The UMasss Amherst Graduate School has announced the finalists for its ninth annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, which will be held Friday, March 7, from 2-3:30 p.m. in Old Chapel.

The 3MT offers graduate students of any field of study the opportunity to communicate the significance of their research to a general audience, all in three minutes or less.

The competition will feature engaging presentations from 10 contestants who advanced from the preliminary rounds. The final winner will receive $1,000, and the runner-up and People’s Choice winners will each receive $500.

Members from the campus and surrounding Amherst community are welcome to watch, listen, learn and cast a vote for their favorite speaker. Winners will be announced live during a reception following the student speakers. This event will also showcase finalists from the Images of Research contest.

The 2025 3MT finalists include:

• Maria Victoria Acevedo-Estupinan, Food Science
• Vibha Balaji, Biomedical Engineering
• Marissa Hanley, Plant & Soil Sciences
• Cristina-Maria Hirschbiegel, Chemistry
• Omaya Horton, Research, Educational Measurement, and Psychometrics
• Mansi Maheshwari, Computer Science
• Bachir Messikh, Polymer Science & Engineering
• Hitarthi More, Food Science
• Nicole O'Connell, English
• Jing Yi, Plant Biology

For more information, visit the Graduate School website news page.