OSU grad students to compete for prize money

Ten graduate students will compete for $2,500 by providing compelling but short explanations of their extensive research in the first-ever Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) at Oklahoma State University on Tuesday, June 25, from 6:30– 8 p.m. in the Student Union Theater.

The 10 finalists were selected from more than 40 OSU graduate student entries in this first year of competition, according to Associate Provost for Graduate Education Sheryl Tucker. “We believe this program is an exciting way for graduate students to hone their presentation, communication and engagement skills, and we invite the public to attend,” said Tucker, who also serves as dean of the OSU Graduate College.

The idea for the competition started at the University of Queensland in Australia as an exercise to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills and support the development of students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience. The school offers an overview at www.threeminutethesis.org.

“Students are essentially explaining what can be an 80,000-word thesis in three minutes or less, which means they must know and understand the essence of their research and be able to express its importance in a clear and engaging way for others to understand,” said Tucker.

A panel of judges will select a first place winner who will receive $1,000 in prize money with $750 for second place, $500 for third and $250 for a people’s choice selection, explains Tucker. The event is free and open to the public.