A thesis in three minutes: U grad students compete to quickly sum up research

For Chanhee Kim, the hardest part of presenting her thesis topic in three minutes was cutting out the jargon that might confuse laypeople — even terms like “end-user” had to go.

Kim, a University of Minnesota Ph.D. student studying nursing, told an audience on Friday about her research on ways nurses can share data with public health departments right away, before a measles outbreak hits.

Kim was one of a dozen graduate students, each from a different school at the U, who competed in Three Minute Thesis, an international contest testing their ability to share complex research topics with the general public in a short timespan. Participating students had already won competitions at their college or school.

The competition, which started in Australia, has been around since 2008 and the U has held its own version for a decade. Nine hundred universities and institutions across 85 countries have such battles.

Students are allowed to use just one slide, projected onscreen, as a visual aid.

The fast pace and non-specialist audience is intended to prepare them to talk about their work in elevators, in a corporate office or to a boardroom of philanthropists, not just others in their field.

“That’s the next-level skill,” Gretchen Ritter, the U’s executive vice president and provost, told an audience of about 300 people in the Coffman Memorial Union theatre.

Itorobong Uwatt, a Ph.D. student at the School of Public Health, won first place, nabbing $500 and the chance to present again at the regional competition in April with her project on how hookah smoking can negatively affect children.

Pointing at a slide of an “Alice in Wonderland” character smoking a hookah, she explained how the misconception that hookah smoking is safer than other tobacco use can lead to serious health issues for kids.

Trying to break up complicated scientific concepts into relatable stories was difficult, she said, adding that she had to “hold back” by only mentioning two chemicals in her talk.

“Great things happen outside your comfort zone,” she said of winning first place.

Nisha Vishwanathan, a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Biological Sciences, took second place, earning $250 for her presentation on using bacteria’s natural armor to make drugs better at fighting germs that regular antibiotics can’t kill.

Uwatt, from the School of Public Health, also won the People’s Choice Award, picked by the audience using their cell phones.

Don McClung, an audience member, thought the event was “fantastic.” He and his wife, Anne, loved listening to students as they tried to share their research but remain clear and concise.

“I had no idea this existed a week ago,” he said of the contest. “This was just like mind-blowing.”

Attendee Zainab Seidu, a Ph.D. student in nursing, said she might want to participate in the competition one day.

“I love listening to other people’s research,” she said. “It gives me some sort of enlightenment about what is happening in the world.”

Rekhet Si-Asar, the executive director of In Black Ink, a publishing initiative aimed at centering Black authors’ work, said judging was challenging because they weren’t supposed to consider the content of students’ projects, just their delivery.