With a time limit and using nothing more than a single PowerPoint slide, Coastal Carolina University graduate students were challenged to effectively explain their research during the University’s second Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Twelve graduate students recently participated in CCU’s competition, which was sponsored by the Office of Research and the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

The winner of the competition was Alexis Vaughan of Virginia Beach, Va., a Master of Science in coastal marine and wetland studies student in the Gupta College of Science. She will receive $500 in funding and compete in the regional 3MT competition at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ annual meeting in March 2024 in Greenville, S.C. Her trip will be sponsored by the Office of Research and the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

“It is a huge honor to be able to represent CCU and the CMWS master’s program,” Vaughan said. “It is a little daunting, but I know that I will represent Coastal to the best of my ability.”

Vaughan’s delivery of her presentation, titled “Quantifying the Effect of Sea State Variation on RF Propagation,” impressed the judges, including J. Lee Brown III, Ph.D., dean of CCU’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies.

“All of the students were impressive, but Alexis was able to discuss such a complex, scientific topic like RF propagation in a way that we all understood the importance and significance of her research,” said Brown. “In less than three minutes, she had won us over.”

Robert Young, Ph.D., associate provost for research, said: “The ability to describe your work to non-specialists is a critical skill for anyone with an advanced degree, and the 3MT competition is outstanding practice for our graduate students.”

In addition to Vaughan, participants in the 2023 3MT competition included:

Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts (Master of Arts in liberal studies student)

Johann Thorne of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Gupta College of Science (all Master of Science in coastal marine and wetland studies students)

Madison Bruno of Westminster, Md.

Anne Gossman of Louisville, Ky.

Charles Mina of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Kiruthika Sundararajan of Tamil Nadu, India

Spadoni College of Education and Social Sciences (all Doctor of Philosophy in education sciences students)

Samantha Asbury of Rock Falls, Ill.

Julie Golden of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Elizabeth Johansen of Barron, Wis.

Virginia Messinger of Conway, S.C.

Shauna Schubiger of Murrells Inlet, S.C.

Zachary Weinstein of Vero Beach, Fla.

3MT is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland, Australia, in which graduate students present a thesis in three minutes or less with the help of nothing more than a single PowerPoint slide. It challenges the students to effectively explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.