CCEE Ph.D. students James East and Adam Schmidt are among ten NC State graduate students taking center stage on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Hunt Library’s Duke Energy Hall as they compete in the 8th Annual Three Minute Thesis competition hosted by the Graduate School.
First held at The University of Queensland in 2008, the 3MT competition celebrates the exciting research being conducted at universities worldwide and seeks to cultivate students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills.
Preliminary competitions were held Oct. 3-5, where judges heard from 40 masters and doctoral students on a wide array of research topics. The ten finalists chosen represent six colleges at NC State. They will compete for cash prizes and a chance to represent NC State at the Conference of Southern Graduate School’s regional 3MT competition.
“Trying to distill two years of research as a master’s student or five years as a doctoral student into a three-minute presentation with one slide is challenging,” said Peter Harries, dean of the NC State Graduate School. “It is so inspiring to see students impart the importance of their work, the relevance to broader issues, and getting to hear about the great research that’s happening at NC State within the context of the 3MT competition. It’s a way the NC State community and those from outside the institution can access a portion of the incredible research being undertaken by graduate students.”
Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs emeritus, will be the master of ceremonies for this year’s competition. Colleagues, students, and the community at large are encouraged to attend. Audience members will also get to vote for a “People’s Choice” winner while a panel of judges selects first- and second-place winners.
East and Schmidt first competed in CCEE’s smaller-scale departmental 3MT competition on April 18. East, advised by Dr. Fernando Garcia, gave the winning presentation on examining air pollution from space using satellite data to better understand the impact of emissions globally. Second place went to Schmidt, advised by Dr. Eleni Bardaka, who gave a presentation on the social and economic impacts of new transit systems.
Come out and support East and Schmidt as they bring their research expertise to the university-wide 3MT competition on Oct. 25, 3-5 p.m., in the Hunt Library’s Duke Energy Hall.