Explaining complex research to the general public in 180 seconds or less is the challenge ahead for 13 graduate students at Texas A&M University’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition.
This year marks Texas A&M’s sixth 3MT competition. The winner moves on to compete in February at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ Annual Meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Three master’s students and 10 doctoral students were selected from a preliminary competition with 51 participants in late October.
Each will have three minutes and a single PowerPoint slide to summarize their research, competing in a challenge that puts their communication skills and command of an audience to the test. The event is free and open to the public in the Rudder Forum and Exhibit Hall on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m.
The competition aims to bridge the gap between high-level university research and the lay public, whose taxpayer dollars allow researchers to solve grand challenges and improve conditions around the globe.
On the line for competitors are cash prizes, first place and runner-up awards and a coveted People’s Choice award voted on by audience members via text messages.
A panel of experts from the university and the local community will judge competitors based on their communication style, audience comprehension and audience engagement. Dr. David Reed, associate dean for graduate programs and faculty development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will serve as the competition’s emcee.
The 3MT® concept was originally developed by the University of Queensland in Australia and has spread throughout the globe.
The finalists competing Nov. 15 are:
Master’s Division
- Kathryn Edmunds, Agriculture Leadership, Education & Communication
- “Drive to Thrive”
- Gwendolyn Inocencio, Veterinary Integrated Biology
- “It’s Not Insanity – It’s Science!”
- Vaishnavi Venkatesh, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- “Automating Routing for Analog Circuits”
Doctoral Division
- Ahmed Aziz Ezzat, Industrial & Systems Engineering
- “Wind Energy: A New Solution to a 5000-Year-Old Problem”
- Jiayong Zhu, Chemical Engineering
- “Advanced Heavy Gas Dispersion Model”
- Cecilia Klauber, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- “Improving Power Grid Awareness During Solar Storms”
- Maryam Mansoori, Architecture
- “Toward Adaptive Architecture”
- Amanda Mathias, Animal Science
- “Safety in Numbers: Social Isolation Increases Behavioral Responses of Cattle During Startle Tests”
- Michalik, Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology
- “Treating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria with Bacteriophage: Harnessing a Natural Predator”
- Aditya Panta, Neuroscience
- “Reward Circuit in Your Brain”
- Joana Rocha, Large Animal Clinical Sciences
- “A Broad Spectrum Vaccine to Benefit World Health”
- Amirali Selahi, Biomedical Engineering
- “The Future of Drug Testing”
- Amy Tan, Biology
- “Can You Hear Me Now?: Development and Regrowth of Cells for Hearing”
Media contact: Joelle Muenich, Office of Graduate and Professional Studies, 979-845-3631, Joelle.muenich@tamu.edu.
