The Graduate School sponsors the following programming events and initiatives to promote interactions among graduate students and campus community members in different disciplines.

3MT at UMD

The 3-Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a research communication competition that challenges graduate students to communicate the significance of their independent projects without the use of props or industry jargon, in just three minutes. The exercise develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and enhances the capacity of research students to explain their work to a non-specialist audience and to leave their audience wanting to know more.

The 2026 UMD campus-wide competition took place on October 16 from 2pm - 4pm in the ABAH 245. The campus winner, Mariel Castillo, will go on to compete in the 2026 Systemwide contest which takes place on Friday, November 13, 2026 on the Twin Cities campus. Register to attend, Duluth registrants will receive a link to view live.

If you're interested in learning more about any of these initiatives, please contact the UMD Graduate School Office at [email protected] for more information.