In 2025 Three Minute Thesis Competition, Students Bring Research to Wide Audience With Concision and Flair
April 16, 2025
Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
On the afternoon of April 4, 2025, students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Spingold Theater at Brandeis University. They were there to watch and participate in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ (GSAS’) flagship event: the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, now in its fourth year. The competition, which has sent two GSAS students to Nationals, challenges graduate students to explain their research in just three minutes, using a single slide, in a way that people in any field can understand.
The GSAS Professional Development team brought 3MT to Brandeis in 2022, and the competition is now organized by Jonathan Anjaria, GSAS Faculty Director of Professional Development; Marika McCann, GSAS Associate Director of Professional Development and Employer Outreach; Becky Prigge, GSAS Assistant Dean of Student Affairs; and Anahita Zare, Director of Education, Outreach and Diversity for Brandeis’s Material Research Science and Engineering Center. “I love that 3MT is becoming part of a GSAS tradition,” said McCann. “Our students are doing amazing work, and now other students, faculty and staff around the university hear about it.”
And 3MT doesn’t just bring students together for a closely-fought competition (and the chance to win up to $1,000): it also helps them build important skills that benefit them in both the short and long term. Students learn to present their research concisely and for general audiences, not just for those in their own fields, and gain confidence in public speaking. Liz Mahon, PhD '25, the 2023 Brandeis and Regionals 3MT winner and a judge in this year’s competition, has shared that her storytelling experience, gained in the competition, was a key factor in the process of getting her current job. And Camille Sullivan, a Molecular and Cell Biology PhD student who was a finalist in this year’s competition, said, “During an interview I was asked to explain my research in one minute each to three different ‘pretend’ audiences: as if I was speaking to a fellow scientist, a family member/friend, and a potential investor. Preparing for 3MT prepared me to do each of these one-minute summaries as I had already practiced thinking about how to explain my research in a manner that was approachable to non-scientists and being clear on what the point/impact of my research was.”
The most exciting part of 3MT, though, is the competition itself. This year, the final round brought together ten students to fight for prizes in the Sciences and Social Sciences/Humanities/Arts categories, decided by a team of six judges, as well as the People’s Choice, voted on by the audience. After introductions by McCann and Brandeis Interim President Arthur Levine, the students jumped right into their presentations, sharing their slides while summarizing their research within the time limit. “Although this is a competition, I'm always impressed by how our student participants cheer each other on and support each other,” said McCann.
This year’s winners represented five different GSAS programs. For the Sciences, first place (and the overall highest score) went to Josh Perlmutter of the Mathematics PhD program, and second place went to Trent Quist of the Biochemistry and Biophysics PhD program. For the Social Sciences/Humanities/Arts, first place went to Taylor Harmon of the Anthropology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies master’s program, and second place went to Kwame Gayle of the Sociology PhD program. The People’s Choice was Jin Zhao of the Computer Science PhD program.
Regardless of what program they came from, the prize winners agreed that participating in 3MT was an incredibly rewarding experience. “After going through the 3MT writing process, I no longer get nervous about the inevitable ‘What kind of math do you study?’ question now that I have a succinct and refined answer,” said Perlmutter. “But as much as I enjoyed the challenge of writing my script, my favorite part of the competition was absolutely the exhilarating feeling of being up on stage and giving the speech to a large audience.” “It felt like the perfect way to celebrate the work that I've done throughout my time at Brandeis,” said Harmon. “I was on the fence about participating but ultimately decided that if I was going to do it, I was going to give it my best shot, and I feel I did that.” “I gained confidence. Not only in the ‘now I can public speak’ way, but in the deep sense that what I’m working on matters beyond academia,” said Zhao.
The competitors also emphasized the ways in which participating in 3MT helped them refine their own understanding of their research and learn about others’ as well. “I learned how difficult it can be to work out exactly what needs to be said in order to convey a message. The time constraint of three minutes really forces you to stay focused on your goal,” said Quist. Gayle added, “It is a great skill to be concise and summarize your research in a palatable way! I learnt strategies to make my work digestible and compelling (the importance of who, what, why, how and when).” “My favorite part was definitely getting to hear about research that is happening beyond my departments, especially in the hard sciences. Listening to their presentations, and being able to understand it, is not only interesting but also makes you feel smart!” said Harmon.
Zhao summed up the experience and the goals of the competition. “What made this experience meaningful wasn’t just writing the script or presenting on stage. It was the process of finding language that makes complex work feel human,” she said. “My favorite part was watching other researchers from wildly different fields do the same, and realizing that passion, not jargon, is what brings ideas to life.”