Shelby Limbach, a graduate student in the School of Communication, received the People Choice Award at the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at the College of Arts and Sciences level.
The 3-Minute Thesis competition is an annual event that challenges master’s and doctoral students to showcase their theses in just three minutes to an audience. The contestants are allowed only one slide of information and must explain their work orally, simply, and engagingly, with no props or other forms of media.
Limbach’s research is focused on political communication, specifically on a framework called “god and devil terms.” In other words, in today’s world, when we are politically polarized, we tend to frame or separate things into categories of extremes with nothing in between. “I am looking at it through the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida and how we as a society view or phrase things as either pro-gay or anti-gay when discussing the bill,” said Limbach.
The competition is a way graduate students can share their work while it is in progress. “Thesis work is so independent, and to take a moment to talk about my work was so nice and allowed me to feel pride in my work. Also, it was nice to have people coming up to me after to ask me more about my research,” said Limbach.
The support within her program is why she was able to obtain People’s Choice Award. “I received the people’s choice because the School of Communication, faculty, and my peers showed up and voted for me,” said Limbach. For the award, Limbach received a prize of $200.
The University level competition was held February 23 at the Normal Theater. Although Limbach won the People’s Choice Award, only the first-place winner advanced to the final, university-wide 3MT competition, that included the winners from ISU’s other colleges. More information about the competition can be found at on the 3-Minute Thesis website.
