FAU Announces Winners of ‘Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition’
Florida Atlantic University has announced the winners of the fourth annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition organized by the Graduate College.
The competition gives doctoral and master’s students the opportunity to explain their complex research projects in three minutes or less to an audience that has no background in their area of study.
More than 60 graduate students submitted three-minute videos pitching their research projects. Faculty members selected finalists from each discipline that advanced to the championship round where they were scored by FAU community members. The people’s choice award was determined by more than 7,000 online votes submitted by public viewers. Several community members served as judges and sponsors for the competition. Scholarship prizes were awarded to all preliminary round and championship winners. The championship award is sponsored in perpetuity through the 'Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Award Endowment Fund.'
The championship winners of the 3MT® competition include:
First Place
Morgan Slevin, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
“Smarts and Symbiosis: How a Bird's Gut Microbiome Influences its Cognitive Performance”
Faculty advisor: Rindy Anderson, Ph.D.
Runner-up
Michelle Edwards, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
“Exposure to Multiple Algal Toxins Among Juvenile Bull Sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon”
Faculty advisor: Matthew Ajemian, Ph.D.
Second Runner-up (tie)
Aubrey Elson, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters
“Keep Your Enemies Close: The Universal Application of Learning to Play and Think Like a Villain”
Faculty advisor: Lynn McNutt
Second Runner-up (tie)
Taraneh Ardalan, College of Engineering & Computer Science
“Development of Guidelines for Implementation of Freight and Transit Signal Priorities to Enhance Road Traffic Sustainability”
Faculty advisor: Evangelos Kaisar, Ph.D.
People's Choice
Tiffany Cox, College of Education
“Band Directors Don't Wear Heels: The Lived Experiences of Female High School Band Directors in Florida”
Faculty advisor: Susannah Brown, Ph.D.
“The 3MT competition provides graduate students with an excellent opportunity to polish their ‘elevator pitch’ style presentation of their research projects,” said Robert Stackman, Ph.D., dean of FAU’s Graduate College. “Although this year’s 3MT competition was virtual, I found the research and scholarship of our graduate students to be truly inspiring.”
The 3MT® Competition, originally founded by the University of Queensland in 2008, is now hosted at more than 900 universities worldwide. The goal of the competition is to help graduate students develop their presentation and academic communication skills.
For more information on FAU’s 3MT competition, click here.
-FAU-
Tags: students | graduate college | faculty and staff