2019 Three Minute Thesis Competition

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Event Recap

The Graduate School and Marquette University held the 3MT® competition on February 22, 2019. The Three Minute Thesis is a global research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland in Australia. It is an academic competition for doctoral and master’s degree students that require each participant to explain his or her research effectively in three minutes, using one slide, with no animation.

After competing in a qualifying round, the finalists were chosen to compete for the coveted prize of $1,000. Additionally, $500 was awarded to the Runner-Up and the audience voted for the People’s Choice winner who was also awarded $500.

The preliminary round was judged by Dr. Gary Krenz, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science; Dr. Deirdre Dempsey, Department of Theology; and Rev. Thomas Schwarz, J.J., PhD, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.

The final competition was judged by Dr. Kimo Ah Yun, Acting Provost, Marquette University; Keith Stanley, Executive Director Avenues West and the Near West Side Partners; and Kelly McShane, Trustee at Marquette University and Mayor Tom Barrett.

Congratulations to this year's winner Eileen Baker and runner-up Nicholas Benn

Eileen Baker and Mayor Tom Barrett Eileen Baker (pictured left with Mayor Tom Barrett), a doctoral student in the Biomedical Engineering program, emerged as the Three Minute Thesis competition winner with her presentation, “Design and Evaluation of a Novel Achilles Tendonitis". Eileen will move on to represent Marquette University at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools regional competition in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Runner-Up was awarded to Mr. Nicholas Benn, a doctoral student Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering program, with his presentation, "Bioplastic to Biogas".

The People's Choice award went to Lauren Sara, CTRH doctoral student with presentation "Finding the Achilles' Heel in Chronic Achilles Tendonitis".

Congratulations and thank you to our winners and competitors from this year’s competition! It was incredible to learn about the research from our graduate students.