By Anand Beh
On Thursday, March 14, contestants competed in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) championship to present their research. Carnegie Mellon doctoral students were tasked to communicate their theses in Simmons Auditorium within a hard three-minute limit, and awards were decided by judges and popular selection.
Developed by the University of Queensland, 3MT challenges doctoral students to clearly communicate their research to a non-specialist audience. Each presenter is limited to a single slide of information. A preliminary round last month selected the nine contestants who presented on Thursday.
The judges awarded Benjamin Glaser first place for his presentation on material alloy research, Sampada Acharya second for her solution to healthcare-associated infections, and Nicole Auvil third place for explaining a new technique of mass spectrometry. Acharya also won the People’s Choice Award and the Alumni Association Award, which were decided respectively by the audience in the auditorium and the alumni in remote attendance.
“I am mildly shocked,” Acharya said, referring to her receipt of the awards, “I don’t think I processed it.”
Acharya, whose research seeks to reduce infectious disease spread on hospital surfaces, said the impetus for her trying out 3MT came when others did not understand the point of her research. They asked why they should care about Acharya’s research, and Acharya realized she was doing something wrong. 3MT gave her the opportunity to work on those skills.
Acharya also mentioned the importance of the event for connecting her to other academic researchers. “Normally, I have to google people and send them emails,” she said, and now it helps that other researchers see her.
Benjamin Glaser said he felt “really good, very surprised, and really relieved” upon receiving first place. One of his best moments, he said, was receiving an audible laugh when he jokingly referencing an image in his slide taken from the “Airplane” movie cover. Glaser was somewhat nervous going into the presentation but said he had been preparing for it since the first week of February.
Arish Alreja, whose work helps people with autism-spectrum disorder, said the championship improved his speaking skills. Alreja learned about the championship relatively late in his doctoral career, and said he wishes he had participated in more championships. He intends to complete a post-doc at the University of Pittsburgh following his upcoming dissertation defense.
For readers interested in competing in 3MT, Kriti Kacker, who presented on the invention of a less intrusive device for measuring brain signals, has encouraging words. “Because it’s so short, you can really practice anywhere.” Kacker admits that although she didn’t take the competition too seriously in the beginning, she began practicing more later on, and she still benefited from the 3MT presentation contest.
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