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(1st place - Bibi Aseeya Mohamed, presenting her research at the 3MT® finals)

Eight graduate students, competing for victory in the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition, showcased their research before a panel of four judges on Friday, January 26th, at the Bayou Bijou Theatre in the Student Union. Excitement was in the air as the graduate finalists, their supporters, and faculty from across campus filled the theatre. as the 3MT® finals began. What was at stake? Big money and an opportunity to represent the University of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at Lafayette Graduate School at the 3MT® Regional Competition in Greenville, SC.

This year’s finalists included:
• Mateo Chavez, Department of Psychology, "Designing and Implementing a Growth Mindset and Grit Intervention to Encourage Social Goal Achievement in Those with Social Anxiety"
• Deepak Jain Veerendra Kumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, "Prediction of photovoltaic power loss due to soiling by machine learning"
• Caitlin LaComb, Department of Communication, "ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥â€™s Law Against Posting Crimes Online: Its Constitutionality and Consequences"
• Nahin Mahmood, Department of Petroleum Engineering "Sequestering Carbon dioxide in marine gas hydrate reservoirs: Hunting 3 birds in 1 stone."
• Bibi Aseeya Mohamed, School of Geosciences "3-D Reflection Seismic Investigation On The Formation Of Mass Transport Deposits Along The Sigsbee Escarpment, Gulf Of Mexico."
• Blaine Novak Pilch, Department of Biology, "The Impact of Predators on Pollinators and their Consequences on Ecosystems"
• Jacob Stagray, Department of Biology, "Alterations to brain structures demonstrate potential implications in affecting feeding and maternal behaviors"
• Ijeoma Maureen Ugwu, School of Kinesiology, "African Talent Migration"

The 3MT® research communication competition demanded much from our competitors. Each had only three minutes and one static PowerPoint slide to explain the relevance of their research to a campuswide and community audience of non-specialists.

Lucky for us, we didn’t have to pick the winner. That job fell to our panel of judges. Representing industry, non-profits, and academia from our community, we want to thank our judges for giving both their time and support to grad education at UL Lafayette:

• Carlee Alm-LaBar - Executive Director of the Schumacher Family Foundation
• Aleisha Johnson Cook - Principal Consultant & Owner: AJC Business Solutions & President of The 705
• Dr. John Laudun - Professor of English
• Dr. Mary Farmer-Kaiser - Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of History

Judges evaluated our competitors on their ability to communicate their research design, results, and impact of their research. The clarity of their communication, both verbally and through body language, as well as their enthusiasm, and whether they had an engaging presentation slide was central in the evaluation.

The Graduate School is proud of each of our 3MT® competitors. 

Join us in congratulating the winners:

1st Place - Bibi Aseeya Mohamed, School of Geosciences ($600 Award)
"3-D Reflection Seismic Investigation on the Formation of Mass Transport Deposits Along the Sigsbee Escarpment"

2nd Place - Mateo Chavez, Department of Psychology ($450 Award)
"Encouraging Growth Mindsets and Grit in Socially Anxious People"

3rd Place - Md Nahin Mahmood, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Systems Engineering ($300 Award)
"Mitigating Global Warming through Carbon Dioxide Storage"

Our #3MT winner, Bibi Aseeya Mohamed, will compete against other university winners at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual meetingin Greenville, South Carolina next month. We look forward to seeing Bibi represent UL Lafayette  in this regional 3MT® competition.

The annual 3MT® competition welcomes participation from all graduate students. The preliminary rounds of competition kick off during the fall semester, and we hope to see you compete next year..  In the meantime, we invite you to participate in the Graduate Student Research and Project Showcase as part of Grad Student Appreciation Week (GSAW) in March. Explore further details and complete your registration .