3 Minute Thesis
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.
The 9th Annual 3MT Competition will be held on Friday, November 7, 2025. The competition will begin promptly at 5 p.m. in Glass Hall, Room 101.
The winner of the 3MT competition will represent Missouri State University at the regional competition during the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) annual conference.
What is a three-minute thesis (3MT)?
A summary of your research in 3 minutes or less using pre-determined guidelines. Based on a University of Queensland program, the purpose of this world-wide competition is to strengthen how you communicate your research to an educated layperson.
Learn more about the competition
Who is eligible to participate?
- If you are an MSU graduate student with a research project, thesis, or non-thesis (seminar) project you are eligible to participate.
- Each college dean (or designee) can nominate students to present at the university-wide competition. Selection is typically done with a college-wide competition.* Each college can nominate up to four (4) students, ranked. If more than 20 names are submitted, the top 20 students will be accepted into the competition.
- If nominated, you must be enrolled in the fall semester during which the university-wide competition is held. You must also plan to be enrolled in the subsequent spring semester during which the MAGS competition will be held.
*Colleges or graduate program directors/coordinators wishing to learn more about how to hold a competition should contact the Graduate College office at 417-836-5335 or email GradCollegeServices@MissouriState.edu.
What is the deadline for nominations?
College nominations must be sent to GradCollegeServices@MissouriState.edu by October 27, 2025 no later than 5 p.m.
What is required?
If nominated you will be required to provide, ahead of time, one PowerPoint title slide (which can only have your name, graduate program and presentation title – no pictures, images, graphs, etc.) plus one slide to accompany the presentation (no animation allowed).
A panel of judges will score the presentations to determine the winners.
What is the deadline for submissions?
Nominees must submit their two (2) slides to GradCollegeServices@MissouriState.edu by October 31, 2025 no later than 5 p.m.
Learn more about rules and judging criteria
Past Winners
Year |
Winner |
Academic Unit |
|
2024-2025 |
Danny Vlasin |
Nurse Anesthesia |
|
2023-2024 |
Andrew Schesser |
Nurse Anesthesia |
|
2022-2023 |
Brianne Edwards |
Biology |
|
2021-2022 |
Nick Rych |
Business |
|
2020-2021 |
Kati Morgan |
Nurse Anesthesia |
|
2019-2020 |
Kafayat Yusuf |
Biology |
|
2018-2019 |
Jesse Carrol |
Plant Science |
|
2017-2018 |
Sarah Spangler |
Biology |
|
Mecca Walker, Runner-up* |
Business |
|
|
2016-2017 |
Cassandra Sherwood |
Communication |
|
2015-2016 |
Eric Briggs |
I/O Psychology |