Friday, April 10th, 2015...3:03 pm
Three Minute Thesis (3MT) 2015 Final
By guest blogger: Laura Hache, Gradroom Assistant
Photo credit: Jason Krygier-Baum
Winner, Stephen McCarthy (3rd from left)
On Wednesday evening, the School of Graduate Studies hosted the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) 2015 University-Wide Final Competition. The 3MT is a competition where PhD candidates have only three minutes to explain their research projects to a non-specialist audience. The challenge is to synthesize their wealth of knowledge about their topic of interest into an engaging presentation that intrigues the audience and leaves them wanting to learn more. The Toronto Star calls the 3MT Competition the “Canadian Idol for the geeky set”, getting researchers out of the lab and library to explain their work to a broad audience.
I left really impressed after watching the divisional heats a couple weeks ago. Getting a glimpse into some of the top innovative research coming out of U of T was a real treat. The competition started out with four divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Life Sciences. Five finalists were selected from each division and these were the participants who competed in the university-wide final. Stephen McCarthy from the Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology took first place with his presentation, Towards an Ebola Cure. Second place went to Elissa Gurman from the English Department who presented on Consent and the Love Plot in 19th-Century Anglo-American Fiction.
As the runner-up, Elissa walked away with $500 in prize money. Stephen walked away with $1000 in prize money and a place to compete in the provincial finals. A couple short weeks away, the Provincial finals will bring together the top presenters from all over Ontario. Last year, U of T doctoral student Daiva Nielson won top place in the provincial finals held at McMaster University. This year, the competition is happening at Western University where Stephen will defend the U of T title in Ontario.. no pressure, Stephen! If you want to learn more about the competition, please visit the SGS website.
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