The UO Graduate School will host its fourth annual Three Minute Thesis competition Friday, May 13.

Graduate students who have already made it past a preliminary round of competition will have three minutes to explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but nonspecialist audience. Presentations may be accompanied by a single, static PowerPoint slide.

Both doctoral and master’s students from any discipline are eligible to compete. Three competitors will be chosen to advance to the state championship with Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University and Portland State University on May 21 in Corvallis.

First- and second-place winners will be chosen by a panel of judges based on communication style, comprehensibility and ability to engage the audience. A third winner will be selected by audience vote as the People’s Choice Award winner.

Last year, UO musicology doctoral student Alison Kauffman took second place at the state championship with her talk, “Benevento vs. Charlemagne.” Kauffman said her favorite part of presenting was “seeing the spark of interest in the audience and judges' faces as I recount the story of my research – the eighth-century story of an underdog group of monks facing down an entire empire for the sake of music.”

The UO finals event will run from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 13, in Room 182, Lillis Hall. The event is free, and all are welcome to cheer on a favorite scholar.

Three Minute Thesis is a trademarked academic competition, first developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008.