Southern Miss Student Takes Stage at Regional 3MT Competition

Tue, 04/29/2025 - 10:00am | By: Shaadi Shoubaki

The University of Southern Mississippi Graduate School was honored to have Ph.D. student Alyssa Shaw represent the institution as its graduate student competitor in the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at the 2025 Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) in Dallas, Texas.

The CSGS conference includes more than 200 graduate schools from 15 Southern states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia—and the District of Columbia. More than 60 graduate students from across the Southeast competed during the CSGS annual meeting, held March 19–21 at Southern Methodist University.

Alyssa Shaw, a Ph.D. student in polymer science and engineering, presented her research titled, "Doped Polymer Thin Films: A Pathway to Tune Properties for Flexible Electronics." She was voted the 2024 Southern Miss Three-Minute Thesis Grand Champion in November and traveled with the Graduate School staff to CSGS to represent Southern Miss at the regional competition.

Originally held at the University of Queensland, Australia, the 3MT competition enhances academic, presentation and research communication skills, helping research students effectively explain their work to a non-specialist audience.

Shaw delivered an outstanding presentation and competed alongside other highly accomplished graduate students from across the region. The Graduate School is proud of her achievements and exemplary representation of Southern Miss.

Planning is already underway for this year’s Three-Minute Thesis competition, scheduled for late fall 2025, where a new 3MT Grand Champion will be selected. Students interested in participating can visit the Graduate School’s Three-Minute Thesis website to learn more.