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).
2026 3MT COMPETITION: register here!
2026 3MT COMPETITION SCHEDULE
Preliminary rounds will take place in person only in Atkins 146 during the following dates/times:
- Thursday, October 15, 8:00-10:00 am.
- Friday, October 16, 11:00 am-1:00 pm.
- Monday, October 19, 10:00 am-12:00 pm.
- Monday, October 19, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
The Final Round will take place on November 13, 2026, 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm at Fretwell 100.
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
Congratulations to our 3mt 2025 Final Round Winners!
1st Place
Caroline West, PhD Bionformatics – My Liquids Don’t Like Your Liquids
2nd Place
Hal West-Page, PhD Applied Mathematics – Optimizing ICU Utilization: A Queueing Theoretic Approach to Model Healthcare System Preparedness
3rd Place
Kayla Lenz, PhD Mechanical Engineering – Small Science, Big Impact: Nanotechnology for Faster, Smarter Virus Detection
People’s Choice
Naz Fathma Tumpa, PhD Chemistry – Using Chemistry to Sniff Out the Truth
