualize their own successful and effective 3MT presentation. The competition is open to master’s and doctoral students.

Judging Criteria

At every level of the competition, each competitor will be assessed on the judging criteria listed below. Each criterion is equally weighted on a 7 point scale (14 points total).

Comprehension and Content (7 points)

• 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 (7 points)

• 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

Rules and Eligibility

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Know before you go: Three Minute Thesis competition, Feb. 7

This annual event, which showcases graduate student’s ability to distill their nine-hour thesis down to three minutes, comes back Feb. 7 at 4 p.m.

What is the best way to distill a multitude of information into just three minutes?

That’s the question that ten graduate students will be wrestling with as part of the Graduate School’s seventh annual  Three Minute Thesis  (3MT) final competition, which will be held in the  University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom  on Feb. 7, 2024, from 4 to 6 p.m.

This event challenges students to explain their thesis to the general public. They are then judged by a panel of judges from across the university, including Nobel Laureate Eric Cornell. Winners of the event will be announced at the end of the program and the audience will have the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice award.

While the event is free and open to the public, space is limited and  registration is required  for in-person attendance. The event will also be live-streamed .

Date : Feb. 7, 2024

Time : 4 - 6 p.m.

Location : University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom  or over livestream

Register Here

This year’s competitors include:

• Leopold Beuken , mechanical engineering,  Flight by Feel
• Georgia Butcher , anthropology,  Drone Pilots & Remote War: An Anthropological Investigation
• Saima Kazmi , advertising, public relations and media design,  Psychological Distance in Ads and Moral Disengagement
• Lyanna Kessler , integrative physiology,  Aftershock: When COVID Becomes Long COVID
• Alex Meyer , aerospace engineering,  Binary Asteroids and the DART Impact
• Zachary Schiffman , chemistry,  The Urea Molecule: From Fertilizer… to Climate Change?
• Emma St. Lawrence , media studies, To Seek Newer Worlds: Mediating Reality in a Time of Plague
• Aaquib Tabrez , computer science,  Building Trust & Reliance in Human-Machine Teams via Transparent Algorithms
• Ruhan Yang , creative technology and design,  cubo: Paper Modular Robot You Can Build From Home
• Spencer Zeigler , geological sciences,  The Missing Pages of Earth History

The 3MT event began in 2008 when the state of Queensland, Australia, suffered from a 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 University of Queensland Graduate School, Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, decided to apply the same approach with his students in a first of its kind competition.

3MT challenges graduate students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience. To prepare, beginning last fall, 25 graduate students participated in a series of workshops focusing on storytelling, writing, presentation skills and improv comedy techniques. They then held a preliminary competition at the end of the fall 2023 semester and whittled the competition down to ten finalists.

The graduate students competing at this year’s 3MT finals will be evaluated by a panel of judges on their comprehension, content, engagement and communication. 

The winner of the competition will receive $1,500 in prize money and will have the chance to compete at the regional competition as the University of Colorado Boulder’s representative. The runner-up and the People’s Choice winner, voted on by the live audience, will also receive funding.

Judges for this year’s event are College of Arts and Sciences Dean Glen Krutz, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Associate Dean Charles Musgraves, Professor of Sociology Lori Hunter, and Physics Professor and Nobel Laureate Eric Cornell. Bud Coleman, Roe Green endowed chair in theatre, will be the event’s emcee.

More information about the competition is available on the  Graduate School's 3MT web page .

• Spring 2024
• Three Minute Thesis

Impressive showing at 2023 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition

How can embryonic chick hearts be used to model human hearts to help predict (and potentially influence) how human hearts develop? And how can scientists measure the blood flow of a lentil-sized heart at any point in time?

Kirsten Giesbrecht (’20 MS), a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, tackled these questions and more, in a very relatable way. She received the top prize during UNC-Chapel Hill’s annual 3MT competition, held on October 25 as part of University Research Week.

Often referred to as “the chick heart lady,” Giesbrecht’s impressive research focuses on modeling blood flow throughout embryonic hearts to better understand how normal physical influences vary from atypical conditions that lead to congenital heart diseases in humans.

“As the heart changes its shape, it also changes the way blood flows which updates those physical cues it feels and continues to grow until it develops into a healthy infant heart—or so we hope,” Giesbrecht said during her presentation.

The Graduate School’s annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, an initiative of CareerWell , is an academic competition that assists graduate students with fostering effective presentation and communication skills. Participants have just three minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their (often complex) research project to a non-specialist audience in an easy-to-understand way.

Graduate students from disciplines across campus, including science and the humanities, presented their remarkable research to a panel of judges. The top 10 participants who presented in a creative and/or approachable way advanced to the finals to compete for placement and prizes.

