Melissa Dickey of North Olmsted, OH, is a 2016 Three Minute Thesis Champion.

2016 Nov 15

Melissa Dickey won People's Choice in the Three Minute Thesis competition at Kent State University.

Dickey, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Education in Higher Education and Student Personnel, presented research during the final round of the Three Minute Thesis competition, along with 14 other finalists.

The Three Minute Thesis competition develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of graduate students' capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience. The Three Minute Thesis is an international competition founded by the University of Queensland in Australia.

Students were given three minutes and one PowerPoint slide that they can use to discuss their research in an engaging and concise manner. All currently enrolled graduate students were eligible to participate and compete for cash prizes of first place $500 for first place, second place $300 for second place, and $200 for third place and the people's choice award. $200.

The competition consisted of three preliminary rounds featuring approximately 20 participants per round. A panel of judges, comprising upper executive level administrators and collegiate faculty, selected five to six participants from each round. Those selected went to the final round of the competition from which the champions were determined.

For more information about the Three Minute Thesis competition held at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/graduatestudies/3mt