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Student in mechanical engineering wins top prize, $2,350 at Graduate Engineering Research Showcase

Published: Oct 16, 2023 9:40 AM

By Joe McAdory

Ryan Pollard hadn’t made an oral presentation until Thursday, October 12. Onlookers would have never known.

The first-year graduate student in mechanical engineering from Huntsville, Alabama, enchanted faculty judges with his three-minute spiel, “A Kinematics-Based Approach to Future Joint Angle Prediction,” winning a cumulative $2,350 and the top overall prize in Auburn Engineering’s 11 th Annual Graduate Engineering Research Showcase (GERS).

Pollard’s haul: Best in Show. First place, oral presentation. Honorable mention, poster presentation.

“I love talking to people. I'm an extroverted engineer,” said Pollard, a research assistant in mechanical engineering Associate Professor Michael Zabala’s Auburn University Biomechanical Engineering (AUBE) Lab , who already holds bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and exercise science. “The love I have received from the Lord has manifested itself in my life as a love for people. I have a passion for rehabilitation robotics and for assistive devices that might be able to help people regain independence in their lives. My project takes a kinematics-based approach to exoskeleton control, attempting to provide a non-machine learning basis to joint angle estimation to inform assistive device actuation at the ankle. 

"I had no idea I was going to win this award tonight. I genuinely thought Thursday night’s awards banquet was a great chance for free food.”

Zabala was delighted that Pollard chose to work in the AUBE lab as a graduate student and noted that Pollard will soon submit work to be published in a research journal.

"The impressive list of awards he recently amassed at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase demonstrates his commitment to doing high-impact research and his dedication to being able to communicate his findings to a broad-ranging audience," said Zabala, founder and chairman of XO Armor . "Myself and the rest of the AUBE Lab is proud of Ryan and all of his accomplishments. The best part is that he’s just getting started.”

Nearly 200 graduate students participated in Thursday’s Showcase, presented annually by the college’s Council of Engineering Graduate Students , and competed for a combined $8,250 in prizes. This year, however, was the first to offer both oral and poster presentation competitions. Best in Show – the overall winner – was a result of the top cumulative score from both.

“The evolution of the showcase from just having poster presentations to also include oral research presentations before judges – many who had questions – elevated the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase to another level,” said Maria Auad, associate dean for graduate studies and faculty development. “This competition gave students the opportunity to blend their presentation talents – something that could very well be useful for them in years to come.”

Daniel Meadows, a graduate research assistant in chemical engineering and member of Professor Virginia Davis’ research group , won first place and $850 in the poster competition for his presentation, “Extraction and Reclamation of Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol from Multilayer Polymer Films for Food Packaging.”

Rounding out the remainder of Showcase winners were:

• Yaqub Adeiji (second place, poster presentation), materials engineering , “Non-destructive Evaluation of Corrosion Status in Cables used for Aerospace and Energy Applications.”
• Vladislav Korostelev (third place, poster presentation), materials engineering, “Understanding Hydrogen Behavior in High-Entropy Alloys: DFT and Machine-Learning Insights.”
• Delaney Clouse (second place, oral presentation and honorable mention, poster presentation), chemical engineering, “Using Plant Waste to Form a Cyclic Agricultural System.”

• Segun Osibodu (third place, oral presentation), civil and environmental engineering , “The Development of Non-Proprietary Ultra-High-Performance Concrete for use in the Alabama Transportation Industry.”
• Valentina Nesterova (honorable mention, poster presentation), materials engineering, “Atomistic Degradation Mechanism of MXenes: First-Principles Analysis.”
• Shireen Singh (honorable mention, poster presentation), chemical engineering, “Exploring the Impact of Modulating Cardiac Differentiation of Hydrogel-Encapsulated Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Drive Second Heart Field.”
• Dale Hartmann (honorable mention, poster presentation), biosystems engineering , “Upcycling of linear polyurethane plastic via thermal decomposition into useable building blocks for existing market infrastructure.”
• Zachary Moore ( aerospace engineering poster presentation winner), “An experimental investigation on the aerodynamic interactions of counterrotating-coaxial rotors.”
• Olumide Falana (biosystems engineering poster presentation winner), “Spatial Modeling of Floor Area Coverage within Specified Light Intensity Ranges for Brooding and Tunnel Ventilation in Commercial Broiler Houses.”
• Loyal Murphy (chemical engineering poster presentation winner), “A Tale of Two Models: How Knowledge Matching Differentiates Two Genome-Scale Models for Clostridium Tyrobutyricum.”

• Alex Zhao (civil and environmental poster presentation winner), “Effectiveness of LED Enhanced Blinker WRONG-WAY Signs on Deterring Wrong-Way Driving: A Before and After Study.”
• Maryam Bigonah (computer science and software engineering poster presentation winner), “Transforming Agricultural Education: Harnessing Gamified Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Mobile Application for Student Learning.”
• Sherman Peek ( electrical and computer engineering poster presentation winner), “Electronic Packaging for Superconductive and Quantum Applications.”
• Eliana Pena Tibaduiza ( industrial and systems engineering poster presentation winner), “Forward-Reserve Problem in Order Picking Warehouses: Space and Product Allocation Problem.”
• Kiandokht Pakravan (materials engineering poster presentation winner), “The Effect of Lateral Size and Surface Functional Groups on Membrane Performance of The Ti3C2Tx MXenes.”
• Zane Oligee (mechanical engineering poster presentation winner), “Experimental Investigation of Additively Manufactured Cold Plates for Electronics Cooling Applications.

“This amazing display of intellectual and entrepreneurial excellence has grown every year during the past decade to what is a record this year,” said Mario Eden, dean of engineering. “I would like to thank all the graduate students for their hard work, dedication to exploring scientific methods to solving real-world problems and passion for sharing these thoughts and ideas with their peers.

“I would also like to thank our judges, made up of faculty and alumni, for supporting our students and their research, and for taking the time to examine these incredible ideas and selecting the winners.”

Auburn Engineering graduate students once had little opportunity to learn from one another.  Brian Thurow , former assistant professor in  aerospace engineering  and now chair of the department, helped change that… and GERS was born.

“We knew there was a great deal of strong research taking place in different academic departments within the college back then, but there was no structured forum for students to exchange ideas,” said Thurow, who served as the college’s Graduate Recruitment and Fellowship Committee chair in 2012. “A graduate student could be here for five to six years working on a Ph.D., but not have an opportunity to see what others are doing. We wanted to create an event for that, and this generated a lot of excitement and people appreciated it. Several students came to me afterward and said, ‘We really liked this. We’d be more than happy to help.’ That was the origin of CEGS, which now runs this event.”

Ryan Pollard won first place for oral presentation, honorable mention for poster presentation and Best in Show overall.

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GEARS Virtual Poster Presentation Winners: Summer 2023

During our Summer 2023 session, the Global Training Initiative matched 154 students with mentoring professors at various North Carolina universities for this year’s virtual Global Education, Academics, and Research Skills ( GEARS ) program. The students, who are enrolled at seventy-five different international and domestic universities, embarked on a transformative 6-week journey. This comprehensive program not only provided them with valuable mentoring opportunities but also included an intensive and introductory research project directly aligned with their respective fields of study. This immersive experience allowed participants to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, fostering a deeper understanding of their subjects.

In addition to the research component, students were immersed in a series of enriching workshops facilitated by GTI experts. These workshops covered a spectrum of skills, ranging from honing research methodologies to refining scientific communication abilities. Participants also benefited from an exclusive workshop dedicated to navigating the intricacies of pursuing graduate studies in the United States, offering them a unique edge in planning their academic trajectories.

The final leg of the program tasked students with the creation of academic research posters, providing them with an opportunity to visually articulate their findings. After presenting their work virtually, the GTI evaluated the presentations using a rigorous rubric. Now, after careful consideration, the GTI is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2023 Summer GEARS virtual poster competition. The competition not only showcased the diverse and innovative research undertaken by the participants but also underscored their ability to effectively communicate complex ideas in a visually compelling manner.

2023 Summer Virtual Poster Competition

First Place : Tiehang Zhang, Shandong University – “Towards Lightweight and Real-time Object Detection in Cloud Gaming Performance Measurement” 

• Mentor: Muhammad Shahzad, Department of Computer Science – College of Engineering, NC State University

Second Place : Feiyu Zou, Dalian University of Technology,  – “Atomic-level Computational Characterization of the Size Effect on the Deformation Behavior of Single Crystalline Ag Nanowires Under Tension”

• Mentor: Liming Xiong, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering – College of Engineering, NC State University

Third Place : Haoqiu Zhang of Jilin University and Gu Wenyu of Renmin University of China, – “A Free Boundary Problem in Options of Financial Markets or Mechanical Problems”

• Mentor: Zhilin Li, Department of Mathematics – College of Sciences, NC State University

Honorable Mentions

Xuanang Zhu of Wenzhou-Kean University and Yifan Ding of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University,  – “Fingerprinting VPNs with A New Censorship Threat Model”

• Mentor: Khaled Harfoush, Department of Computer Science – College of Engineering, NC State University

Yi Wang, Nanjing University – “Entrepreneurship in Cambodia: Dilemmas and Breakthroughs”

• Mentor: Mary-Collier Wilks, Department of Sociology – College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of North Carolina – Wilmington

The GTI sincerely thanks our various partners for making this program so worthwhile for our participants!

