Shivaprasad Nageswaran wins 2022 Three Minute Thesis competition

Imagine having only three minutes to explain your research to a general audience–this is the challenge for students competing in the Three Minute Thesis, or 3MT, competition.

Shivaprasad Nageswaran, a graduate student in Industrial and Systems Engineering, won Auburn's 2022 3MT during the competition held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the Melton Student Center Ballroom.

Nageswaran’s presentation, "Significance of Seat Belt Buckle Release Force Post Passenger Vehicle Rollover Accident," is about improving seat belts to reduce the force needed to release oneself from a buckled seat belt in the event of a rollover car accident. He will represent Auburn University in the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools' 3MT competition in March 2023.

Three Minute Thesis, established by The University of Queensland in 2008, has now spread to graduate schools around the globe. Auburn held its first 3MT in 2013 and now holds an annual competition for all graduate students.

In addition, a runner-up and a people’s choice winner were named after the judges and audience, respectively, voted. Justin Harvell, a chemical engineering graduate student, was selected as the runner-up for his presentation on “Using Building Blocks to Fix Broken Hearts.” Miranda Silano, a geosciences graduate student, took home the people’s choice award for her presentation on the “The Calm Before the Storm: Keeping an Eye on the Gulf of Mexico’s Tropical Cyclone Risk and Vulnerability.”

For more information about the 3MT competition at Auburn University and to watch the award-winning presentations, go to http://graduate.auburn.edu/3MT.