On Monday, Feb. 15 from 3-5 p.m. the Graduate Studies and Research department will host the fourth annual Three Minute Thesis or, 3MT event. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the event will be held over Zoom in efforts to stay safe while still having the chance to host the event.
3MT is an international competition where graduate students present their thesis, research or scholarly activity in three minutes using one slide. The event was established by the University of Queensland in Australia.
“So the idea of a three minute thesis is that it is anybody in a graduate program, anywhere. We’ve got literature students, biology students, clinical labs students and they’re all trying to talk to the same people about the research,” Janelle Taylor, coordinator of graduate student and research affairs, said. “So they have to kind of simplify it and make it accessible to a larger audience and I think that’s super important.”
Taylor continued by discussing that the biggest difference that people can see from this event is the fact that it is virtual. Instead of presenting face to face, the event will be held in a more webinar styled viewing.
“Mostly the difference has been just a lot more technical things that we’re dealing with,” Taylor said. “We are working with AV so we’re doing kind of like a webinar viewing so everyone can participate and see each other.”
While holding the event virtually was not ideal, Taylor said that they are making do with what they have. Taylor did admit that one positive about holding the event online was that they were able to bring in judges from outside of the area.
“We have one judge that is a professor at the University of Louisville and we have one who lives in Houston,” Taylor said. “Normally we wouldn’t be able to have those people, obviously, because we don’t have the budget to just fly them up for one day, so it’s kind of cool that we were able to like broaden some of the research stuff.”
The event is open for anyone in the graduate program. This year, topics range from alternative materials for architecture, power equity in human systems and a bobcat’s role in a carnivore guild structure. Olivia Kingery, third year MFA graduate student in creative writing, has her thesis on roadkill.
“You know because my thesis is so odd, I’ve just been excited about the chance to inform people about roadkill and inform people about the problems that lead up and are intertwined with it,” Kingery said.
During the event, Kingery will present her thesis on the impacts roads have and how society treats roadkill.
“It’s a blend of a lot of different things under the guise of roadkill,” Kingery said.
Students are able to take away important skills from the event and apply them to future jobs and tasks that involve higher education and work. Taylor said that students who are applying for Ph.D. programs are going to have to present their research to those search committees and being able to condense their work and present it to people for them to understand is important.
“If you’re doing job interviews, if you’re applying for grants, if you’re just literally trying to tell people what you do, the ability to talk about it in a way that makes sense to other people is really important,” Taylor said.
3MT is open for anyone to view. Along with the main judges, there will be a people’s choice award given by viewers who vote in their favorite presenter. You can sign up to attend the event either on the Graduate Studies and Research page or on thehub.