Partnering universities that provide program support and mentoring professors: 

• North Carolina State University  (NC State University)
• North Carolina Central University  (NCCU)
• The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill  (UNC-CH)
• The University of North Carolina Wilmington  (UNC-W)
• Duke University
• Global Skills
• Virtual Program

More From Global Training Initiative

Fostering Cultural Exchanges with Nagoya University Students 

Colombian students explore post-graduate opportunities in North Carolina 

DCC Spotlight: College of Engineering 

Virtual ISPOR 2021

May 17-20, 2021, award winners.

• Past Conferences

The ISPOR Research Presentation Podium and Poster Awards were established in 1998 to recognize the scientific merit of podium and poster presentations of the ISPOR Annual International Meetings, Annual European Congresses, Asia-Pacific and Latin America Conferences. This year, the ISPOR judges evaluated podium presentations and nominated poster presentations. All podium presentations are considered for an award. Poster presentations in the top 5%, based on abstract review score, are considered and eligible for a poster presentation award.  Evaluations of scientific merit were based upon the following criteria: QUALITY OF RESEARCH STUDY • Research design is appropriate and transparent • Data sources are appropriate and transparent • Data analyses are appropriate and transparent • Results are included and are transparent and comprehensible • Uncertainty of results is addressed appropriately • Conclusions are consistent with the results QUALITY OF PRESENTATION • Objectives/research questions are clearly stated, and objectives are addressed • Factual information is kept separate from interpretations or implications / unbiased presentations • Implications, as presented, are easy to understand • Clarity of presentation

Click through for more information on the criteria used for judging  podiums  and  posters . 

THE RECIPIENTS ARE…

Best general poster research presentations.

PMU53:  Use of Guyot Algorithm to Estimate Hazard Ratios from Kaplan-Meier Curves Presenting Author: Shih Hao Lee, Intuitive Surgical, USA PBI19:  Replicating Clinical Trial Exclusion Criteria in a Claims-Based Cohort of Patients with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) Initiating Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) Treatment Presenting Author: Colin Anderson-Smits, Shire US Inc., a Takeda company, USA PNS82:  The Methods for Incorporating Carer HRQoL Should be More Clearly Defined By NICE     Presenting Author: Lucy Richardson, Pfizer Ltd, United Kingdom

Best Student Poster Research Presentations             

PNS15:  Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Pharmacogenetic Testing in Opioid Analgesia in Pediatric Population Undergoing Surgery Presenting Author: Arun Kumar, University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, USA PCV10:  Cost-Effectiveness of Intensive VS. Moderate Hypertension Treatment in US Adults Age 65 and Older at High Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Presenting Author:  Shu Huang, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, USA PBI5: Comparative Effectiveness and Treatment Persistence of TNFi vs. non-TNFi in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Presenting Author:  Emma Xiaomeng Yue, University of Cincinnati, USA

Best New Investigator Poster Research Presentations      

PBI2:  Real-World Evaluation of Biosimilar Bevacizumab-awwb versus Reference Bevacizumab in Patients with Advanced Non-Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in a U.S. Integrated Healthcare Delivery System: 6-Month Interim Analysis  Presenting Author: Catherine Pham, Kaiser Permanente/Chapman University School of Pharmacy, USA PCN128:  Incidence and Associated Risks of New Persistent and Continued Opioid Use in Patients with Cancer Receiving Radiotherapy  Presenting Author: Elena Fernandez, Monument Analytics, USA

PCN18:  Cetuximab Versus Bevacizumab in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Comparative Effectiveness and Patient-Reported Outcomes Multicohort Study Presenting Author: Rui Pedro Marques, Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Lisboa Norte, Portugal

Best General Podium Research Presentations

CO4: Predictors of Inpatient Relapse in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Using First-Line Disease Modifying Therapies: A Machine Learning Study of Real-World Data Presenting Author: Zeynep Icten, Panalgo, USA EC4: Real-World Healthcare Costs in Patients with Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated with Pembrolizumab and Nivolumab in the United States     Presenting Author: Monika Raut, Merck & Co., Inc., USA CO3: Comparison of Goal Attainment and Measures of Function in Two Dementia Clinical Trials.     Presenting Author: Justin Stanley, Ardea Outcomes, Canada

Best Student Research Podium Presentations

EC2: Modeling Approaches to Estimate Realized Real Option Value of Ipilimumab in Metastatic Melanoma     Presenting Author: Woojung Lee, University of Washington, USA PB1: Differences in Adherence and Healthcare Utilization between Users of Analog Vial, Analog Pen, and Human Insulin      Presenting Author: Sohul Shuvo, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA AI2: The Impact of Including Race and Ethnicity in Risk Prediction Models on Racial Bias Presenting Author: Sara Khor, University of Washington, USA

Best New Investigator Podium Research Presentations

CN1: Patterns of Utilization and Implementation Experiences of Oncology Monoclonal Antibodies (MABS) Biosimilars in the U.S.: From BOTH Payers and Healthcare Professionals (HCPS) Perspectives      Presenting Author: Jingyan Yang, Pfizer Inc, USA CE1: A Modeled Health Outcomes Evaluation of Darolutamide Plus Androgen Deprivation Therapy for High-Risk NON-Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer in China     Presenting Author: Shanlian Hu, School of Public Health, Fudan University, China SC2: Trends in Diagnostic Prevalence, Treatment Patterns, and Healthcare Resource Utilization of Pediatric Food Allergy Patients in the United States, 2008-2018      Presenting Author: Kayla Mills, Eli Lilly and Company, USA

Poster Presentation Winners 2020

With more posters than ever before at the Brainbox Initiative Conference 2020 it was an extremely difficult year to choose just one winner of the poster prize. We received an incredibly broad range of submissions from early and mid-career neuroscientists around the world, detailing some of the most robust non-invasive brain stimulation and imaging studies being carried out at the moment.

This year we separated all posters into four categories that covered the primary focus of the research: TMS, tES, neuroimaging, and - for the first time - transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation.

Each poster - still available to view in our conference archive - was supported by a live, strictly-timed three-minute pitch by the presenter that provided them the opportunity to summarise the key 'take-away' message of their research and encourage attendees of the conference to come forward with questions on the Brainbox Initiative Forum .

With such a wide range of high-quality research on show, it was impossible for our Scientific Committee to decide on just one poster presentation winner, and so we are delighted to confirm that for 2020 we have presented seven poster awards.

Winner: Ivan Alekseichuk, Dose-dependent effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation on spike timing in awake nonhuman primates

Winner: Umair Hassan, BEST Toolbox: Brain Electrophysiological recording & STimulation Toolbox

Runners-Up:

Gemma Learmonth, Is the ‘end-of-study-guess’ a valid measure of sham blinding during tDCS?

Raquel Guimar, BRAIN PLASTICITY IN THE PERIPARTUM: A MULTI-METHOD LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MOTHERS AND FATHERS

Majid Memarian Sorkhabi,  Programmable Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Modulation Approach for the Generation of Controllable Magnetic Stimuli

James Dowsett,  Enhancing steady state visually evoked potentials with tACS: precise frequency control with LCD glasses

Jessica Drodge, Investigating the link between prefrontal cortex plasticity, cortical thickness and memory: a multimodal approach

Many congratulations to all of this year's winners, and we are looking forward to welcoming even more poster presenters to the Brainbox Initiative Conference 2021 .

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Poster Awards

The best poster awards and honorable mentions are assigned by dedicated committees per poster track. Experienced researchers in the committees provided individual assessments for a selection of the most promising poster candidates made by the poster co-chairs of each track. Based on these assessments the awardees were chosen.

New this year is the best presentation awards which were assigned to a poster from each conference that is excellent regarding effective use of poster format, design, and aesthetics. This award was judged by the VIS 2019 poster co-chairs during the course of the conference.

