First, second and third-place winners from every research category of this year’s 10th annual  Graduate Student Research Symposium had their posters exhibited in the iPearl Immersion Theater inside the Hunt Library from Sept. 7 to Sept. 13.

The symposium was co-sponsored by The Graduate School and the University Graduate Student Association and showcased diverse graduate-level research. With about 200 presentations of various kinds of research, the Graduate Research Symposium was a hub for sharing ideas with both colleagues and faculty members.

There were a total of eight research categories: agricultural sciences and natural resources, design, education, engineering, humanities, life sciences, mathematical and physical sciences and social sciences and management. Therefore, the graduate students could connect with researchers outside of their own discipline and diversify their pool of knowledge. 

“There are about 200 presentations,” said David Shafer, the assistant dean of The Graduate School. “I divide it up so about 100 [students] do things, and then the other 100 [students], so they all have a chance to see each other’s research. I also randomize the posters too, so you might have research in literature next to a student in chemical engineering.”

Graduate researchers who may not regularly come in contact with researchers from different disciplines got the chance to see other research. Students who displayed their research only had a poster as their research material and presented them for judging to faculty from the different academic fields.

“Criteria [for judging] include the quality of research, how well the student presented the information in poster form, how well the student orally communicated information about their poster and, more subjectively, the creativity and aesthetic qualities of the poster,” Shafer said.

A wide variety of research existed in the group of 2015 winners, including biomathematics, industrial design, foreign languages and literatures and more. Each annual symposium produces booklets that have all of the researcher’s abstracts, or introductory summaries, and poster numbers so that finding research of interest is more convenient.

“It gives students the opportunity to showcase their graduate level research, and it also does give windows outside of their discipline,” Shafer said.

Participating in the symposium did not require a formal application; the director of graduate programs nominated the graduate students. 

All directors of graduate programs are invited to nominate four graduate students, either masters or doctoral, to represent their graduate program.

“Students are nominated by their director of graduate programs and present their findings through poster presentations and compete for first, second and third places within 10 different colleges,” said Charlena Wynn, the public relations officer of the University Graduate Student Association.

The student’s director of graduate programs’ nomination did not require a formal nomination form. The student was contacted with further instructions on submitting his or her research abstracts. Then, the student created the poster based on the guidelines and advice listed on the Graduate Student Research Symposium home page. 

“The exhibit held in the iPearl Immersion Theater showcased the 2015 winners with information about the winner, their topic and poster,” Wynn said. “Winners are selected by faculty. Students posters … allow viewers to interact with and see what the research students are doing at the graduate level.”

The next Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held on March 23 in the McKimmon Center.