Andrew Iverson wins first college-level Three Minute Thesis of 2016

 

An educational psychology student, Andrew Iverson, has won the university’s first college-level Three Minute Thesis this year.

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a doctoral-level competition where students must present their research to an audience in three minutes or less.

A panel of non-partial judges grade each competitor on if the presentation helped the audience understand the research, if it was communicated in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience, and if judges felt the presentation made the audience want to know even more.

Iverson’s presentation dealt with better understanding school truancy through risk-need profiles of teenagers. He presented information on the “Becca Bill,” which is Washington state’s truancy law, and spoke of research which could predict certain negative outcomes such as arrests and suspensions. The goal of the research is to help educators target interventions and services in a ways that better serve the students.

Building on last year’s success

Originally introduced in 2008 by the University of Queensland in Australia, last year was the first year 3MT took place at WSU.

It’s back this year, with six colleges participating. Each college sends its respective winner to the university event, taking place as part of Academic Showcase.

This year’s university finals will be Tuesday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m. in the CUB Junior Ballroom.