The average graduate student”s dissertation is approximately 80,000 words, said University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies Associate Dean Jerry McMurty. With the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) event, graduate students are challenged to cut their project down into just a three-minute presentation.
McMurty said since the first time he heard other graduate deans speak of their success with 3MT events, he thought it was something that needed to be brought to UI.
“(The deans) had reflected back on the 3MT being a really fun and dynamic activity and I wanted Idaho to have a piece of it,” McMurtry said.
He said the first 3MT competition took place at the University of Queensland in 2008, and since then, the event has spread to over 170 universities around the world.
Tuesday will mark the first annual 3MT event hosted by the University of Idaho.
“The main benefit is for (graduate students) to bring down their giant dissertation into three minutes and be able to present in a way that pretty much anyone can understand,” Koester said. “That way, you don”t have to be specialized in their field to understand their research and why it matters.”
McMurtry said the event is a chance for graduate students to write for an audience that may not understand the intense level of research that is described in their dissertations. Participants are allowed to use just one PowerPoint slide as a visual aide.
When McMurtry decided to bring the event to Idaho, he designated Sam Koester, management assistant for the College of Graduate Studies, as the person to organize, plan, advertise and execute the event. Koester said it has been crazy to see how much time it takes the students to create a three-minute version of 200-plus pages of research
He said there are 11 students participating this year. A panel of judges will decide who wins the first place and runner-up prizes, which are $1,000 and $500, respectively.
The audience will also have their vote of who did the best job presenting their thesis, and the people”s choice winner will win $250.
Students have two minutes to set up and three minutes to present, and will be disqualified if they exceed that limit.
UI graduate student Yvonne Nyavor said she came to Moscow from Ghana to research neuroscience with her current professor. She will be one of the 11 students participating in the competition.
“I love the concept, and am excited to be a part of it because it gives the general community the opportunity to learn about our research in simple language,” Nyavor said. “That”s a big benefit.”
She said she has been studying how a high fat diet leading to type two diabetes can damage what she called the “little brain in the gut,” and how that damage, and possibly the diabetes itself, can be reversed.
McMurtry said he hopes this event will continue to happen annually, especially because UI is a publicly-funded institution.
“As a state-funded public institution, I thought it was important that our students have this opportunity to put together research,” McMurtry said. “Then we can share this research in laymen”s terms with the other people of the public that support our school.”
The 3MT will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Whitewater room of the Idaho Commons. All members of the university and public are encouraged to attend.
Diamond Koloski can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @diamond_uidaho