This year’s awardees are:

Best Poster

Visual Analytics of Student Learning Behaviors on K-12 Mathematics E-learning Platforms Meng Xia, Mr Huan Wei, Min XU, Leo Yu Ho Lo, Yong Wang, Rong Zhang, Huamin Qu Video Preview

Honorable Mention

Visual Analytics for Integrated Evolution of Physical and Cyber-Events: A Case of the World Cup in Social Media Siming Chen, Xing Gao, Jie Li, Gennady Andrienko, Natalia Andrienko Video Preview

Exploring Cheat Sheets for Data Visualization Techniques Zezhong Wang, Lovisa Sundin, Dave Murray-Rust, Benjamin Bach Video Preview

Honorable Mentions

A Qualitative Assessment of Basic Perceptual Tasks Employed While Reading Common Data Visualizations Caitlyn McColeman, Enrico Bertini, Steven Franconeri Video Preview

Automatic Annotation of Visualizations Chufan Lai, Zhixian Lin, Can Liu, Yun Han, Ruike Jiang, Xiaoru Yuan Video Preview

Arctic Explorer: Visualization of Sea-Ice Concentration along Arctic Shipping Routes Dylan Wootton, Ethan Ransom, Alexander Lex Video Preview

Linked View Visualization Using Clipboard-Style Mobile VR: Application to Communicating Forestry Data Jung Who Nam, Charles Hobie Perry, Barry Ty Wilson, Daniel F. Keefe Video Preview

Best Poster Presentation Award

Bridging AI Developers and End Users: An End-User-Centred Explainable AI Taxonomy and Visual Vocabularies Weina Jin, Sheelagh Carpendale, Ghassan Hamarneh, and Diane Gromala Video Preview

Open-Source Presentation of Spherical Content on Repurposed Hardware Don Engel, Mark Murnane, Nicole Trenholm, Ben Daniels, Jeffrey Halverson Video Preview

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Original Research Winners

First place: resident.

Kristine LaRocca | Type II Diabetes Mellitus: A feasibility study of Virtual Group Counseling and Accountability

Second Place: Resident

Nour Elassa | Somatic Dysfunctions Associated with Poor Feeding in Newborns

Third Place: Resident

GianAngelo Graci | An M.D.’s Experience Learning Osteopathic Manipulation

First Place: Student

Esther Lee | Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for Sinusitis Relief: A pilot study

Second Place: Student

Jordan Wilkes | A Demographic and Regional Comparison of Opiate Use Within Population Centers in the United States

Third Place: Student

Kaiming Tan | Effects of Green Tea Consumption on Body Weight: A Meta-Analysis

Honorable Mention: Faculty

Michael Srulevich | Use of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine in Seriously Ill Patients: A Pilot Study

Case Report Winners

Resident winner.

Farrell Roseberry | Lumbago, Cervicalgia, and Hypoxemia Oh My: An Osteopathic Approach

Student Winner

Arianne Kalra | Warning Signs: Kaposi’s Sarcoma in Late HIV Diagnosis

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Top 10 Poster Award Winner Archives

The ASRS is pleased to provide access to 1-minute video poster summaries from each year's poster award winners. Please click the links below to access winners by year.

• 2022 Top 10 Poster Award Winners
• 2021 Top 10 Poster Award Winners
• 2020 Top 10 Poster Award Winners
• 2019 Top 10 Poster Award Winners
• Annual Meeting
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Poster Presentation Winners

Congratulations to the winning posters, selected from the 120 poster presentations at the aaacn 42nd annual conference, held on may 10-13, 2017 in new orleans, la.

1st Place – Enhanced Nurse Visits for Medication and Lifestyle Management for Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension (Jennifer Davidson, Denise L. Engel, Beckie Jean Kronebusch, Stephanie Witwer, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN). ( View photo of the poster in the AAACN Photo Album !)

2nd Place – RN Care Coordination for Patients with Metabolic Syndrome in Ambulatory Care (Beverly Ponulak, Christina W. Quillian, Elaine Shestokas, Marianne Tully, Edward J. Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL)

3rd Place – A Toolkit for New Ambulatory Care Nurses: Applying Available Resources for the Job at Hand (Sarah Espin, Veterans Health System/Southern Tier Outpatient Clinics North Florida South Georgia VHS, The Villages, FL; Pam Vollmer, Johnnetta Wider, Department of Veterans Affairs, Jacksonville, FL)

Related Information

• Press Release: American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing Conference Marks Highest Attendance in Association’s History
• Recent Conference Details

Winners of the 2022 poster competition announced!

June 9, 2022   by orna herr.

We are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s British Science Week poster competition! Based on our 2022 theme, ‘Growth’, this year’s entries really hit the mark and showcased the wonderful imaginations, passions and ideas for the future of over 4,000 burgeoning young artists across the UK.

We have one winner and two runners up for each of our four categories – Early Years, Infant, Junior and Senior – as well as a winner from our popular vote, hosted on  our Facebook page .

Early Years winner

Iman – East Lane Primary School

Runners-up:

• Tristan – St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School
• Thea – Lady Bay Primary School

Infant winner

George – Martongate Primary School

• Martha – Grenoside Community Primary School
• Cecilia – St Bernadette School

Junior winner

Anouk – Mosshead Primary School

• Amelie, Shenaya, Makayla, Aleesha – Winterbourne Junior Girls
• Alex – The Manor Prep

Senior winner

Aesia – Jameah Girls Academy

• Aiden – Leventhorpe School (Science)
• Lorena – Nottingham Emmanuel School

Congratulations to our category winners and to those who reached the shortlist – the excellent standard of posters across the board did not make it easy for our judges!

Cassy King, a Program Manager for Public Engagement STEM Inspiration at UKRI, a principal partner for British Science Week, was impressed by the standard of the entries to this year’s competition. “As always it was a pleasure to be invited to judge the BSW poster competition. This year the entries were outstanding, and I was blown away with the knowledge and creativity of the young people that entered. Well done to all those that made it to the final and a big congratulations from UKRI to this year’s winners.”

Popular vote winner

The winner of this year’s popular vote, which received the most ‘likes’ of all the  shortlisted entries  on our Facebook page, was this brilliant poster by Valentino – Four Oaks Primary School.

If you’ve been inspired by this year’s poster competition, be sure to get involved in British Science Week 2023! Running from 10-19 March, this ten-day celebration will be a chance for everyone to explore and interact with science in all its marvellous forms. The theme for the activity packs and poster competition in 2023 will be ‘Connections’ !

Follow our updates on  Twitter and Facebook over the coming months to learn more about funding opportunities, activities and resources that will help you make the most of the Week!

About Us > News

Congratulations to the 2021 Poster & Oral Presentation Award Winners

Posted July 6, 2021 by Rachel Hewett

This year, IAMSE showcased over 250 poster and oral presentations, with 18 posters and 16 oral presentations nominated for an award. These awards recognize the most outstanding medical education peer-reviewed presentations at the IAMSE annual meeting. The first author on the winning poster receives a plaque, one year of IAMSE membership, and access to one series of the IAMSE Audio Seminars.

A full listing of this year’s Best Poster Presentation Award nominees and Best Oral Presentation Award nominees can be found at  www.iamseconference.org .

Outstanding Poster Presentation The Impact of Team-Based Learning on the Critical Thinking Skills of Pharmacy Students Jody Takemoto – California Health Sciences University (USA)

Outstanding Poster Presentation (Student) Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) Improves Procedural Duration, Task Completion, and Accuracy in Surgical Trainees: a Systematic Review Lucy Lan – McMaster University (CAN)

Outstanding Oral Presentation Community Building Amid COVID-19: Strategies for Interaction With a Gen-Z Class Aniela Mendez and Mildred Lopez – Tecnologico de Monterrey (MEX)

Outstanding Oral Presentation (Student) Leadership Lessons for Medical Students: Crisis Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic Stephanie K. Lin – Hofstra University (USA)

Please join us in congratulating the winners of this year’s awards. If you are interested in submitting an abstract for a poster or oral presentation for the 2022 Annual Conference you may do so beginning in October. More information will be shared later this year.

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Home Blog Design How to Design a Winning Poster Presentation: Quick Guide with Examples & Templates

How to Design a Winning Poster Presentation: Quick Guide with Examples & Templates

How are research posters like High School science fair projects? Quite similar, in fact.

Both are visual representations of a research project shared with peers, colleagues and academic faculty. But there’s a big difference: it’s all in professionalism and attention to detail. You can be sure that the students that thrived in science fairs are now creating fantastic research posters, but what is that extra element most people miss when designing a poster presentation?

This guide will teach tips and tricks for creating poster presentations for conferences, symposia, and more. Learn in-depth poster structure and design techniques to help create academic posters that have a lasting impact.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

• What is a Research Poster?

Why are Poster Presentations important?

Overall dimensions and orientation, separation into columns and sections, scientific, academic, or something else, a handout with supplemental and contact information, cohesiveness, design and readability, storytelling.

• Font Characteristics
• Color Pairing
• Data Visualization Dimensions
• Alignment, Margins, and White Space

Scientific/Academic Conference Poster Presentation

Digital research poster presentations, slidemodel poster presentation templates, how to make a research poster presentation step-by-step, considerations for printing poster presentations, how to present a research poster presentation, final words, what is a research poster .

Research posters are visual overviews of the most relevant information extracted from a research paper or analysis.   They are essential communication formats for sharing findings with peers and interested people in the field. Research posters can also effectively present material for other areas besides the sciences and STEM—for example, business and law.

You’ll be creating research posters regularly as an academic researcher, scientist, or grad student. You’ll have to present them at numerous functions and events. For example:

• Conference presentations
• Informational events
• Community centers

The research poster presentation is a comprehensive way to share data, information, and research results. Before the pandemic, the majority of research events were in person. During lockdown and beyond, virtual conferences and summits became the norm. Many researchers now create poster presentations that work in printed and digital formats.

Let’s look at why it’s crucial to spend time creating poster presentations for your research projects, research, analysis, and study papers.

