Three Minute Thesis

Sponsored by Raju Law

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®️) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia that challenges graduate students to succinctly summarize their research for a non-specialist audience in 3 minutes or less. The goal of the competition is for students to leverage all of their communication skills to convey their research to a general audience without jargon. All master’s and doctoral students currently involved in research are encouraged to participate (even if your research is not yet complete).

Congratulations to our 3mt 2026 FinalIsts!

Weston Bondurant, PhD. in Computing & Information Systems

Jade Duerr, Master’s in Applied Physics

Mille Elsborg, PhD. in Biology

Behi Emam, PhD. in Electrical Engineering

Seamus Finerghty, Master’s in Kinesiology

Samiha Jainab, PhD. in Electrical Engineering

Kayla Lenz, PhD. in Mechanical Engineering

Bobby Luker, Master’s in Bioinformatics

Abi Olukeye, PhD. in Computing & Information Systems

Colleen Troullis, PhD. in Special Education

Haotian Yang, PhD. in Data Science & Business Analytics

The Final Round will take place on November 13, 2026, 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm at Fretwell 100.

Want to see the final? You can!

Final Round judges:

Jessica Dunn – Senior Data Scientist at Bank of America

Eric Eager – Vice President of Football Analytics at Carolina Panthers

Brian Curry – Associate Director of Procurement at Eli Lilly and Company

Brad Yeckley – Executive Director at CO-LAB at UNC Charlotte

Gabor Zsuppan – Executive Director at Carolina Raptor Center

Want to know how it all works? 3MT Rules – 2026

Thanks to our generous sponsor, Raju Law, we are able to offer cash prizes for the top three finalists:

1st Place: $1500 and an all-expenses-paid trip to the regional 3MT Competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools

2nd Place: $1000

3rd Place: $750