During the 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT), graduate students present their scholarly or creative work and get rated on comprehension/content and engagement/communication. As the name of the contest implies, they get just three minutes to impress the judges.
For Missouri State’s 3MT, the Graduate College asks a group of community leaders to serve as judges. The First Place, Second Place and People’s Choice award winners receive cash prizes, thanks to a sponsorship from Clinvest Research. The First Place winner goes on to compete in the regional 3MT at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools’ Annual Meeting.
This Year’s 3MT Competition
Missouri State’s ninth annual 3MT took place November 8. It was open to Missouri State graduate students with research, thesis or non-thesis projects to share. To compete, students had to distill their presentation into two slides — one for the presentation’s title and one to convey its ideas — that could be covered in three minutes. They advanced to the universitywide competition by placing among the top three or four competitors in their own college-level nominating processes.
Dr. Julie Masterson, dean of the Graduate College, says the variety of 3MT topics is always exciting, and this year was no exception. The winners represented a wide range of fields, including programs in the McQueary College of Health and Human Services; the Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities; and an interdisciplinary program from the Darr College of Agriculture and the College of Natural and Applied Sciences.
Highlighting Evidence-based Practice
Danny Vlasin, a Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist (SRNA) in the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) program, presented an evidence-based practice project he conducted with fellow SRNAs Jenna A. Scheer and Christian Thomas. This presentation, “Remimazolam: A New Medication for Procedural and General Sedation,” won First Place.

Dr. James Keaton, clinical assistant professor in the School of Anesthesia served as the project advisor. He says this recognition underscores the DNAP program’s emphasis on evidence-based practice. “We want students to be able to critically evaluate new research, decide if it’s applicable to their patients and implement it in ways that improve patient outcomes,” he says. “This group’s project will expand the clinical knowledge of all who review it, improving patient outcomes and patient experience.”
Dr. Monika Feeney, director of the School of Anesthesia, considers 3MT a meaningful opportunity to raise awareness of the field. “Sharing new information benefits students, practicing anesthesia providers and patients in our community,” she says.
Keaton views the strong communication skills that helped Vlasin win First Place as a long-term career asset. “His ability to explain complex topics will benefit the patients in his professional practice,” Keaton says.
Exploring Ecological Mysteries
Hunter White, who’s pursuing a Master of Science in Plant Science, won Second Place. He shared a presentation called, “The Mystery of Microecology: Understanding the Ecological Relationship between Allorhizobium vitis and Missouri Native Grapevines.” His project looked at differences in the way a certain bacteria affects wild grapes versus cultivated grapes.
“We’re thrilled that Hunter received this recognition, especially given the high quality of the competition,” says Dr. Wenping Qiu, distinguished professor in the School of Agricultural Science and Conservation, who serves as White’s advisor. “This project was custom designed to give him the chance to explore something that he’s interested in. It’s a complicated topic, and he was able to use plain language to share the mystery with the general public.”

Discussing Universal Emotions
Whitney B. Fair, a student in the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies program, took home the People’s Choice award. Fair shared his original creative work in a presentation called “Oh, My Bleeding Heart!”
“The 3MT process afforded me the experience of discussing my art and research in a refined, concise, professional manner and introducing myself to Missouri State and Springfield,” Fair says. “Winning People’s Choice is a humbling experience. It showed me that my art has the ability to reach an audience and connect with viewers. My art expresses my desire to discuss personal experiences with trauma, loss, grief — and with processing those emotions. In doing this, I hope to highlight the universality of these emotions, as things we all experience.”

Sarah Williams, professor of art and design and director of the MFA in Visual Studies, says that Fair’s experience is the goal. “We use 3MT as an opportunity to work with our graduate students on articulating and presenting the methodology of their research to people outside our field,” she says. To accomplish this, faculty who teach ART 798 (a graduate-level seminar that focuses on the exploration of theoretical, formal and conceptual problems in interdisciplinary approaches to visual art and design), added 3MT preparation to the curriculum. “Whitney’s recognition is a testament to our graduate faculty’s engagement and the effectiveness of this approach,” Williams says.
For Fair, it reflects the support he’s found in the program, which he describes as “a setting surrounded by supportive, like-minded, growth-minded colleagues who all want each other to succeed. It’s afforded me the time and studio space to explore and expand my ideas and grow my practice to its full potential.”