Research posters represent you and your sponsor’s research 

Research papers and accompanying poster presentations are potent tools for representation and communication in your field of study. Well-performing poster presentations help scientists, researchers, and analysts grow their careers through grants and sponsorships.

When presenting a poster presentation for a sponsored research project, you’re representing the company that sponsored you. Your professionalism, demeanor, and capacity for creating impactful poster presentations call attention to other interested sponsors, spreading your impact in the field.

Research posters demonstrate expertise and growth

Presenting research posters at conferences, summits, and graduate grading events shows your expertise and knowledge in your field of study. The way your poster presentation looks and delivers, plus your performance while presenting the work, is judged by your viewers regardless of whether it’s an officially judged panel.

Recurring visitors to research conferences and symposia will see you and your poster presentations evolve. Improve your impact by creating a great poster presentation every time by paying attention to detail in the poster design and in your oral presentation. Practice your public speaking skills alongside the design techniques for even more impact.

Poster presentations create and maintain collaborations

Every time you participate in a research poster conference, you create meaningful connections with people in your field, industry or community. Not only do research posters showcase information about current data in different areas, but they also bring people together with similar interests. Countless collaboration projects between different research teams started after discussing poster details during coffee breaks.

An effective research poster template deepens your peer’s understanding of a topic by highlighting research, data, and conclusions. This information can help other researchers and analysts with their work. As a research poster presenter, you’re given the opportunity for both teaching and learning while sharing ideas with peers and colleagues.

Anatomy of a Winning Poster Presentation

Do you want your research poster to perform well?  Following the standard layout and adding a few personal touches will help attendees know how to read your poster and get the most out of your information. 

The overall size of your research poster ultimately depends on the dimensions of the provided space at the conference or research poster gallery. The poster orientation can be horizontal or vertical, with horizontal being the most common.  In general, research posters measure 48 x 36 inches or are an A0 paper size.

A virtual poster can be the same proportions as the printed research poster, but you have more leeway regarding the dimensions. Virtual research posters should fit on a screen with no need to scroll, with 1080p resolution as a standard these days. A horizontal presentation size is ideal for that.

A research poster presentation has a standard layout of 2–5 columns with 2–3 sections each. Typical structures say to separate the content into four sections; 1. A horizontal header 2. Introduction column, 3. Research/Work/Data column, and 4. Conclusion column. Each unit includes topics that relate to your poster’s objective.  Here’s a generalized outline for a poster presentation:

• Condensed Abstract 
• Objectives/Purpose
• Methodology
• Recommendations
• Implications
• Acknowledgments
• Contact Information 

The overview content you include in the units depends on your poster presentations’ theme, topic, industry, or field of research. A scientific or academic poster will include sections like hypothesis, methodology, and materials. A marketing analysis poster will include performance metrics and competitor analysis results.

There’s no way a poster can hold all the information included in your research paper or analysis report. The poster is an overview that invites the audience to want to find out more. That’s where supplement material comes in. Create a printed PDF handout or card with a QR code (created using a QR code generator ). Send the audience to the best online location for reading or downloading the complete paper.

What Makes a Poster Presentation Good and Effective? 

For your poster presentation to be effective and well-received, it needs to cover all the bases and be inviting to find out more. Stick to the standard layout suggestions and give it a unique look and feel. We’ve put together some of the most critical research poster-creation tips in the list below. Your poster presentation will perform as long as you check all the boxes.

The information you choose to include in the sections of your poster presentation needs to be cohesive. Train your editing eye and do a few revisions before presenting. The best way to look at it is to think of The Big Picture. Don’t get stuck on the details; your attendees won’t always know the background behind your research topic or why it’s important.

Be cohesive in how you word the titles, the length of the sections, the highlighting of the most important data, and how your oral presentation complements the printed—or virtual—poster.

The most important characteristic of your poster presentation is its readability and clarity. You need a poster presentation with a balanced design that’s easy to read at a distance of 1.5 meters or 4 feet. The font size and spacing must be clear and neat. All the content must suggest a visual flow for the viewer to follow.

That said, you don’t need to be a designer to add something special to your poster presentation. Once you have the standard—and recognized—columns and sections, add your special touch. These can be anything from colorful boxes for the section titles to an interesting but subtle background, images that catch the eye, and charts that inspire a more extended look. 

Storytelling is a presenting technique involving writing techniques to make information flow. Firstly, storytelling helps give your poster presentation a great introduction and an impactful conclusion. 

Think of storytelling as the invitation to listen or read more, as the glue that connects sections, making them flow from one to another. Storytelling is using stories in the oral presentation, for example, what your lab partner said when you discovered something interesting. If it makes your audience smile and nod, you’ve hit the mark. Storytelling is like giving a research presentation a dose of your personality, and it can help turning your data into opening stories .

Design Tips For Creating an Effective Research Poster Presentation

The section above briefly mentioned how important design is to your poster presentation’s effectiveness. We’ll look deeper into what you need to know when designing a poster presentation.

1. Font Characteristics

The typeface and size you choose are of great importance. Not only does the text need to be readable from two meters away, but it also needs to look and sit well on the poster. Stay away from calligraphic script typefaces, novelty typefaces, or typefaces with uniquely shaped letters.

Stick to the classics like a sans serif Helvetica, Lato, Open Sans, or Verdana. Avoid serif typefaces as they can be difficult to read from far away. Here are some standard text sizes to have on hand.

• Title: 85 pt
• Authors: 65 pt
• Headings: 36 pt
• Body Text: 24 pt
• Captions: 18 pt

If you feel too prone to use serif typefaces, work with a font pairing tool that helps you find a suitable solution – and intend those serif fonts for heading sections only. As a rule, never use more than 3 different typefaces in your design. To make it more dynamic, you can work with the same font using light, bold, and italic weights to put emphasis on the required areas.

2. Color Pairing

Using colors in your poster presentation design is a great way to grab the viewer’s attention. A color’s purpose is to help the viewer follow the data flow in your presentation, not distract. Don’t let the color take more importance than the information on your poster.

Choose one main color for the title and headlines and a similar color for the data visualizations. If you want to use more than one color, don’t create too much contrast between them. Try different tonalities of the same color and keep things balanced visually. Your color palette should have at most one main color and two accent colors.

Black text over a white background is standard practice for printed poster presentations, but for virtual presentations, try a very light gray instead of white and a very dark gray instead of black. Additionally, use variations of light color backgrounds and dark color text. Make sure it’s easy to read from two meters away or on a screen, depending on the context. We recommend ditching full white or full black tone usage as it hurts eyesight in the long term due to its intense contrast difference with the light ambiance.

3. Data Visualization Dimensions

Just like the text, your charts, graphs, and data visualizations must be easy to read and understand. Generally, if a person is interested in your research and has already read some of the text from two meters away, they’ll come closer to look at the charts and graphs. 

Fit data visualizations inside columns or let them span over two columns. Remove any unnecessary borders, lines, or labels to make them easier to read at a glance. Use a flat design without shadows or 3D characteristics. The text in legends and captions should stay within the chart size and not overflow into the margins. Use a unified text size of 18px for all your data visualizations.

4. Alignment, Margins, and White Space

Finally, the last design tip for creating an impressive and memorable poster presentation is to be mindful of the layout’s alignment, margins, and white space. Create text boxes to help keep everything aligned. They allow you to resize, adapt, and align the content along a margin or grid.

Take advantage of the white space created by borders and margins between sections. Don’t crowd them with a busy background or unattractive color.

Calculate margins considering a print format. It is a good practice in case the poster presentation ends up becoming in physical format, as you won’t need to downscale your entire design (affecting text readability in the process) to preserve information.

There are different tools that you can use to make a poster presentation. Presenters who are familiar with Microsoft Office prefer to use PowerPoint. You can learn how to make a poster in PowerPoint here.

Poster Presentation Examples

Before you start creating a poster presentation, look at some examples of real research posters. Get inspired and get creative.

Research poster presentations printed and mounted on a board look like the one in the image below. The presenter stands to the side, ready to share the information with visitors as they walk up to the panels.

With more and more conferences staying virtual or hybrid, the digital poster presentation is here to stay. Take a look at examples from a poster session at the OHSU School of Medicine .

Use SlideModel templates to help you create a winning poster presentation with PowerPoint and Google Slides. These poster PPT templates will get you off on the right foot. Mix and match tables and data visualizations from other poster slide templates to create your ideal layout according to the standard guidelines.

If you need a quick method to create a presentation deck to talk about your research poster at conferences, check out our Slides AI presentation maker. A tool in which you add the topic, curate the outline, select a design, and let AI do the work for you.

1. One-pager Scientific Poster Template for PowerPoint

A PowerPoint template tailored to make your poster presentations an easy-to-craft process. Meet our One-Pager Scientific Poster Slide Template, entirely editable to your preferences and with ample room to accommodate graphs, data charts, and much more.

Use This Template

2. Eisenhower Matrix Slides Template for PowerPoint

An Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful tool to represent priorities, classifying work according to urgency and importance. Presenters can use this 2×2 matrix in poster presentations to expose the effort required for the research process, as it also helps to communicate strategy planning.

