The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. It is a professional and highly engaging international program. In just three short minutes (180 seconds!) and with a single slide, the competitors are tasked with condensing their research into a simplified form that avoids specialized jargon so that a general audience will understand. The adjudicating panel then scores each speaker on a variety of items, from comprehension and content to engagement and communication.

This year, UChicagoGRAD held its 7th Annual 3MT challenge, where twelve PhD students – representing the humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, and physical sciences – competed for cash prizes. Each speaker had already been selected among a larger preliminary pool to become the finalists, so the friendly competition was both fun and fierce.

Laura gave a talk titled, “Pinkies Up! Human Evolution and the Big Impact of the Littlest Finger,” which tied in her work on carpal morphology, specifically the hamate. She highlighted how this bone plays a role in supporting the muscles devoted to the control of the pinkie, which are second in number only to the thumb. In fact, the pinkie plays an important role itself in much of what we do with our hands. She worked the audience with both research and wit, and won the judges overall, taking first place!

1st Place Laura (center) standing with the 2nd and 3rd place winners: Gabriel and Mia.

Congratulations, Laura! (And a shout out to all the competitors, each of whom really shined in their respective fields!)