What is 3MT?

The 3MT is an important international competition that aims at celebrating research conducted by doctoral and masters students. According to the University of Queensland, founder of the event, the 3MT “cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills”.

Participants have three minutes and a single static slide to effectively explain their research in a language that is appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

Why participate?

Participating in the 3MT can be a way for you to develop important communication and research skills, and to participate in the building of research culture at Michigan Tech. Cash prizes are also available to the top competitors and the people’s choice. In addition the winners of the local 3MT competition are given a chance to represent Michigan Tech at the next level of competition, and potentially even national and international 3MT competitions, which provides an excellent networking and professional development opportunity.

2025 Competition Info

Michigan Tech’s 2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is set for November 4, 2024, at the Isle Royale Ballroom in the Memorial Union Building.
The schedule will be available one week prior to the event. 
Eligibility:  All graduate students are eligible for campus-based competition and awards but only active PhD students are eligible to move on to the regional competition.

Schedule:

  • Preliminary Rounds: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  • Finals: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Cash Prizes:

  • First Place: $300
  • Second Place: $200
  • People’s Choice Award: $100

Important Dates

  • September 23 – Registration Opens
  • October 27 – Registration Closes
  • November 4 – 3MT Prelims; 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  • November 6 – 3MT Finals; 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Previous Winners

 

2024 Winners

First Place:

  • Ahmad Bshennaty’s (PhD student, Biomedical Engineering)
  • Presentation Title: “Digital Twins for Understanding Stroke in Atrial Fibrillation”

Second Place:

  • Kwadwo Boateng’s (PhD student, Civil Engineering)
  • Presentation Title: “Recycling Scrap Tires for Road Construction”

People’s Choice Award:

  • Satya Sai Kumar Pilli (Master’s student, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
  • Presentation Title: “Increasing Efficiency for a Hybrid Model”

2023 Winners

First Place:

  • Gustavo Bejar Lopez (Phd student, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences)
  • Presentation Title: “An interdisciplinary approach for the characterization of lahars on Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala“

Second Place:

  • Ellianna Sempek (Master’s student, Biological Sciences)
  • Presentation Title: “Investigating the Mitochondrial Function of miRNA-483 Deficient Pancreatic Islets“

People’s Choice Award:

  • Cody Tuftee (Phd student, Biomedical Engineering)
  • Presentation Title: “Drug Eluting Granular Hydrogel Scaffolds as an Immunomodulatory Cornea Wound Sealant“

2021 Winners

First Place:

  • Priyanka Kadav
  • Presentation Title: “Capture and Release: A novel protein purification technique”

Second Place:

  • Emily Shaw
  • Presentation Title: “Quantifying Mixture Toxicity to Better Understand Risks

People’s Choice Award:

  • Yue Emily Kang
  • Presentation Title: “Ronust Numerical Solvers for Flows in Fractured Porous Media”

2020 Winners

First Place:

  • Jordan Ewing
  • Presentation Title: “Terrain Traversing: X Marks the Spot”

Second Place:

  • Ninad Mohale
  • Presentation Title: “Development of a Physically-Based Creep Model Incorporating ETA Phase Evolution for Nickel-Base Superalloys”

People’s Choice Award:

  • Jordan Ewing
  • Presentation Title: “Terrain Traversing: X Marks the Spot”

2019 Winners

First Place:

  • Jacob Blazejewski
  • Presentation Title: “I use the RBF Method to Solve PDEs on MS”

Second Place:

  • Sagar Patil
  • Presentation Title: “Detecting Hydrous Minerals on Martian Surface”

People’s Choice Award:

  • Jordan Ewing
  • Presentation Title: “Remote Sensing for Soil Strength Characterization”

2018 Winners

First Place:

  • Niranjan Miganakallu
  • Presentation Title: “Water Injection in Gasoline Engines”

Second Place:

  • Stephania Vaglica
  • Presentation Title: “Carbon Nanotube Thinfilm Loudspeakers for Commercial Purposes”

Who to contact?

If you have any questions about the 3MT Competition, feel free to reach out to the GSG Research Chair, Israel Adeoye, at gsg-research@mtu.edu.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.