3. OSMG Framework PowerPoint Template

Finally, we recommend presenters check our OSMG Framework PowerPoint template, as it is an ideal tool for representing a business plan: its goals, strategies, and measures for success. Expose complex processes in a simplified manner by adding this template to your poster presentation.

Remember these three words when making your research poster presentation: develop, design, and present. These are the three main actions toward a successful poster presentation. 

The section below will take you on a step-by-step journey to create your next poster presentation.

Step 1: Define the purpose and audience of your poster presentation

Before making a poster presentation design, you’ll need to plan first. Here are some questions to answer at this point:

• Are they in your field? 
• Do they know about your research topic? 
• What can they get from your research?
• Will you print it?
• Is it for a virtual conference?

Step 2: Make an outline

With a clear purpose and strategy, it’s time to collect the most important information from your research paper, analysis, or documentation. Make a content dump and then select the most interesting information. Use the content to draft an outline.

Outlines help formulate the overall structure better than going straight into designing the poster. Mimic the standard poster structure in your outline using section headlines as separators. Go further and separate the content into the columns they’ll be placed in.

Step 3: Write the content

Write or rewrite the content for the sections in your poster presentation. Use the text in your research paper as a base, but summarize it to be more succinct in what you share. 

Don’t forget to write a catchy title that presents the problem and your findings in a clear way. Likewise, craft the headlines for the sections in a similar tone as the title, creating consistency in the message. Include subtle transitions between sections to help follow the flow of information in order.

Avoid copying/pasting entire sections of the research paper on which the poster is based. Opt for the storytelling approach, so the delivered message results are interesting for your audience. 

Step 4: Put it all together visually

This entire guide on how to design a research poster presentation is the perfect resource to help you with this step. Follow all the tips and guidelines and have an unforgettable poster presentation.

Moving on, here’s how to design a research poster presentation with PowerPoint Templates . Open a new project and size it to the standard 48 x 36 inches. Using the outline, map out the sections on the empty canvas. Add a text box for each title, headline, and body text. Piece by piece, add the content into their corresponding text box.

Transform the text information visually, make bullet points, and place the content in tables and timelines. Make your text visual to avoid chunky text blocks that no one will have time to read. Make sure all text sizes are coherent for all headings, body texts, image captions, etc. Double-check for spacing and text box formatting.

Next, add or create data visualizations, images, or diagrams. Align everything into columns and sections, making sure there’s no overflow. Add captions and legends to the visualizations, and check the color contrast with colleagues and friends. Ask for feedback and progress to the last step.

Step 5: Last touches

Time to check the final touches on your poster presentation design. Here’s a checklist to help finalize your research poster before sending it to printers or the virtual summit rep.

• Check the resolution of all visual elements in your poster design. Zoom to 100 or 200% to see if the images pixelate. Avoid this problem by using vector design elements and high-resolution images.
• Ensure that charts and graphs are easy to read and don’t look crowded.
• Analyze the visual hierarchy. Is there a visual flow through the title, introduction, data, and conclusion?
• Take a step back and check if it’s legible from a distance. Is there enough white space for the content to breathe?
• Does the design look inviting and interesting?

An often neglected topic arises when we need to print our designs for any exhibition purpose. Since A0 is a hard-to-manage format for most printers, these poster presentations result in heftier charges for the user. Instead, you can opt to work your design in two A1 sheets, which also becomes more manageable for transportation. Create seamless borders for the section on which the poster sheets should meet, or work with a white background.

Paper weight options should be over 200 gsm to avoid unwanted damage during the printing process due to heavy ink usage. If possible, laminate your print or stick it to photographic paper – this shall protect your work from spills.

Finally, always run a test print. Gray tints may not be printed as clearly as you see them on screen (this is due to the RGB to CMYK conversion process). Other differences can be appreciated when working with ink jet plotters vs. laser printers. Give yourself enough room to maneuver last-minute design changes.

Presenting a research poster is a big step in the poster presentation cycle. Your poster presentation might or might not be judged by faculty or peers. But knowing what judges look for will help you prepare for the design and oral presentation, regardless of whether you receive a grade for your work or if it’s business related. Likewise, the same principles apply when presenting at an in-person or virtual summit.

The opening statement

Part of presenting a research poster is welcoming the viewer to your small personal area in the sea of poster presentations. You’ll need an opening statement to pitch your research poster and get the viewers’ attention.

Draft a 2 to 3-sentence pitch that covers the most important points:

• What the research is
• Why was it conducted
• What the results say

From that opening statement, you’re ready to continue with the oral presentation for the benefit of your attendees.

The oral presentation

During the oral presentation, share the information on the poster while conversing with the interested public. Practice many times before the event. Structure the oral presentation as conversation points, and use the poster’s visual flow as support. Make eye contact with your audience as you speak, but don’t make them uncomfortable.

Pro Tip: In a conference or summit, if people show up to your poster area after you’ve started presenting it to another group, finish and then address the new visitors.

QA Sessions 

When you’ve finished the oral presentation, offer the audience a chance to ask questions. You can tell them before starting the presentation that you’ll be holding a QA session at the end. Doing so will prevent interruptions as you’re speaking.

If presenting to one or two people, be flexible and answer questions as you review all the sections on your poster.

Supplemental Material

If your audience is interested in learning more, you can offer another content type, further imprinting the information in their minds. Some ideas include; printed copies of your research paper, links to a website, a digital experience of your poster, a thesis PDF, or data spreadsheets.

Your audience will want to contact you for further conversations; include contact details in your supplemental material. If you don’t offer anything else, at least have business cards.

Even though conferences have changed, the research poster’s importance hasn’t diminished. Now, instead of simply creating a printed poster presentation, you can also make it for digital platforms. The final output will depend on the conference and its requirements.

This guide covered all the essential information you need to know for creating impactful poster presentations, from design, structure and layout tips to oral presentation techniques to engage your audience better . 

Before your next poster session, bookmark and review this guide to help you design a winning poster presentation every time. 

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College & Research Libraries ( C&RL ) is the official, bi-monthly, online-only scholarly research journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

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Megan E. Frost is Life Sciences & Communication Disorders Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] ; Michael C. Goates is Life Sciences & Geology Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] ; Gregory M. Nelson is Chemical & Life Sciences Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] .

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The Benefits of Hosting a Poster Competition in an Academic Library

Megan E. Frost, Michael C. Goates, and Gregory M. Nelson *

Students preparing for careers in the sciences benefit from learning to communicate scientific information. Poster competitions give students the ability to practice written and oral communications skills. Over the last five years the Harold B. Lee Library has hosted a life sciences undergraduate poster competition. Here we share our experience hosting a traditional in-person competition and a virtual competition adapted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss survey feedback we received from participating students. Our program illustrates how academic libraries can foster the development of scientific communication skills and promote information literacy through a student research poster competition.

Introduction

Academic libraries have been described as the heart of a university campus and could also be viewed as the mind and memory of their sponsoring institution. As champions of information literacy, libraries are well positioned to promote and teach scientific communication skills through various avenues. Hosting poster competitions is one way that libraries can effectively sustain their role as a learning environment focused on good scientific communication. Exercising its strength as a central and neutral place on campus, the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University has hosted a life sciences poster competition for undergraduate students since 2015. This competition has been an ongoing collaboration with the College of Life Sciences, which aims to engage undergraduates, faculty members, and the campus library community. This collaboration created opportunities to (1) provide a venue for life sciences undergraduate students to showcase and discuss their research with faculty members and other students, (2) encourage undergraduate students and their mentors to come to the library, and (3) promote the library as a place where scholarly discussions take place.

The library forged the collaboration with the College of Life Sciences and has maintained sole responsibility for judging the posters and associated in-person presentations. The first competition displayed fifteen posters and has since grown into an event with as many as fifty-eight posters. In 2020, the library did the “COVID-19 pivot” and quickly transitioned the competition into a virtual event because the pandemic shut down in-person campus events. The 2021 competition was designed as an entirely virtual event, implementing lessons learned from the previous year’s virtual design.

Literature Review

Poster competitions have been a staple of academic conferences, especially in STEM fields, since the 1970s. 1 Often poster sessions are the first foray many undergraduate and graduate students make to engage with colleagues in their disciplines, thus increasing “self-confidence and …develop[ing] their own academic voice.” 2 These forays have encouraged participants to explain their research to a broader, nonspecialist audience and foster communication of new research, all the while increasing their own understanding of the subject discussed in the poster. 3 Some academic institutions have implemented practice poster competitions with cash prizes that skillfully mimic the atmosphere of a bona fide scientific conference to ease the pressure of presenting for the first time. 4

Physical poster presentations at conferences are standard fare; however, some conferences have experimented with different formats with moderate success. Robert E. Belford, Matthew Stoltzfus, and Justin B. Houseknecht reported that the 2014 online ConfChem conference featured a virtual poster session. 5 Halfway through the conference, the organizing committee extended an open invitation to attendees to submit an online poster on their current research and experience with flipped classrooms, the topic of the conference. Unfortunately, this pioneering effort resulted in only three submissions. In another variation, Edward P. Randviir et al. described the “world’s first Twitter poster competition” 6 where delegates submitted their posters as pictures with an associated hashtag. The hope was that social media outlets would increase the amount, duration, and quality of the scientific discourse, which would persist well beyond the conference. Though this proof-of-concept experience was successfully carried out, not all the competition’s primary goals were met, and such an effort has not been replicated since. It appears that meeting in-person is still the most accepted or comfortable format for poster sessions.

