As part of the 2026 Graduate Student Appreciation Week at the University of Connecticut and in celebration of the Because of UConn campaign, The Graduate School invites you to apply for and participate in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) and Graduate Student Showcase. It is an event that celebrates the impact, creativity, and purpose behind graduate students’ work through brief, engaging presentations for a general audience. The showcase will take place on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Konover Auditorium in The Dodd Center for Human Rights and is open to degree-seeking graduate students from all UConn campuses.

Application Deadline EXTENDED: 

Monday, February 9, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET

Goal of the Event:

For eligible degree-seeking graduate students at UConn to gain experience in communicating the significance of their work to a non-specialist audience in 3 minutes or less.

Timeline:

Eligibility Criteria:

• Category 1: All Master's degrees; Professional and clinical doctoral degrees
• Category 2: Arts, Humanities, and Social Science doctoral degrees (PhD candidates only)
• Category 3: STEM doctoral degrees (PhD candidates only)

Please note:

To compete, students must be currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program in the Spring of 2026.

To participate in Categories 2 or 3 above:

• The applicant must be a doctoral student enrolled in a program with a dissertation requirement.
• The applicant must be an active student when they apply and compete. Applicants who complete their degree during the prior semester cannot compete.
• The applicant must have documented successful completion of the General Examination by submitting the Report on the General Exam to the Office of the Registrar Degree Audit Team no later than April 8, 2026.
• The applicant must have documented successful completion and submission of the dissertation proposal by submitting the Dissertation Proposal Form to the Office of the Registrar Degree Audit Team no later than April 8, 2026.
• The Dissertation Proposal Form may be submitted to Degree Audit without approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The milestone will be posted as "in progress" and will meet the eligibility requirements for this application. IRB/IACUC approval must be submitted to Degree Audit once received to ensure that the milestone is updated to "complete" on the student record.

Prizes:

Ten (10) finalists in each of the categories listed above will be selected to compete on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. These thirty (30) finalists will receive $100 each for competing.

At the event, the following prizes will be awarded within each category:

• First prize: $1,000
• Runner-up: $750
• People's Choice: $500

At the end of the event, an overall winner will be selected from among the three categories and will receive an additional $5,000 for a total Grand Prize of $6,000.

Application Process:

1. Submit your application for the event, ensuring that you answer all questions fully and to the best of your ability, using language that a general audience can understand.
2. If selected to participate in the preliminary round, you must present your 3-minute talk to a panel of judges between March 2-13. This presentation may be virtual or in-person.
3. From those who participate in the preliminary round, 10 finalists from each category will be selected to participate in the final competition on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, from 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM.

Judging Criteria:

To select applicants to advance on to the preliminary round in March, readers will use the following criteria:

• Clarity and accessibility of the description of your work
• Problem, question, or challenge addressed
• Connection between your degree program and your future goals
• Broader impact of your work

Rules for the 3-minute presentation:

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description, the slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration).
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
• Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps, or songs).
• Presentations are to commence from the stage.
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through movement or speech.
• The competition is judged by a panel of professionals with wide ranging academic and non-academic expertise.
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

TO APPLY: Visit this link.

Connect with The Graduate School on social media for updates and highlights from UConnGSAW26 on LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formally Twitter) and Facebook.

UConnGSAW26, We See You, We Celebrate You!

The world moves forward because of UConn, and all we do is possible because of YOU.

As part of the 2026 Graduate Student Appreciation Week at the University of Connecticut and in celebration of the Because of UConn campaign, The Graduate School hosted the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) and Graduate Student Showcase. This event celebrated the impact, creativity, and purpose behind graduate students’ work through brief, engaging presentations for a general audience. The showcase took place on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Konover Auditorium in The Dodd Center for Human Rights and was open to degree-seeking graduate students from all UConn campuses.

TO VIEW THE RECORDING: Visit this link.

Presentation Categories:

• Category 1: All Master's degrees; Professional and clinical doctoral degrees
• Category 2: Arts, Humanities, and Social Science doctoral degrees (PhD candidates only)
• Category 3: STEM doctoral degrees (PhD candidates only)

Agenda for the Event:

Prize Winners:

CATEGORY 1:

• First Place: Tracy Geha
• Runner-up: Amelia Hickey
• People's Choice: Tracy Geha

CATEGORY 2:

• First Place: Urvi Kaul
• Runner-up: Daniela Dominguez
• People's Choice: Rui Wu

CATEGORY 3:

• First Place: Meshach Ojo
• Runner-up: Samantha Glass
• People's Choice: Yasmin Bimbatti

At the end of the event, the overall winner was selected from among the three categories. The Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 3MT event was Tracy Geha of the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages.