2023 3MT Finalists 

• Rosa Cuppari , Environmental Sciences and Engineering
• Sarah Parker , Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Emma Crawford , Mathematics
• Kirsten Giesbrecht , Mathematics
• Marielle Bond , Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Eileen Hammond , Communication
• Jessica Garcia , Chemistry
• Samantha Clouthier , Chemistry
• Rebecca Radomsky , Chemistry
• Yoojeong Shin , Business

This year’s standing-room-only competition was one of over 900 similar competitions held at universities in 85 countries around the world. 3MT was developed by The University of Queensland in 2008.

First place receives $1,000 and the opportunity to represent Carolina in a regional competition. Second place receives $600, and the People’s Choice receives $400. The awards are graciously funded by Mr. Donald Curtis (ABJM ’63), longtime Carolina supporter and Chairman and CEO of Curtis Media Group.

2023 3MT Winners 

• First place: Kirsten Giesbrecht (Department of Mathematics; College of Arts and Sciences)
• Second place: Rebecca Radomsky (Department of Chemistry; College of Arts and Sciences)
• Peoples’ Choice: Marielle Bond (Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology)

The Graduate School’s Dean Beth Mayer-Davis said 3MT is a true celebration of graduate student achievement and allows graduate students to foster effective presentation and communication skills.

“Clear and concise communication in the professional world has never been more vital than it is today. Each of our contestants has produced outstanding research and has done what must have seemed unthinkable to them a month ago: taking the knowledge they’ve created in their graduate education and describing it in only three minutes to a discerning panel of judges,” Mayer-Davis said.

Impressed by the caliber of research and creative presentations, the esteemed panel of judges (including some Carolina alumni) provided helpful feedback to the students. Many thanks to our judges.

2023 3MT Final Judges 

• Dr. Yele Aluko Chief Medical Officer EY Americas
• Deborah Boles (BSCH ’97, PhD ’02) Vice President, Research and Development LabCorp
• Paul Hunton President and General Manager North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC
• Paige Ouimet Executive Director for the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Associate Dean of the Ph.D. Program, Professor of Finance UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
• John Poulton (PhD ’80) Senior Scientist NVIDIA

Watch the videos from our winners. At less than three minutes each, you won’t regret it. 

First-place winner: kirsten giesbrecht, mathematics.

Second-place winner: Rebecca Radomsky, Chemistry

People’s Choice winner: Marielle Bond, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Nevada Today

2024 three-minute thesis competition finalists announced, graduate students will compete in the final event on april 11.

2023 3MT winners from left to right: Keely Rodriguez, Kendra Isable, Candi Block, Isabel Penaloza, Fatema Azmee, Yu Rong and Justice Best.

The buzz is back with the Graduate School’s annual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition this spring! Earlier this month, 42 graduate students rocked the stage in front of a live audience all vying for a chance to advance to the final round and win cash prizes.

A panel of esteemed University faculty and postdocs had the challenging task of judging this year’s preliminary event, evaluating students’ presentation skills and research content. If you are unfamiliar with 3MT, it is an annual spectacle where master’s and doctoral students are tasked with condensing their research into a lightning-fast, three-minute presentation with only a single slide. It is an adrenaline-fueled sprint through the world of academia!

Since 2015, the Graduate School has hosted this event, showcasing the power, beauty and brilliance of graduate education at the University. In addition, recent winners of this competition have gone on to compete, and place, in regional 3MT competitions putting the University on the map as a hotbed of intellectual prowess.

We are thrilled to announce this year’s 16 finalists (see below) and cannot wait for the final showdown. The 3MT final round of competition is set to take place on Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Auditorium at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Students, family, faculty and community members are invited to join us and witness firsthand the awe-inspiring brilliance of our scholars. For those who cannot attend in person, the event will be live-streamed via Zoom so please register here on Formstack to receive the information.

Congratulations to the 2024 3MT finalists! Good luck on April 11.

(The finalists below are listed alphabetically by last name.)

Master’s Category:

• M.A. Criminal Justice 
• "What do our phones teach us about incarceration? A social media content analysis"
• M.S. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology
• “Sustaining the beating heart of Cambodia: Fisheries management in southeast Asia's largest lake”
• “Zeroing in on gun violence”
• M.S. Biochemistry
• “May the pericytes be with you: Transport engineers you never knew existed!”
• M.S. Chemistry
• “Chemically recyclable dithioacetal polymers”
• M.A. History
• “Pushed to the limit: How the 1998 China floods revolutionized the relationship between China and the natural world”
• M.S. Teaching History (M.A.T.H.)
• “Dust in the wind dude: The Owens Valley everywhere except, in the Owens Valley”
• “Winterfat restoration in a changing climate”  

Doctoral Category:

