The posters presented at the Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting should be a visual presentation of the proposed research project described in the submitted Undergraduate Research Grant Application Below are some guidelines for grant applicants to use while preparing, and subsequently presenting, their posters.
1. Posters should be no more than 36” in height and 48” in width.
- The poster boards (3’ x 4’ tri-fold boards) as well as binder clips for attaching posters to the tri-fold boards will be provided by VAS.
- Each poster board will be set up on a tripod easel.
- Please note that poster boards of this size will accommodate a poster that was printed as a single page in landscape mode and with dimensions less than or equal to the 36” in height and 48” width size of the poster boards.
2. The Title of the Proposed Project, Names of Student Applicant(s) and Mentor(s), and Institutional Affiliation must be indicated at the top of the poster.
- This information MUST be identical to the information in the Undergraduate Grant Application submitted on the October 1 deadline.
3. The Body of the poster should include the following information:
- Purpose of Project – state the objective of the project, the question being asked or the hypothesis being tested
- Background Information – summarize existing published information. You may include results of relevant preliminary studies.
- Research Plan – present the experimental design or study design/plan. This is best accomplished using an outline or flowchart to indicate the procedures to be used.
- Expected Results – include the type(s) of data you plan to collect, plans for data analysis, and how you would interpret the expected data.
NOTE: The information in the body of the poster should be organized so that the sequence is easy to follow.
For example, the different components could be in separate panels or could be numbered.
Alternatively, arrows could be used to indicate the sequence of the different components.
4. Poster should be set up at the meeting site between ~9:00 – 9:50 am.
- Upon arrival at the meeting, ALL undergraduate grant applicants/poster presenters and their mentors should first check in at the Check-In and Registration Area and then proceed to the poster display location. All posters should be should be mounted on the assigned poster board by 9:50 am. All posters should remain in their assigned locations until the conclusion of the afternoon session.
5. Evaluation of posters by a team of judges will take place between ~10 am and ~12:30 pm.
- During this time several judges will meet with the grant applicants/poster presenters at each poster. The grant applicants/poster presenters should be prepared to give a very brief summary (no more than 5 minutes) of their proposed research and poster and then respond to the questions asked by the judges.
- Please keep in mind that the VAS Members and others who will be serving as judges at the meeting will be asked to review the Undergraduate Research Grant Applications prior to the Fall Meeting. Final selection of the grant fund recipients will be based on the judges’ evaluation of grant applications and poster displays as well as the responses of students to the judges’ questions at the meeting. Therefore, adequate time should be allowed for the judges’ questions and students’ responses.
6. Announcement of the Undergraduate Research Grant recipients will occur following the afternoon presentation by the Invited Speaker.
- Students selected to receive the Undergraduate Research Grants are expected to remain for photographs, etc. following the conclusion of the afternoon session.
7. Grant applications/poster presenters should remove their posters from the poster boards following the conclusion of the afternoon session.
- Please leave poster boards and binder clips on the easel for subsequent pickup by VAS staff, etc.