Congratulations to FHSS graduate students, Bonnie Young-Petersen and Nathan Robbins, who represented our college at the third annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at BYU!

Robbins and Young-Peterson were the two winners of the FHSS preliminary competition that took place on March 1st. They each received $500 and were given the opportunity to move on and compete in the university 3MT competition on March 10th.

University Competition

At this competition, hosted by BYU’s Graduate Student Society, Robbins and Young-Petersen went up against students from colleges all across campus for prizes of up to $5,000. Young-Petersen, who is in her first year of the Marriage and Family Therapy MS program, presented her research on pornography and young adults. Her research showed that although 85% of young adults reported viewing pornography, only 10% of young adults reported behaviors that could be recognized as addictive. She said in her 3MT, “not all porn use is porn addiction and not all porn users are porn addicts.”

Her impressive presentation earned her first place in a surprising three-way tie with two other students. Looking back, Young-Petersen is grateful for the opportunity she had to participate in the competition. Of her experience, she said,

I was so impressed by the quality – and relevance – of research done by those in all levels of the competition. It made me proud to be part of a university that promotes and supports such innovative and important research. Competing with my peers was an excellent opportunity to gain insight into and respect for other disciplines at BYU and also provided opportunities to connect with those peers in a way I otherwise wouldn’t have experienced.

Watch Bonnie Young-Petersen’s full presentation below.

What is 3 Minute Thesis?

3MT was founded at the University of Queensland in 2008 as a means of celebrating exciting research done by students. Participants were to explain their research “in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience” by doing a three minute presentation (if it goes over three minutes you are disqualified!). The competition quickly gained popularity. There have now been competitions held in over 170 universities across more than 18 countries worldwide.

Watch the video below from the UQ 2014 3MT winner, Dr. Megan Rossi, to better understand the benefits of participating in the competition. To learn more, visit the 3MT website.

The 3MT competition is held annually at BYU. If you missed it this year, plan to attend (or participate) next year! It is a great opportunity to get a glimpse of all the amazing research being done at BYU. If you just can’t wait until next year, take a look right now at last year’s winners or watch the presentations of the two students who tied for first place this year with Bonnie Young-Petersen – Ashley Nelson and Rachel Messick.

Photo of BYU winners courtesy of BYU Graduate Student Society