• Ph.D. History
• “Creating the Enemy: The origins of the inter-American Cold War in the 1940s”
• Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering
• “Electrifying the fight-or-flight response: Nanosecond electric pulses for neuromodulation “
• Ph.D. Education - Literacy Studies
• “P re-service teachers experiences teaching K-8 Multilingual Students' (MLS) writing”
• Ph.D. Clinical Psychology
• “Identifying predictors of racial trauma to inform treatment development “
• Ph.D. Cell and Molecular Biology
• “Lighting the way: Tools to prepare for future pandemics”
• Ph.D. Education - Equity, Diversity and Language
• “Bridging the gaps: Evaluating the intervention programs to overcome academic disparities”
• Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering
• “Accelerating bridge construction connections behavior during near fault motions”
• Ph.D. Political Science
• “Tough sell: Rising powers, domestic legitimation and costly international initiatives”

Research & Innovation

FAA grants civil UAS operations waiver for University operated Nevada Autonomous Test Site

1,000 square-mile test site area in Northern Nevada, first in a series of sites planned for drone research, development, testing

Anthropology doctoral candidate places second in regional Three-Minute Thesis Competition

Kendra Isable represented the University at the Western Association of Graduate Schools annual conference

Senators Rosen, Cortez Masto worked with University President Brian Sandoval to secure more than $4 million for research programs at the University of Nevada, Reno

The funding will support research initiatives across the state

Start-up company Atlas Magnetics ‘graduates’ from University, moves to larger facility

Expecting to make $30M+ of revenue in 2025, modern electronics company sees big growth within two years with equipment, space, other resources supported through NCAR

Editor's Picks

A look at careers of substance and impact

NASA astronaut Eileen Collins shares stories at Women in Space event

University of Nevada, Reno and Arizona State University awarded grant to study future of biosecurity

University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval named to State of Nevada Awards and Honor Board Selection Committee

Speaker of the Nevada Assembly Steve Yeager appointed President Sandoval and Former Governor Bob Miller for 3-year terms

Finding her ‘why’ – one medical student’s journey

Taree Chadwick, M.D. Class of 2024, shares why she decided to switch career paths and become a doctor

Giving Day: The Wolf Pack Way

Help raise vital funds campuswide by donating to the area that matters most to you on Thursday, April 11

Foundation Outstanding Letter of Appointment Instructional Faculty Award and Exceptional Letter of Appointment Instructional Faculty College/School Awards for fall 2023

Awardees are recognized for their exemplary service to students and individual achievements

Students versus staff in the fight against food waste

A Pack Place battle for sustainability with WasteNot 2.0

Grads of the Pack: Tommy Kaps

Engineering’s CREATE program sets student up for success in wastewater research

University of Nevada, Reno Multicultural Center organizes events in April, ahead of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May

These events celebrate and honor culture and community

KIDS University offers summer camps to keep kids engaged and learning

Registration now open for more than 20 camps to be held on campus June and July

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Home / 2024 / April / Ph.D. student takes gut-wrenching research to the stage

Ph.D. student takes gut-wrenching research to the stage

Natalie Pedicino to represent UC Santa Cruz at Grad Slam Championship on May 3

April 05, 2024

By Mike Peña

Our mascot may be sluggish, but UC Santa Cruz was the quickest among our sister UC campuses to present our contestant for this year’s systemwide Grad Slam championship. Natalie Pedicino, a Ph.D. student in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, will bolt up to San Francisco on May 3 to distill her past three years of research into a three-minute lightning talk that will test her stage presence and science-communication skills.

She’s already warmed up, after placing first in the qualifying Grad Slam at UC Santa Cruz on March 2. At that event, Pedicino competed against fast-talking grad students who explained research ranging from connecting to the internet with light, and snakes that use bubbles to breathe underwater, to how Chinese herbal tea challenged colonialism in Malaysia.

Pedicino’s wheelhouse? How astrovirus, one of the many tiny villains behind diarrhea, is so successful at skirting our gut’s cellular safeguards and multiplying to the levels that make us ill. A talk about such a common ailment might seem mundane to those of us who live where clean water is abundant. But Pedicino points out that diarrhea remains the second leading cause of infant deaths worldwide.

Hence the title of her talk, “From Mucus Factory to Virus Factory: A Novel Gut Virus’ Global Impact on Children,” which she will give once again at the corporate headquarters of LinkedIn, the setting for this year’s UC Grad Slam championship. The event will be from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3, and live-streamed for those who seek to watch online.

Originally from the California North Coast town of Arcata, Pedicino works in the lab of assistant professor Valerie Cortez, in the Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology Department. Beyond Cortez being her advisor, Pedicino says the professor is the most supportive and inspiring person she’s met on campus.

“Val recognizes the multifaceted nature of research and life, and I strive to embody the conscious mentorship practices she employs with all students in her lab,” Pedicino said. “She is supportive of a diverse group of individuals, a fierce advocate for her students and our community, and an inspirational scientist.”