In recent years, poster sessions and competitions have become a viable pedagogical method in classrooms. 7 According to Maxine E. Bernreuter, “Poster presentations are consistent with adult education theory, help students to synthesize new knowledge, and relate theoretical knowledge to practice. In general, poster projects are viewed positively by students, encouraging them and others to appreciate their work.” 8 Often, poster presentations can replace a class assignment such as an annotated bibliography, 9 term paper, or in-class oral presentation. 10

Coupled with poster presentations is the opportunity for the presenter to speak with others who have come to read the poster and interact with its author. 11 Whether in the classroom or the conference hall, talking about one’s poster to others strengthens the presenter’s ability to understand their own work and requires good verbal communication skills. These minitalks are akin to Three Minute Thesis competitions, which are common on many campuses where “the stress is on audience: the content, delivery, and personal involvement of the speaker should all be geared towards recontextualizing their research so as to make it clear, interesting, and meaningful for their audience; oratory and communication skills are of prime importance.” 12 Online or electronic poster sessions remove some of this face-to-face discussion and replace it with an offline dialog that may produce more in-depth questions but may also eliminate some of the serendipitous discovery from open verbal discussion. 13

Though recognized as a center of learning with a central purpose to provide, store, and retrieve information, the library is also involved in scientific communication literacy such as sponsoring research poster competitions, a role that has not been extensively researched. However, a survey of 326 academic library respondents indicated that 43.1 percent said that their library “host[ed] undergraduate research symposia and poster sessions either on their own or in conjunction with other units on campus.” 14 A few articles describe the efforts of other libraries to engage with the rest of the academy to facilitate scientific communication literacy. Michelle Reed and Merinda Kay Hensley describe how they engaged undergraduate students in their institution’s Image of Research competitions. 15 This innovative, library-led competition coupled the research that undergraduates were doing at the university with scientific communication skills. Students submitted a single image representing their research or research process, along with some brief text explaining how the image related to their research. Brett Sutton described a case study where library school faculty from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign taught an undergraduate course on science literacy, including scientific communication, and ways of knowing via the scientific method. 16 Richard E. Lucier examined the library profession’s effort to push against its traditional role of knowledge storage and retrieval and become more integral to the scholarly and scientific communication enterprise through knowledge management and expertise. 17 In a recent article, Peter Reuter and Andreas Brandtner noted that “the growing significance of support for research activities underlines the need for improving the academic qualifications of library staff that must draw on professional skills in direct contacts with researchers.” 18 With an expected increase in qualifications for academic librarians comes an opportunity to support areas of scientific communication, such as sponsoring research poster competitions. Hence, science librarians at Brigham Young University’s library partnered with the College of Life Sciences to provide opportunities for undergraduate students to learn and improve their scientific communication skills in an annual undergraduate research poster competition.

Poster Competition Description

The poster competition that we, the science librarians, have provided is a yearly collaboration between the university’s main library and the College of Life Sciences. We recognize the value for students to practice creating scientific research posters and verbalizing their research findings in an engaging and professional manner. The four main objectives of the poster competition are as follows:

• Provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to develop and refine their scientific communication skills.
• Give student participants constructive feedback on their poster design and verbal communication skills.
• Highlight and promote research that is being conducted by students with faculty mentors in the College of Life Sciences.
• Establish the library as a hub of scholarly activity on campus for both students and faculty.

As part of this collaboration, the College of Life Sciences has promoted this event to students and faculty in the college and has provided partial funding for the prize awards. Promotional activities have included targeted emails to teaching faculty, advertisements in the college newsletters to staff and students, digital signage on monitors in prominent locations in college and library buildings, and announcements in classes. The library has provided the venue for the event, registration and submission logistics, poster and presentation adjudication, poster design workshops, refreshments for the open house, and the remaining funding for prize awards.

Judging Criteria and Prize Awards

One of the first steps in the planning process for the poster competition was to determine the judging criteria and the prize awards. Initially, we created judging criteria only for the physical posters. These criteria were based on rubrics for other poster competitions that we located online. Judging criteria were divided into three general categories: organization, appearance, and content. Each category had five or six five-point Likert-style questions. As part of the poster judging, we also provided students with several concrete examples of their posters’ strengths as well as areas that could be improved. The complete judging rubric for the poster design is available in appendix A. After hosting several poster competitions, we decided to include the oral presentations in the competition judging. At first, we simply provided feedback to student participants about their presentations using handwritten paper forms, commenting on their strengths and the areas that needed improvement. In later years, we included specific judging criteria for the oral presentations and judged them separately from the poster design portion of the competition using several five-point Likert-style questions (see appendix A). We transitioned from the paper judging forms to Google Forms with prepopulated, dropdown menus for poster titles to capture scores and feedback for both the poster design and oral presentation elements of the competition. Using Google Forms greatly streamlined the judging process and reduced the time needed to tally scores. It also eliminated the need to transcribe judging feedback on the strengths and areas that needed improvement for poster designs and oral presentations. During 2020 and 2021, the poster competition transitioned to an online event where we asked student participants to submit a three-minute video recording of their oral presentation along with an electronic version of their poster.

For the poster judging, the three authors of this article judged each of the submitted posters using the predetermined rubric. We calculated each poster’s final score by averaging the scores from each judge. If two or more posters received the same score, we reevaluated these posters to make a final determination. We also adjusted individual judging scores, if necessary, when one score was out of line with the other two judges. We would also conduct what we referred to as a “gut check” of the final poster scores to ensure that the winning posters truly merited an award when compared to those just out of ranking. Poster judging took a substantial amount of time. Judging commenced as soon as the posters were hung and displayed, typically two weeks before the open house.

For the oral presentation judging, we enlisted the help of fifteen to twenty other library employees to provide feedback and to use the predetermined rubric to assign presentation scores. These volunteers did not need to have a specific background in the life sciences because student participants were prompted to create their posters and oral presentations with a general academic audience in mind. We provided each of these volunteers with an explanation of how to apply the rubric to the judging. All oral presentations were viewed and evaluated by three to four judges. We averaged the scores for each oral presentation to determine the preliminary rankings. Based on the high tendency for tied scores and the greater variability in judging, the three authors reevaluated the oral presentations that were ranked in the top ten using the same rubric. Then, we averaged our scores to determine the final winners. We did not provide students with the raw scores for the posters and oral presentations, since we did not feel that this information would have been as valuable to them without the context of all the other participant scores. However, we did provide each student participant with feedback on the strengths and limitations for their posters and presentations. We proofread all judging feedback and made minor adjustments, if needed, to improve clarity and content before emailing the comments to student participants.

To incentivize student participation, we provided prize awards for the competition winners. Initially, we provided prize awards to the top three poster winners in the form of $100, $150, and $200 gift cards. We expanded the prize awards in subsequent competitions to include the top three oral presentations using the same dollar prize amounts. During the 2020 and 2021 competition, we tried to engage the audience with the inclusion of People’s Choice awards for the top poster and oral presentation. Because of some logistical challenges of an online event, we transitioned the People’s Choice awards to Peer Choice awards, where only competition participants were able to vote for their favorite poster and oral presentation (no self-votes).

Poster Competition Website and Registration

We used SpringShare’s LibGuide platform to host the poster competition website. 19 On the website, we provided general information about the competition, including the prize awards, judging criteria, the poster design workshops, and the online registration. We also provided information about our institutional repository, ScholarsArchive, 20 and explained how student participants can upload their submitted posters to this open access repository. All uploaded posters from each of the competition years are available in a single collection in the institutional repository. 21 During the 2020 and 2021 competitions, we also included a virtual poster gallery on the competition website (figure 1) where digital copies of the posters and oral presentations were available for online viewing, along with a link to a recording of the virtual awards ceremony.

For the competition registration platform, we used Google Forms. This platform was easy to use and familiar to most student participants. As we have streamlined the registration process from year to year, we have refined the information that we require during the registration, particularly to help gather the necessary metadata for submissions that will be uploaded to our institutional repository. This metadata includes the poster title, three to five keywords, and the student’s faculty mentor, year in school, and major. One of the most helpful changes with the online registration has been that we have received all the necessary license agreement approvals from students at the time of registration to upload their posters to the institutional repository. Since all student participants were required to submit a digital copy of their poster, this modification has greatly increased the percentage of posters that have been uploaded into the repository and, overall, has simplified the uploading process for both students and library staff.

