Three Minute Thesis (3MT) will return to Washington State University’s annual Showcase, on March 27 at 1 p.m. in the Veterinary Biomedical Research Building (VBR) 305. It will also be streamed online. Prizes, in the form of travel awards for research conferences, will be $3,000 for the winner, $1,500 for second place and $500 for third.
Benjamin Stuart Morledge-Hampton, a doctoral student from the College of Veterinary Medicine, won last year’s contest, in which doctoral students present their research/scholarship concisely — in no more than three minutes — to a non-specialist audience.
Provost and Executive Vice President Elizabeth Chilton said 3MT is a highlight of Showcase.
“Three Minute Thesis is one of the highlights of WSU’s annual Showcase week,” Provost Elizabeth Chilton said. “Today more than ever, it’s critical that researchers everywhere, particularly WSU graduate students, can communicate their work in a way that is both understandable and compelling to a wide audience. This competition provides an opportunity for our doctoral candidates to practice taking their complex research and focusing it into a concise and easily understandable message.”
Each college, or campus, that wants to send a representative to the main event, hosts its own event first. The winners from the respective events then qualify for the university-wide competition. This year, the following have committed to participating:
- Carson College of Business
- College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Education
- College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
- WSU Tri-Cities
- WSU Vancouver
3MT began at the University of Queensland (Australia) in 2008. In spring 2014, the WSU College of Education hosted the first 3MT event at WSU; in 2015, the contest expanded to all colleges.
