February 16, 2022
Discover graduate student research at the Three Minute Thesis
Theses and dissertations can be more than 80,000 words and take hours to present, but graduate students in a competition at Kansas State University have just three minutes and one slide to convey their often highly technical research to a lay audience.
The Graduate School will host the annual Three Minute Thesis Competition, or 3MT, Feb. 23 and March 1.
The first round of competition will take place from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, in 206 and 207 K-State Student Union. View heat competition schedules. Eight to 10 participants will advance to the final competition at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in the K-State Alumni Center Banquet Room.
Both the first round and the final competition are open to the campus and general public.
To incite friendly competition among academic colleges, an invitation for the final competition judging panel was reserved for the dean of the college with the most 3MT presenters. Congratulations to the College of Agriculture for reserving a spot for Dean Minton — or a college representative — on the judging panel. The college has 19 students registered to compete, and several faculty members have multiple students participating. Kudos to Sarah Lancaster, assistant professor of agronomy, who is mentoring the most students — three — registered for this year's 3MT competition.
Fifty-one graduate students are scheduled to compete in the first round of competition, representing six colleges and three interdisciplinary programs:
- College of Agriculture — 19 presenters
- College of Arts and Sciences — 10 presenters
- College of Education — two presenters
- Carl R. Ice College of Engineering — six presenters
- College of Health and Human Sciences — 10 presenters
- College of Veterinary Medicine — one presenter
In the final competition, judges will select first- and second-place winners. The first-place winner will receive a $500 scholarship and will represent K-State at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools' 3MT competition April 8 in Milwaukee. Second place will be awarded a $250 scholarship. Additionally, the audience will participate by voting for the people's choice winner, who receives a $125 scholarship.
Questions about K-State's Three Minute Thesis Competition can be directed to Megan Miller, mmmiller@k-state.edu, the Graduate School's student success coordinator.