Poster Displays and Open House

Each year we have between twenty-five and fifty-eight poster submissions. We wanted to be able to display them in a prominent location that could also serve as the venue for the in-person open house. We decided to hang the posters within the library in a long hallway that received substantial foot traffic. This location was also wide enough to accommodate the visitors for the competition open house (figure 2). Each of the posters were attached to the wall using Velcro command strips and a cardboard pattern to ensure evenness of the poster placement. Posters were displayed for a period of three weeks. During the years we had in-person events, we provided light refreshments and invited students, faculty, and other library patrons to participate in a two-hour open house. Each of the student participants were required to stand by their posters to interact with open house guests and explain their research projects.

The oral presentation judging took place during the first hour of the open house. During the second hour, we quickly tabulated the oral presentation judging results so they, along with the poster judging awards, could be presented at the conclusion of the open house. One of the greatest benefits of the in-person open house was that students could practice explaining their research in a concise, easy-to-understand manner. A recurring positive comment that we heard from student participants was that they could talk to many people about their research and practice their scientific communication skills.

During 2020 and 2021, we transitioned the open house and display gallery to an online event because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All posters and three-minute video recordings were made available on a virtual display gallery on the competition website. In many regards, the virtual display gallery made judging both the posters and the oral presentations much easier. Judges had a longer time to view the posters and presentations. The presentation judges were able to view the exact same video for each presentation, improving judging consistency. We were also able to promote the posters and presentations to a larger audience beyond our campus borders. However, we also missed much of the energy that comes with an in-person event. Moving forward, we intend to keep the best elements of both the in-person and virtual events, such as hanging the posters in a physical space in the library and hosting an in-person open house, as well as creating a virtual gallery for posters and video presentations.

Poster Design Workshops

As part of the competition, we hosted a series of workshops on effective poster design. These workshops covered basic design principles, tools, and tricks that students could use to create their posters. Originally, these workshops were held in person in the library, and we would average a handful of participants in each session. Because of the pandemic, in 2021 we transitioned these workshops to an online tutorial. 22 One of the benefits of the online tutorial was that we could reach a much wider audience, resulting in over 100 page views for the 2021 competition.

Student Survey 2021

After the 2021 competition, we sent a survey (appendix B) to all student participants in order to assess their perceptions of the program and to help us determine the elements of our virtual competition that we should incorporate into future in-person competitions. The digital survey included a mix of questions, such as Likert-scale choices (one to five), select-all-responses-that-apply questions, and open-ended questions. Participants were given a five-dollar reward for participating, which resulted in a seventy-three percent response rate (twenty-one responses out of thirty-seven participants). We obtained institutional review board approval so that we could share the results of this survey.

We found many of the responses informative and useful in helping us improve future competitions. For example, sixteen of the twenty-one respondents learned about the competition from faculty mentors (figure 3). Professors were the most effective advertising method by a considerable margin. This information is encouraging because it implies that many faculty see value in the competition and promote it to their students. Because of this feedback, we will increase our future promotional efforts toward life sciences faculty. This response has also encouraged us to seek feedback from some of the faculty mentors whose students participate each year. It will be helpful to learn what it is that faculty value about the competition.

Another result we found encouraging was the motivation that respondents indicated for participating in the competition. We assumed that prize money was a strong factor in motivating student participation, but we found that it was the second least-selected option (figure 4). Instead, far more respondents were interested in how the competition would help them improve their skills or prepare them for future presentations. We infer from these responses that students see value in the experience regardless of whether they win a prize. While we plan to continue giving prize money in the future, we do not see a strong need to offer more or larger prizes.

Each year as judges, we spend a considerable amount of time writing constructive feedback on both the poster design and the oral presentation. We have felt like this feedback is a valuable part of the program, but we wanted to ascertain whether students considered it helpful. While not unanimous, ninety percent of students surveyed found the written feedback on their poster designs to be at least moderately valuable. The response for the oral presentation feedback was slightly lower (86%) but still a substantial majority. Seventy-one percent of those students rated the feedback very valuable for the poster design and 57 percent for the oral presentation. We found this encouraging enough to continue providing this service.

We know that several students have submitted posters that had been prepared for other venues, such as conferences specific to their field of study. We support these dual-submissions because much of the value in our competition involves the opportunity for students to orally communicate their research to a wide audience. The competition also exhibits to passersby the breadth of research being done by undergraduate students. We wanted to know how many students were creating posters specifically for our event and whether our judging rubric or design video influenced their design. Based on survey responses, we found that approximately two-thirds of participants created their posters specifically for our competition. Of the fifteen respondents who did, just over half used our rubric in their design. These numbers were somewhat lower than expected. It is possible that winning the competition was not a high priority for many students. It is also possible that the rubric was not in a prominent enough place or was not clear enough for students to follow. For future competitions, we will reevaluate our rubric for clarity and ensure that it is more prominently displayed on our competition website 23 for participants to access. Of those participants who submitted a poster that was originally made for another event, two of seven made changes in response to our judging rubric. This number was closer to our expectations.

As described earlier, we created a video to share basic poster design principles and asked participants whether they viewed the video. Although just fewer than half of respondents watched the video, this number was a considerable improvement to the number of participants that attended our in-person design classes in previous years. Of the ten who viewed the video, nine found it helpful. In the future we intend to continue providing this online training and may supplement it with additional materials.

We saw some general themes emerge in student responses about the aspects of the competition that they found frustrating or difficult. There was some difficulty in uploading presentations, with more than one respondent expressing a desire to be able to go back and edit the submission or upload an updated version. This aspect about submissions is something that we can improve for future competitions. A concern that is less easy to address was that viewing posters and listening to presentations online was less enjoyable than in an open house. While it is useful to have online access to posters and presentations in addition to an open house, the virtual aspect cannot take the place of an in-person event. Several participants suggested that we hold an open house via Zoom with each presenter in their own breakout room. By allowing attendees to move freely through the room, we could have interactions between presenters and attendees. If we need to return to an online competition in the future, this Zoom event would be a positive addition and could precede the online awards presentation.

One other concern was that the poster judging focused too much on the design and not enough on the content in the text or the quality of the research. One of our primary goals with the competition has been to help students improve their skills in science communication; therefore, we have chosen to focus on poster design and oral communication skills. We feel strongly that judging research quality is outside the scope of our competition, so we may need to communicate our objectives more clearly on the competition website.

In addition to suggestions for improvement, students shared what they valued most about the competition. The most common response came from respondents who appreciated the opportunity to orally present their work, either in preparation for the future or because they did not have opportunities in other venues. Several also expressed appreciation for the feedback they received from the judges. The most striking response was from multiple participants who shared that in the process of creating their poster or developing their oral presentation, they gained a clearer understanding of their research. We see this result as a very beneficial outcome of the competition.

Our research contributes to the scholarly literature at the intersection of academic libraries and scientific communication specifically by providing a detailed library case study of an undergraduate research poster competition. As relatively little has been published in this area, this case study provides a detailed outline of how other libraries may consider implementing a poster competition to highlight student research and promote scientific communication skills. Libraries interested in hosting student poster competitions should carefully consider the following:

• Look for institutional partners to cohost the competition . While we could have undertaken this event on our own, it has been much more successful as a partnership with the College of Life Sciences. This partnership provides greater visibility to students as well as additional financial and logistical resources for the various stages of the event. Knowing this event is supported by their college, faculty mentors are also more likely to encourage student participation.
• Clearly articulate the main objectives of the competition and share them with participants and their faculty mentors . Invariably, questions will arise about the objectives of the competition, including potential concerns over judging outcomes. Having clear objectives can help assuage these concerns. It is particularly helpful to have these objectives prominently posted on the competition website as well as included in registration information for participants.
• Create judging criteria that are mutually exclusive and easy to apply . Development of the judging rubric is an iterative process and may take multiple modifications before finalization. It is useful to have some sample testing with the judging criteria to identify gaps or potential problems. We also found it helpful to share the judging rubric with other colleagues to get feedback on limitations or other areas needing improvement.
• Plan for additional time in the overall schedule to complete the various phases of the poster competition . As with most activities of this size, we found that the poster competition required more time and effort than anticipated. This included preparing posters for display (whether digitally or in print), judging, and sending feedback to student participants. When developing a timeline for a poster competition, it is important to include additional time for unexpected delays.
• Develop contingency plans and be flexible when unexpected challenges arise. While pandemic shutdowns won’t always impact library activities, there are often unforeseen challenges for any public event. It is beneficial to anticipate as many of these challenges as possible and to create contingency plans in case things do not go as expected. Developing both virtual and in-person elements can broaden the outreach and impact of any poster competition, and could also buffer some of the impacts of unexpected challenges.

Future research should address teaching and research faculty perspectives on library-sponsored poster competitions. In our study, we gathered feedback from student participants regarding their experience and perspectives with the poster competition. While these perspectives are invaluable, it would also be insightful to see how their faculty mentors perceived the poster competition. We have received positive anecdotal feedback from several faculty mentors concerning the value of the poster competition for their students. Additionally, we observed that many faculty mentors regularly had student participants in the competition over successive years. This is highly encouraging as student participants reported that faculty mentor encouragement was the single most important factor in determining their participation in the competition. A more formal assessment of faculty mentor perspectives would offer the library a better understanding of those elements of the competition that are of greatest value to faculty and elucidate ways to partner with teaching faculty in providing meaningful opportunities for students to learn scientific communication skills.

