2008 Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Undergraduate Research Symposium recognizes outstanding undergraduate research and brings student projects to the attention of the Northwestern community. The event is open to all Northwestern University undergraduates in any field and in any class year. Projects should be the culmination of a significant research or creative effort. Typical projects might be senior or junior thesis work, 399 Independent Study undertakings, the result of Summer Undergraduate Research Grants, or any extended, independent research project conducted with faculty supervision.

Time and location

The 2008 Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held in the Norris University Center on Monday, May 19.

The 2008 Symposium program is available here.

View the 2008 Symposium abstracts here.

Awards

Awards will be given to students with outstanding poster and verbal presentations. In addition, two "People’s Choice" awards will be given, one in each poster session, to the poster presentation receiving the most votes from Symposium attendees. Encourage your friends to come!

Eligibility

The Symposium is open to all Northwestern University undergraduates in any field and in any class year. Students who have or will be presenting their projects at other forums are eligible and encouraged to apply. Creative projects in the arts will be considered eligible as long as the work has been a significant undertaking conducted under equivalent circumstances as described above; however, please note that the majority of this year's Symposium will presentations will be via posters, which do not allow for live performance or reading.

Any questions concerning eligibility or the appropriateness of your project should be directed to Christopher Hayden, Symposium Coordinator, at urg@northwestern.edu.

Applying Online

To fill out an application, you will need the following information: Your contact information; the names and contact information of any undergraduate co-authors; the name, phone, and email of your faculty supervisor(s); the class name/number or other auspices under which you conducted your research project; a description of your project that is 250 words or less. If you are accepted, this description of your project will be printed in the Symposium program. The description should be an abstract of your project, summarizing the nature of your research and in what way it contributes to the existing literature or body of knowledge in this area. Descriptions should be intelligible for an educated, but non-expert, non-technical audience. People from all backgrounds and fields should find your description accessible.

Note: Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure to spell-check and proofread your proposal.

The application deadline is Monday, April 21.

To apply for the 2008 Undergraduate Research Symposium, click here.

For Student Presenters

A limited number of students will be selected by the Steering Committee to give a verbal presentation. If you want to be considered for a verbal presentation please indicate this on the application. All other presentations will be by means of a poster; see below for a description of that format.

Poster Presentation Format

General Instructions
Posters should be intelligible for an educated, but non-expert, non-technical audience. People from all backgrounds and fields will be visiting students' posters and hearing what they have learned.

Students will be required to stand by their posters during a portion of the viewing period, and to make brief (3 minutes or less) presentations about their work. Again, the presentation should be intelligible for an educated, but lay audience.

Technical Instructions
Each student is responsible for purchasing a standard 36" by 48" poster board. These tri-fold boards are sold in office supply stores in Evanston and nearby communities, and are commonly used by high school students to mount posters for venues such as school science fairs and State of Illinois Science Fair, so they should be readily available.

The tri-fold poster boards are best mounted in landscape mode (with the 4-foot length horizontal), but portrait mode (with the 4-foot length vertical) is also acceptable, if appropriately reinforced.

Students are responsible for any hardware (pins, tacks) necessary to mount pages, graphs, photographs, light items, etc. on their poster boards.

Easels will be provided; however, those available are relatively light-weight. If students chose to prepare and mount heavier items/boards, they must supply their own easels. All posters should conform to the size limitations above.