Three Minutes, One Big Idea: Graduate Students Present Innovation Research in 3 Minute Thesis Competition
In late October, dozens of UNC Charlotte graduate students presented at the preliminary rounds for 3 Minute Thesis (3MT), a competition developed by the University of Queensland that challenges graduate students to succinctly summarize their research for a non-specialist audience in 3 minutes or less.
The concept for 3MT is simple, but daunting. The trick comes in making complex information accessible to a general audience, which means cutting excess detail and keeping jargon to an absolute minimum. No props or other novelties are allowed; a single, static presentation slide is the students’ sole support during their speech.
The final round will take place on November 22 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the Rowe Auditorium. All students, faculty, staff and community members are encouraged to come and support their fellow Niners!
UNC Charlotte’s 10 finalists are:
- Brandon Bendickson, Bioinformatics: Mitigating Bias in the Genomic Analysis of Several Tomato Varieties
- Sina Gholami, Electrical Engineering: Application of AI in Ophthalmology
- Lauren Hultquist, Psychology: Dark Personality, Anonymity, Aggression
- Emanuela Likskendaj Izquierdo, English: Identity Negotiation for Parents in Multilingual Families
- Vedika Judyani, Bioinformatics: AI-Driven Insights into Viral Recombination
- Heather McBride, Bioinformatics: Overexpression of Biofiltering Genes Across Several Species of Endangered Unionidae
- Dylan Marrotte, Bioinformatics: Unlocking Biological Insights: Visualizing Big Data with the Integrated Genome Browser
- Maitree Patel, Bioinformatics: Bacterial “Triglycerides” Increase Agricultural Productivity: A Computational Approach to Improved Microbial Viability
- Sarah Tesar, Social Work: Peer-Led Sexual Health Education for Older Adults in Congregate Living
- Caroline West, Bioinformatics: There’s a Virus in my Bacteria in the Fungus in the Plant
Thanks to the generosity of 3MT sponsor Raju Law, the prizes are bigger than ever this year, with 1st place netting the winner $1,500 in addition to an all-expenses-paid trip to Dallas in March of next year, where they will compete in the 3MT regionals during the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual meeting.
John Howard, Creative Director at Charlotte-based marketing agency Crafted Inc., has volunteered to provide finalists with specific feedback on how to maximize the communication potential of their slides.
In the weeks leading up to the preliminaries, 3MTers benefit from a Preparing for 3MT workshop, courtesy of Director of Academic Research and Assessment Dr. Elise Demeter, and one-on-one instruction from Dr. Daryl Kerr, current Faculty Associate for Graduate Teaching and former Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Belk College of Business.
3MT has been a fixture at UNC Charlotte since 2016. The Fall 2024 session attracted a bigger slate of participants than ever before, with more than 60 competitors across fields as diverse as electrical engineering, public health, business administration and psychology. Topics ranged just as widely: students gave presentations on soil classification, political satire, traffic management, and much more. 3MT helps students hone their communication skills, and audience members get to enjoy a panoramic glance at the world-altering potential of projects developing right here at Charlotte.
The 3MT preliminaries occurred over five rounds, and the 10 best scoring presenters have moved onto the final round to compete against each other, before a larger audience. Congratulations both to the winners and all who competed this year!