Texas State Three Minute Thesis (3MT)®

Fall 2025 12th Annual 3MT® Competition

A
Left to Right: Kimia Feiz, Maria Sultana, and Anjumand Ashraf

2024 University Final Winners

1st Place -  Maria Sultana, M.S. Engineering
New Material Junction for High-Performance Low-Cost Electronics

2nd Place - Anjumand Ashraf, M.S. Engineering
Turning Stormwater and Reclaimed Water into Safe Drinking Water: A Circular System

People's Choice - Kimia Feiz, M.S. Biology
Regenerating Hearing: A Salamander's Secret

2023 University Final Winners

1st Place and the People's Choice Award -  Joshua Rogalski, Human Development and Family Sciences, M.S., ‘Popular Movies and Children's Emotion Understanding: Recognizing Emotion in Live Action vs. Animated Movies’.

2nd Place - Kyndal B. Irwin, Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology, Ph.D., ‘A So-fish-ticated  Interaction: Habitat Complexity Predicts Cognition in Mosquitofish’.

Joshua Rogalski and Kyndal B. Irwin
a female student giving a pesentation to a conference room full of people

What is 3MT®?

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT)® is an internationally known competition. Graduate students in thesis and dissertation programs have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their research. 3MT® challenges students to consolidate their ideas and research discoveries so they can be presented concisely to a non-specialist audience.

The first 3MT® was held at UQ in 2008 with 160 students competing. Enthusiasm for the 3MT® concept grew and it has now been adopted by numerous universities around the world. The Graduate College is excited about providing our students the opportunity to participate in the Texas State University 3MT® Competition.

Attend Attend and participate as the audience!

Each round of the competition requires a People Choice Vote. That is where you come in!

Present Want more information about presenting?

Find info about eligibility, how to prepare, and awards.

Why Attend?

Your attendance and participation is crucial to the competition! As an audience member, you have the power to name People's Choice winners in the University Final Competition.

By attending the 3MT® University Final Competition, you not only witness the impressive communication skills of the participating students but also encourage and motivate them to refine their abilities further. You will have the opportunity to learn about a wide range of innovative and groundbreaking research being conducted by talented students within the Texas State community.

Judges

Final Competition

  • Mr. Larry Gaddes, President Elect, Alumni Association
  • Honorable Jane Hughson, Mayor of San Marcos
  • Mr. Elias Martinez, Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications
  • Dr. Michael Preston, Associate Vice President, Student Success
  • Dr. Aimee Roundtree, Assistant Vice President for Research
  • Dr. Vedaraman Sriraman, Senior Vice Provost

What Our Winners Say

"I encourage any graduate student here at Texas State University to consider sharing their research through the 3MT competition. 3MT is a perfect opportunity to present yourself with the challenge of communicating your work in a very real and applicable context. I am inspired by one of the other competitors this year who conveyed this idea brilliantly; we cannot find solutions for what we do not initially understand or do not know is there. It is that 'knowing' that we are responsible for communicating to as many people as we can."

— Joshua Rogalski, 2023 First Place Winner

Why Compete?

  • promote your research
  • enhance communication skills
  • learn how to explain your research to a non-specialized audience
  • develop “elevator pitch” discussions of your research (especially useful for job interviews!)
  • get a chance to win one of the four awards for the Preliminary Round: First Place ($200), Second Place ($150), Runner-up ($100), and People’s Choice ($100)
  • get a chance to win one of three awards at the University Final: First Place Winner ($1000), Runner-up ($500), and the People’s Choice ($500)

Previous Competition

Curious to know more about the 3MT® Competition? View previous competitions below!

You can also watch 3MT® winners from competitions at other universities.

2024 Sponsors

The Graduate College thanks the 2024 3MT® sponsors – the Office of The Provost, Division of Research, and the Department of Sociology.

Questions?

If you require accommodations due to a disability in order to participate, please contact 512-245-3451 or ods@txstate.edu at least 72 hours in advance of the event.

Texas State is a tobacco-free campus.