March 25, 2014
Schulich Three Minute Thesis competitors advance to finals March 26
A typical 80,000-word thesis would take nine hours to present, but the 11 graduate students who proved this week they could do it well in three minutes or less will now compete on March 26 for first prize in the finals of the University of Calgary’s Three Minute Thesis Competition.
Started at the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008, this international research communication competition has become popular at universities across Canada and worldwide.
Graduate students are given three minutes and one static PowerPoint slide to explain their research to a non-specialist audience and communicate why it is significant. Judges score competitors on communication style, comprehension, and engagement and each criterion has an emphasis on the audience.
Over 60 graduate students from 22 graduate programs participated in five heats March 18-21. The top two contestants from each and the People’s Choice semi-final winner advance to the University of Calgary 3MT Finals at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26 in the Alberta Room at the Dining Centre.
Students, faculty, staff, alumni and the public are invited to attend the finals for a chance to listen to guest speakers, vote for the People’s Choice winner and meet the judges, including:
Aritha van Herk, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, writer, and professor in the Department of English
David Gray, journalist and host of CBC Calgary Eyeopener radio show
Brian Keating, honourary conservation advisor, Calgary Zoo, and adjunct assistant professor of anthropology
Prizes include cash awards from $250 to $1,000, trophies, Workplace Speaker Network memberships and profile pages, and University of Calgary Bookstore gift certificates.
For more information visit My GradSkills Three Minute Thesis, and follow on Twitter.
Finalists from Schulich School of Engineering:
Diana Powers (Chemical Engineering) Asphaltenes, troublemakers in crude oil operations and refineries.
Kathryn Boon (Biomedical Engineering) Expansion of skin-derived precursor cells in suspension bioreactors.