Knowing she has a way with words, we sat down with Pedicino to walk through her roots, research, and why she thinks UC Santa Cruz is – as she told Grad Slam organizers – an “incredible science learning environment.”

If you're able to explain your research in three minutes, can you give us your origin story in three or four sentences?

“I’m the oldest of three kids, and my parents are teachers. I went to college at Scripps, an all-women’s school near L.A., where I got involved with research and got inspired to pursue graduate school. As the pandemic started, I pursued my master’s degree through Cal Poly Humboldt, doing my research at the Stanford School of Medicine through the CIRM (California Institute of Regenerative Medicine) Bridges Scholars program, and was able to conduct brain cancer research that allowed me to join the Ph.D. program at UC Santa Cruz.

“Outside of research, I love being involved with the local community, walking dogs, rock climbing and teaching kids how to climb, and exploring the great outdoors.”

Why do you feel that UC Santa Cruz is so well suited for learning science?

“In my time here, I have found that it offers an incredible learning environment that is supportive and collaborative. I have loved getting involved with community-building within our department to promote graduate students. I have also found great opportunities through our collaborative networks to better my teaching skills, learn a diverse skill set of scientific techniques, and create collaborations with other labs. Our community is supportive by nature and promotes communication and transparency.

A two-parter: Can you sum up your research for us, and what impact that discoveries that you hope to make in this line of research might have on people's lives?

“To explain my work, I want to briefly explain the system we study. Our virus of interest, astrovirus, infects 90% of people by the age of 5 and causes diarrhea, which is the second leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. It is relatively understudied because of minimal diagnostic tests available, and its prevalence only being recognized in recent years.

“My advisor discovered that this virus targets a specific region of the small intestine, which is made up of a one-cell-thick layer that protects your body from everything you put into it every day. There is a small subset of cells in that layer that make a super important protective layer of mucus that sits on top of that one-cell layer and she found that astrovirus selectively targets and infects the cells that make that mucus layer. 

“As part of my thesis work, I have built on this research and found that astrovirus seems to be targeting these cells and hijacking them in order to sneak out of the gut undetected and avoid having to explode cells and alert the immune system. This would present an entirely novel form of viral release, not only for gut viruses, but in general. This work has broader implications for potential bioengineering of therapeutics to help individuals who have diseases due to dysregulated intestinal mucus secretion.”

Beyond impact or intellectual curiosity, were there any personal reasons why you chose this line of research?

“This work is particularly important to me for two reasons: In the post-pandemic world, it has been a great opportunity to learn more about virology and immunology, especially about designing a vaccine and the testing required. I think my training as a virologist has been able to build on my passion for science communication in the public health sector.

“Additionally, gut research is of particular personal importance to me because my mom was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune gut disorder. While symptoms of this are manageable, there are so many other forms of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) that affect so many people around the world, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of our understanding of these.”

What's next for you, and ultimately, what are your career aspirations?

“I’m currently finishing up my third year, so will probably obtain my Ph.D. in the next year or two. Teaching and science communication have always been my passion, so I am hoping to pursue a career in teaching at the community-college level—or perhaps a position in science outreach or science journalism. 

“Ultimately, I want to do something where I can connect with people, inspire others to pursue science, and promote better science literacy and critical thinking.”

On May 3, several watch parties will be hosted on campus: in the Graduate Student Commons fireside lounge, in Kerr Hall’s main-entrance lobby, and in the Biomedical Sciences Building (room to be determined). Audience members at LinkedIn and on the livestream will have the opportunity to vote for the people’s choice once the presentations conclude.

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Last modified: April 5, 2024 128.114.113.82

Grad School: UW Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Call for Proposals – submit by 4/23

April 2, 2024

Call for Proposals – For Virtual Preliminary Round Submit your proposal by April 23, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. (PT) Questions?  [email protected]

Proposal form:  https://bit.ly/uw3mt24

Theme: How does your graduate research demonstrate impact for the public good?

Are you a UW graduate student in the final stages of your capstone, thesis, or dissertation project? Submit a proposal to present at the online preliminary round in early May. Successful presenters from the preliminary round will move forward to compete at the  2024 UW Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition , with an opportunity to win First Place, Runner Up, or People’s Choice Awards.

The competition is open to all eligible graduate students from Bothell, Tacoma, and Seattle campuses.

– Virtual preliminary round: Early May 2024 – Competition day (In person): May 23, 2024, 3–4:30 p.m., Seattle campus

Download the call for proposals flyer:

PDF:  https://grad.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024_uw3mt_proposals-11×17-poster-1.pdf JPG:  https://grad.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024_uw3mt-proposals_flyer.jpg

More information: https://grad.uw.edu/current-students/student-success/3mt/

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