Fun, fast-paced research competition 3-Minute Thesis features top podcaster as guest judge

Twenty-three graduate students—finalists in the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition scheduled for this Friday—will have just three minutes each to explain their research to a campuswide audience. The most informative and entertaining ones will take home cash prizes of up to $1,000.

The fast-paced research communication competition will be held in the Watt Center auditorium on Friday, November 10, from noon until 4:00 p.m. All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend, and grad students in particular are encouraged to turn out and support the finalists from their program or college (see list of finalists below). Refreshments will be served. A live stream is available via Zoom.

The competitors will summarize and explain the relevance of their research in three minutes or less and will be judged on clarity, presentation, and more. Sponsored at Clemson by Graduate Student Government (GSG), the Graduate School, the Vice President for Research, and the colleges, the competition allows students to develop and hone communication skills they need as professionals but often don’t focus on as part of their usual studies.

The winner in the Ph.D. candidate category will compete against other universities at the Council of Southern Graduate Schools’ annual conference next year.

This year’s finalists*

• CAAH
  Mina Shokrollahi Ardekani, Planning, Design & the Built Environment
  David Williams, Rhetorics, Communication & Information Design
  Nicole Weldy, Visual Arts
• CAFLS        
  Patricia Wooden, Entomology
  Harleen Kaur, Plant & Environmental Sciences
  Gagandeep Kaur, Plant & Environmental Sciences
  Shalini Etukuri, Plant & Environmental Sciences
• CBSHS
  Emma Cox, Communication
  Malaysia Barr, Communication
  Shuai Yuan, Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management
• CECAS       
  Megan Pitz, Bioengineering
  Molli Garifo, Chemical Engineering
  Libby Flanagan, Engineering & Science Education
  Alec Gonzalez, Industrial Engineering
  Steven Foster, Industrial Engineering
• COB            
  Yue Louise Hu, Economics
• COE
  Abbey Rose Schafer, Athletic Leadership
  Richard Yeargin III, Educational Leadership
• COS
  Rong Wang, Chemistry
  Dasuni Rathnaweera, Chemistry
  Manwinder Singh Brar, Genetics
  Deborpita Biswas, Mathematical Sciences
  Rakhi Goswami, Mathematical Sciences

*not in order of appearance

Related Event
Academia or Industry, a panel discussion
Thursday, November 9 at the Strom Thurmond Institute
Food & networking at 6:00 p.m., panel starts at 6:30 p.m.

Erin Welsh, Ph.D., co-host and co-producer of This Podcast Will Kill You (ranked among the top 20 science podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and elsewhere) will be there to answer questions about the various career paths open to Ph.D. graduates. Welsh will also serve as a special guest judge at Friday’s 3-Minute Thesis competition.

Joining her on the panel are Kent Juliot, vice president of research, quality and technical solutions with Ardent Mills; Troy Anderson, vice president of operations with Ardent Mills; Rooksana Noorai, Ph.D., assistant director of bioinformatics at Clemson University, Matt Chambers, Ph.D., executive director of visual analytics at Clemson; and Scott Swain, Ph.D., professor of marketing at Clemson.