Rutgers-Newark Students Compete in Three Minute Thesis Event
Imagine explaining a 75,000 word dissertation in less than 180 seconds. Doctoral students across the globe are doing just that in the Three Minute Thesis competition, which was held earlier this month at Rutgers-Newark.
Founded at Australia's University of Queensland in 2008, more than 900 universities across more than 85 countries now host 3MT competitions. Under the rules of 3MT, contestants must package their research into a presentation lasting no more than three minutes, aided by just one, static, PowerPoint presentation slide. In addition to developing presentation and engagement skills among doctoral students, each competition also brings research knowledge to larger communities.
The Rutgers Graduate School-Newark and the P3 Collaboratory for Pedagogy, Professional Development, and Publicly-Engaged Scholarship organized Rutgers University-Newark’s sixth annual 3MT competition.
This year’s contest featured Rutgers-Newark doctoral students from Chemistry, Criminal Justice, Neuroscience, Mathematical Sciences, and Urban Systems (Global Urban Studies), who competed for cash prizes of up to $1,000.
Among an initial field of ten competitors, Chayce Kenny (Urban Systems) garnered the $1,000 grand prize with a presentation on "The Red Delicious,'' about the strain of apples
Luisa Alatorre (Neuroscience) earned the first runner-up prize of $750 and the People’s Choice Award with her presentation entitled "Treating Depression with Brain Science." Criminal Justice doctoral students Lorena Avila and Arlana Henry, together with Chemistry doctoral student Leo Chang and Neuroscience doctoral student Jaleesa James Stringfellow, also competed with presentations on immigration detention bonds, resilience and victimization among young men of color, nanorobots and medicine delivery, and using virtual reality to assess reward-seeking behavior, respectively.
Rutgers-Newark held the final round of this year's competition in the Dana Library, with competitors giving their presentations before a live audience. This year’s team of judges included Consuella Askew, Senior Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian, Kinna Perry, Associate Dean in the Graduate School-Newark, Laura Troiano, Dean of the Honors College at Rutgers-Newark, Kyle Warren, Senior Vice Dean at Rutgers School of Nursing, and Wayne Winborne, Executive Director of the Institute for Jazz Studies. The judges assessed the presenters on the content of their presentations and also rated them on their explication of their research as well as their oratory skills.
"The Graduate School has re-energized its efforts around preparing our students for diverse, rewarding careers, both within and outside of the academy. By putting professional development at the center of our programmatic offerings, we are signaling to students that career readiness is among the key objectives of their graduate education," said Taja-Nia Henderson, dean of Rutgers Graduate School-Newark and director of the P3 Collaboratory. “Opportunities like the 3MT help our students speak within and outside of their fields (and to multiple ‘publics’) in engaging and powerful ways."
The Rutgers Graduate School-Newark and the P3 Collaboratory for Pedagogy, Professional Development, and Publicly-Engaged Scholarship plan to host the seventh annual 3MTcompetition in 2025. More information about 3MT is available here.
