ºÚÁÏ´óÊÂ

Application Submission Deadline

• January 20, 2026Ìý- APPLICATION OPENS NOVEMBER 6, 2025

Virtual Preliminary Competition

• January 26 - February 4Ìý- The Graduate School will contact all participants to set up a preliminary round presentation

In-Person Final Competition

• Weds., February 17, 2026 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM | Location: TBA

MAGS Competition 

• 3MT Winner advances to Ìý- March 25 - 27, 2026 in Kansas City

• Graduate students enrolled in any Master's program at John Carroll may compete.
• The degree program need not formally require a thesis, but topic must cover an original research project.
• There will be one preliminary round of virtual judging with top choices selected to advance to final in-person John Carroll competition.
• Gift card prize awarded to peer choice award and competition winners.
• Competition winner advances on to
• One single static PowerPoint slide permitted, but not required. Slide transitions, animations or ‘movement’ of any description of slide content not allowed.
• No additional electronic media (e.g., sound and video files) or props (e.g., notecards, scripts, pointers, costumes, instruments, lab equipment) permitted.
• Presentations limited to 3 minutes; competitors exceeding that are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g., no poems, raps or songs).
• Presentations are considered to have begun when a presenter begins via movement or speech.

Developed by , the Three Minute Thesis competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

• Visit the University of Queensland website above for tips on how to craft your presentation and watch example videos from past winners.

The ºÚÁÏ´óÊ Graduate School hosted its first annual 3-Minute Thesis, Essay, or Creative Project Competition virtually in 2021. The 2022 competition was offered as a hybrid event and can be viewed on the  Channel along with the 2024 event.

Past Winners

2025

Competition Winner: Kasery Watterson

• Project Title: Biofluorescence in Male Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus)

Peer Choice Winner: Emily Davala

• Project Title: Fundraising in College Radio

2024

Competition Winner: Katherine Porras Brenes

• Project Title: Bright Does Not Always Mean Toxic: The Case of the Green and Black Poison Frog in Costa Rica

Peer Choice Winner: Sr. Cynthia El Kassis

• Project Title: Sustainability & Development

2023

Competition & Peer Choice Winner: Katelyn Gobbie

• Project Title: The Biocrust Canopy Beneath Your Feet

2022

Competition & Peer Choice Winner: Emily Staufer

• Project Title: Toxic Toads: Characterizing Chemical Defenses in Understudied Poison Frogs

2021

Competition & Peer Choice Winner: Kelsey Garner

• Project Title: Assessment of Differential Behavioral Syndromes in Genetically Distinct Clades of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus)