Announcing the Winners of the Three-Minute Thesis Competition

The Idaho State University’s Graduate School held its 6th annual Three-Minute Thesis competition on Thursday, November 10, and the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center with the highest number of participants to date. Graduate students, master's and doctoral, represented a wide variety of programs, ranging from pharmaceutical science to communication, all in hopes of winning the grand prize of $2,000.

The ISU Graduate School has been hosting the Three Minute Thesis event since 2018, but the concept originated at the University of Queensland in 2008 when the state of Queensland was suffering from severe drought. To conserve water, residents were encouraged to time their showers using a three-minute egg timer fixed to the wall in their bathroom. Then Dean of the University of Queensland Graduate School, Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, found inspiration in this concept, and thus the idea for the 3MT competition was born. Lawson sought to challenge grad students to describe their research in under three minutes to a general audience.

Since then, the popularity of the competition has skyrocketed and 3MT competitions are now held in over 600 universities and institutions across 59 countries worldwide.

Out of 28 participants, the Graduate School was pleased to award four students:

1st Place: Lauren French - Physical Therapy - D.P.T.

“Utilization of Gamification to Enhance Online Learning Outcomes Within Doctor of Physical Therapy Curriculum”

2nd Place: Ritesh Yadav - Business Administration - M.B.A.

“Foreign Aid and Gender Inequality: Sectoral Impact of Aid”

3rd Place: Jacob Harris - Sociology - M.A.

“The QAnon Infection: How Families Have Reacted to Members' Conspiratorial Identities” 

People’s Choice Award: Jeffrey Okojie - Pharmaceutical Science - Ph.D.

“A Theranostic Approach for Synovial Sarcoma”

All four winners will go on to represent ISU at the state-level Three-Minute Thesis Competition in the spring, competing against Boise State University and University of Idaho graduate students. The location and date are to be decided and will be announced on the Graduate School’s website and social media. 

Additionally, the first-place winner, Lauren French, will represent ISU at the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) 3MT Conference, March 26-29, 2023, in Portland, OR.

Livestreams of the competition and the awards ceremony can be viewed on the Graduate School’s website home page.