Congratulations to Laura Neis, a graduate student in the War, Diplomacy, and Society, MA program, for winning first place in the 2025 Chapman University Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition conducted by the Office of Research and Graduate Education. As the first-place winner, she will have the opportunity to participate in the regional 3MT® competition at the Western Association of Graduate Schools Annual Meeting in March 2026. Neis’ thesis titled “The Value of Holidays in World War I America” was completed with the support of her advisor, Dr. Jennifer Keene (History).

Laura Neis‘s slide shows us how wartime impacted American visual culture as it pertained to the celebration of holidays.

The 3MT competition is an international event where graduate students present their research in just three minutes, using only one slide. The goal is to explain complex ideas in a way that’s engaging and easy for anyone to understand, even without a background in the subject. Originally started in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia, 3MT has since spread to over 900 universities worldwide.

When asked what drew her to research on wartime holiday celebrations, Neis said, “I was drawn to researching holidays because they are so human. The need to celebrate and find joy in even the darkest of times is something that connects all humans… However, these holidays had very different contexts from what is common outside of wartime, which was interesting. My thesis argued that holidays were used to insert wartime values into people’s day-to-day lives in WWI.”

“This topic shows the divisions in American society. The celebrations of Christmas and the Fourth of July had a negative side; they were supposed to unify everyone, but this came at the cost of religious and racial diversity. Celebrations like Rosh Hashanah and Emancipation Day uplifted communities in meaningful ways as well. It gives me hope that we can acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of Americans in the present.”

Graduate students are allowed just one slide in the 3MT® competition. Neis‘s slide (pictured above) shows us how wartime impacted American visual culture as it pertained to the celebration of holidays.

At its core, the competition is an exercise for students to sharpen their communication skills and share their work with a broader audience.

“Boiling down your topic like this is a great way to understand what you are really writing about,” said Neis. “My thesis took up a lot of my time and attention, but few people wanted to hear about all the minutiae. I was excited to be given this opportunity to share my work with people. I also thought that having to condense my thoughts into just three minutes would be an interesting exercise. Over the course of the project, I had to write abstracts in 350-, 200-, and 100-word options. Restructuring these abstracts into an engaging speech was a fun challenge.”

When asked what advice Neis would give to other graduate students considering participating in the competition, Neis says, “My advice is to give it a shot! You’ve done so much work; you deserve a chance to tell the world about it. For three minutes, you can tell your friends and family all about this thing that has consumed so much of your time for the last year.”

Congratulations to Laura Neis on her well-deserved win.

Wilkinson College graduate students interested in learning more or participating in next year’s 3MT® competition can reach out for more information by emailing The Team of the Associate Vice President for Graduate Education at GradEd@chapman.edu or by reaching out to our Graduate Programs Coordinator, David Krausman, at krausman@chapman.edu.