Ten graduate students participated in the recent Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held on April 4th and sponsored by the Graduate School. The event challenges participants to present their research and scholarship in presentations limited to three minutes.
Jayda Felder from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs won the competition. Felder, a doctoral student in social psychology, presented “The Predictive Value of Casual Dating Advice for Romantic Relationship Outcomes.” She was awarded a 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 and a one-year membership in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, a professional organization of her choosing.
Glenn Wright, executive director of professional and career development at the Graduate School, explained the competition’s significance: “The cliché is that academic research is both impenetrable and pointless,” he said. “The 3MT really challenges graduate students to tackle that perception head-on, explaining quickly and clearly what their research is and why it makes a difference. That’s a great skill when engaging the public, and highly useful in academia, too.”
Other participants in the competition included students from various fields and schools. Among the contestants were Nimisha Krishnan (Physics), Bramsh Khan (Social Science), Mary Theresa Pagan (Sociology), Sarah Nahar (Religion), Ratnakshi Mandal (Chemical Engineering), Abigail Helen Long (Composition and Cultural Rhetoric), Nghia Le Ba Thai (Bioengineering), Paul Sagoe (Biomedical Engineering), and Qingyang Liu (Human Development and Family Science).
Wright moderated the event, and judging was conducted by Matthew Carr, chief financial officer at Manlius Pebble Hill School; Davoud Mozhdehi, associate professor of chemistry at the College of Arts and Sciences; and Sylvia Sierra, associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The Three-Minute Thesis, originally developed at the University of Queensland, Australia, has since become an international event held at numerous institutions worldwide.
