Anamik Jhunjhunwala Wins 2024 3MT Competition

A huge congratulations to the Laney Graduate School’s 2024 Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition winner Anamik Jhunjhunwala.

Doctoral students spend hours immersed in the intricacies of their research. An 80,000-word thesis would take about nine hours to present. Yet every spring, the 3MT competition, an academic competition developed at the University of Queensland Australia, challenges students to explain that extensive research in only three minutes, using non-specialist language and a single, static presentation slide.

During the LGS annual Graduate Student Appreciation week, the 3MT competition took place April 5 at the Rollins College. Twelve finalists competed for the change to win cash prizes and titles that was decided by a panel of alumni judges.  These judges evaluated the students based on the effectiveness of their communication style, overall clarity, and comprehension.

Anamik Jhunjhunwala, a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering, took home the top prize with his presentation on “Next-generation Stem Cell Therapy via Multifunctional Nanosensors.”

 Ingrid Lustig, a2 Master’s in Development Practice student, was the Runner Up discussing “Enabling Women's Economic Engagement through Increased Water Access in Zimbabwe: Could it Work?”

Xinyi Huang, an Accounting PhD candidate, won People’s Choice for “You have a point - but a point is not enough: The case for distributional forecasts of earnings.”

Why three minutes? The idea for 3MT came about at a time when the state of Queensland was suffering severe drought. To conserve water, residents were encouraged to time their showers, and many people had a three-minute egg timer fixed to the wall in their bathroom. The Dean of the Graduate School, Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson, put two and two together and the idea for the 3MT competition was born.