Finalists 2026 (in order of presentations):

CATEGORY 2: Arts, Humanities, and Social Science PhDs

• Peyton Carroll: Love Island: Prehistoric Sicily
• Mark Dickson: Mending Humpty Dumpty: Truth as Trustworthiness
• Daniela Dominguez: Imaginaries of Mexican Infrastructure
• Spencer Hayes: Social Media's Dichotomous Agency in Human Trafficking
• Lincoln Hirn: “Worthy to Be Counted”: The Postbellum Slave Narrative, 1865-1915
• Urvi Kaul: Biological and Social Narratives of Displacement
• Iris Querenet Onfroy de Breville: Paint the Town Red: Pigments and Coloring Material Use by Early Humans in Southwestern France
• Rui Wu: Mapping Weight Stigma Online: What Social Media Platforms Reveal
• Muireann Nic Corcrain: “I Have a Voice”: Towards the Development of Speech Synthesis Technology for the Passamaquoddy Language

CATEGORY 1: Master’s Degrees; Professional/Clinical Doctorates

• Mahir Takak: Saving the Planet, Evicting the Neighbor: How Sustainable Urban Development Prices People Out
• Tracy Geha: World Languages: The Cognitive Benefits We Fail to Market
• Amelia Hickey: The Hidden Role of Women in Trafficking Networks
• Keegan Jalbert: Overcoming Risks and Barriers in Shellfish Aquaculture
• Iris Kennedy: When Fire Meets Ice: How Disturbances Combine to Shape Forests in a Changing Climate
• Ryeim Ansaf: From Prehospital to Bedside: Smarter Trauma Care with Ozonated Hydrogels
• Arianna Cedeno: Reminding Cartilage How to Heal
• Catherine Chou: Strengthening Bone with Blood: Bettering Braces
• Tracie Le: The Disease That Doesn't Knock

CATEGORY 3: STEM PhDs

• Yasmin Bimbatti: Lower Cost, Less Energy, Cleaner Planet
• Mittal Darji: The $34 Billion Meltdown: Fixing Fragile Vaccines
• Meshach Ojo: From Decades to Weeks: Tackling Connecticut's Crumbling Foundations
• Sarah Pasqualetti: Using Threespine Stickleback Gut Bacteria to Break Down Plastic
• Girija Pawge: Gamma-delta T cell (γδ T cell) : The Hidden Detectives and A New Hope Against Cancer
• Snehaa Ray: The Weight After Birth: Protecting the Health of Black Mothers
• Zahra Salehi: Can One Landscape Produce Food and Energy? Agrivoltaics in Connecticut
• Samantha Glass: Tuning into the Arctic: Rethinking How the Polar Oceans Store Carbon
• Kevin Grassie: Transdermal Bone Repair: Using Sound Waves to Mechanically Stimulate Implants
• Leila Sharifi: Solving the Clumping Puzzle in Modern Medicine

Judges 2026:

Chris Chadbourne

Chris Chadbourne is a 1988 alumnus, graduating with a B.S. from the School of Business. He recently retired following a distinguished 30-year career in employee benefits sales and client management, where he worked extensively within the health insurance industry. Throughout his career, Chris partnered with senior leadership at several of Aetna’s and UnitedHealthcare’s largest national account clients, supporting complex strategies in achieving their operational objectives.

Since retiring, Chris has remained actively engaged in leadership and community initiatives, including spearheading the redesign and restoration of a local golf course. He has renewed his commitment and dedication to the University, joining the UConn Foundation Board of Directors in October 2025. Chris and his wife reside in Newton, MA, and remain enthusiastic supporters of UConn students and athletics.

Debs Ghosh, Ph.D.

Debs Ghosh is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Urban, and Community Studies, where she has served on the faculty since 2011. She is a Principal Investigator with the Institute for Collaboration of Health, Intervention, and Policy (or InCHIP). Her research and teaching focus on health geography, advancing an interdisciplinary agenda to examine the causal pathways linking neighborhoods, health behaviors, and disparities using a variety of methodological approaches. Beyond research, Debs provides national leadership within the American Association of Geographers, having served as Chair of the National Councilors and Vice Chair of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. At UConn, she is currently a member of the Graduate School’s Executive Committee, subcommittee for Graduate Success with the Graduate Faculty Council, and a member of CLAS’s AI Committee.

Kent Holsinger, Ph.D.

Kent Holsinger served as Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School from 2012 until his retirement in 2024. He earned his PhD in biological sciences at Stanford University. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California Davis before joining UConn as an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. In 2012, he was appointed as a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor — the university’s highest faculty honor.

Matthew Mroz, Ph.D.

Matthew Mroz leads UConn’s Research Development efforts as the Interim Director of Research Development, overseeing efforts within the Office of the Vice President for Research to support faculty research advancement and external funding success. His portfolio includes OVPR Internal Funding and research support programs, research opportunity matching, enhancement of collaboration/team science, research development training and education, and proposal development support. He also contributes to research strategy discussions and the building of external partnerships. He has a PhD in English Literature and Rhetoric and extensive experience in teaching, scholarship, and academic administration.

Connect with The Graduate School on social media for updates and highlights from UConnGSAW26 on LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formally Twitter) and Facebook.

UConnGSAW26, We See You, We Celebrate You!

The world moves forward because of UConn, and all we do is possible because of YOU.