The skills that students develop as they create and present a conference poster are valuable for those learning how to communicate in scientific professions. Posters remain a valuable component of scientific conferences, and they are an early access point for students to engage with researchers in their fields. As a hub for research on campus, academic libraries are in a unique position to support students in building scientific communication skills through poster competitions. We have provided a venue at our academic library, both in-person and virtually, for students to develop their posters and presentations, which they are able to share with a large audience. In upcoming years, we will draw on both in-person and virtual experiences to create a hybrid model, incorporating the best parts of both versions of the competition.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jed Johnston for developing the poster design workshops, creating the online tutorial, and assisting in other competition logistics. A special thanks to Tonya Fischio, Rick Jellen, Mike Barnes, Loreen Allphin, and others from the Dean’s Office in the BYU College of Life Sciences for their ongoing financial and promotional support. A huge thank you to Cindy Ledingham for her tireless efforts that have made the poster competition a meaningful experience for all involved. And lastly, we are indebted to the many BYU Library employees who have volunteered as competition judges and engaged with student presenters.

Appendix A. Judging Criteria for Life Science Poster Competition

Poster design judging criteria.

(Score 1 – low, 5 – high in each category)

Organization

• Poster has clearly defined sections with labels, such as hypotheses, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.
• Each subheading has no more than one short paragraph. Bullet point paragraphs are acceptable.
• Organization is logical with a clear flow of ideas from one heading to the next.
• Graphics and other visuals are used to draw the reader to the most important messages of the poster and provide balance to the amount of text.
• Posters adhere to the size standard (no more than 50 inches wide by 50 inches tall).
• Text font and size are appropriate for the size and format of the poster. Words are easy to read from an appropriate distance (3–5 feet).
• Language used in each section is clear, concise, and easy to understand. Poster is free from undefined jargon.
• Proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation are used.
• Visuals are attractive and of high quality.
• Poster is neat and visually appealing.
• Focus is on a well-defined problem.
• There is a clear and concise statement of the immediate problem.
• No unnecessary visuals are included (visuals do not detract from the main message of the poster).
• Visuals contain sufficient information for concise and easy interpretation of crucial information.
• The poster stands alone without any verbal explanation.
• Conclusions are supported by the results.

OPEN HOUSE PRESENTATION JUDGING CRITERIA

• The length of the presentation was appropriate for the audience’s level of knowledge (approximately 2 to 3 minutes).
• The presentation style was engaging and professional (e.g., presenters were approachable, enthusiastic, etc.).
• The presenters described their research at a general academic level (e.g., no undefined jargon, etc.).
• The presenters explained the significance of their research (e.g., why their research is important and how it is contributing to their field of study, etc.).
• The presenters engaged with the audience and answered questions clearly and thoughtfully.

THREE-MINUTE VIDEO JUDGING CRITERIA

• The length of the video presentation was between 2 ½ and 3 minutes (points will be deducted for videos outside of this time range).

Appendix B. Life Science Poster Competition Survey

Q1. How did you learn about the poster competition? Choose all that apply.

• □ Advertisements in the library
• □ Advertisements in the LSB
• □ From a faculty mentor/advisor
• □ In a class
• □ Word of mouth
• □ Other ________________________________________________

Q2. What was your motivation for entering the competition? Choose all that apply.

• □ Prize Money
• □ Prepare/practice for future presentation(s)
• □ Extra credit
• □ Fun
• □ Mentor encouragement
• □ To add to my resume

Q3. How valuable did you find the written feedback from the judges

Q4. Select the poster design statement that best applies:

• □ I submitted a poster created for another presentation
• □ I created a new poster for this competition

Display This Question:

If Select the poster design statement that best applies: = I submitted a poster created for another presentation

Q4a. Did you make any modifications to your poster for this competition?

• □ Yes

If Did you make any modifications to your poster for this competition? = Yes

Q4b. Did the judging criteria influence your design changes?

If Select the poster design statement that best applies: = I created a new poster for this competition

Q4c. Did the judging criteria influence your poster design?

Q5. How satisfied were you with the following online experiences:

Q6. Did you view the online poster design video? 

If Did you view the online poster design video?  = Yes

Q6a. How beneficial was the video in helping you design your poster? 

• □ Very beneficial
• □ Moderately beneficial
• □ Not beneficial at all

Q7. What elements would you recommend be included in a future in-person competition? (select all that apply)

• □ Oral presentation judged during open house
• □ 3-minute video presentation judged in advance
• □ Making posters visible on the competition website
• □ Making video presentations visible on the competition website

Q8. What did you find most beneficial about participating in the poster competition?

Q9. What parts of the process did you find frustrating or difficult?

Q10. Please share any additional ideas for how to improve the competition.

1. Dieter Schmidmaier, “Poster Sessions as a New Viewpoint of Scientific Communication—General Problems and Library Aspects,” in Proceeding of the IATUL Conferences: 9th Biennial IATUL Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland, April 13, 1981 (Goteborg, Sweden: International Association of Technological University Libraries), 115–31.

2. Michael W. Lynch, “Using Conferences Poster Presentations as a Tool for Student Learning and Development,” Innovations in Education and Teaching International 55, no. 6 (2018): 633–39.

3. Timothy C. Becker et al., “Catalyzing Graduate Student Research Dissemination: Case Study of a Technical Poster Competition,” (paper presentation, 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, TX, June 10–13, 2012), https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--21047 ; Peter K. Dunn et al., “Statistics Poster Competitions: An Opportunity to Connect Academics and Teachers,” Statistics Education Research Journal 19, no. 1 (2020): 1–16; Merinda Kaye Hensley, “The Poster Session as a Vehicle for Teaching the Scholarly Communication Process,” in Common Ground at the Nexus of Information Literacy and Scholarly Communication, ed. Stephanie Davis-Kahl and Merinda Kaye Hensley (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2013), 123–43; Sanhita Mukherjee, “Poster-Competition: An Effective Active Learning Technique for Undergraduate Medical Students,” in Effective Educational Practices in Health Profession Education, ed. Z. Zayapragassarazan, S. Kumar, D. Kadambari, and V. Dinesh Kumar (Puducherry: National Teacher Training Centre Alumni Association of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, 2020), 29–35; Joseph K. Prinsen, “Student Abstracts and Poster Competitions: Encouraging Research,” The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 111, no. 1 (2011): 52–53; Steve E. Watkins et al., “Organizing a Student Poster Session in an ASEE Section Conference,” (paper presentation, 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, June 15, 2014), https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--22897 .

4. Becker et al., “Catalyzing Graduate Student Research Dissemination”; Maxine E. Bernreuter, “Poster Competitions—Another Way to Increase University-Service Interchange,” Journal of Nursing Administration 25, no. 9 (1995): 8–9; Gypsy M. Denzine, “An Example of Innovative Teaching: Preparing Graduate Students for Poster Presentations,” Journal of College Student Development 40, no. 1 (1999): 91–93.

5. Robert E. Belford, Matthew Stoltzfus, and Justin B. Houseknecht, “ConfChem Conference on Flipped Classroom: Spring 2014 ConfChem Virtual Poster Session,” Journal of Chemical Education 92, no. 9 (2015): 1582–3.

6. Edward P. Randviir et al., “Twittering about Research: A Case Study of the World’s First Twitter Poster Competition,” F1000Research 4 (2015): 798.

7. Bernreuter, “Poster Competitions,” 8–9; Anna A. Filipova, “Graduate Students’ Poster Session Experiences: Do Levels of Academic Self-Efficacy and Individual Characteristics Play a Role?” Journal on Excellence in College Teaching 27, no. 3 (2016): 173–200; Janae Kinikin and Keith Hench, “Poster Presentations as an Assessment Tool in a Third/College Level Information Literacy Course: An Effective Method of Measuring Student Understanding of Library Research Skills,” Journal of Information Literacy 6, no. 2 (2012): 86–96; Lynch, “Using Conferences Poster Presentations as a Tool, 633–9; Jessica L. Menke, “Implementation of Online Poster Sessions in Online and Face-to-Face Classrooms as a Unique Assessment Tool,” Journal of Chemical Education 91, no. 3 (2014): 414–6; Mukherjee, “Poster-Competition: An Effective Active Learning Technique,” 29–35; Zahid K. Siddiqui et al., “Learning by Poster Competition: A New Teaching Strategy in Basic Medical Science,” Professional Medical Journal 28, no. 4 (2021): 572–9.

8. Bernreuter, “Poster Competitions,” 8–9.

9. Kinikin and Hench, “Poster Presentations as an Assessment Tool,” 86–96.

10. Filipova, “Graduate Students’ Poster Session Experiences,” 173–200.

11. Kinikin and Hench, “Poster Presentations as an Assessment Tool,” 86–96; Lynch, “Using Conferences Poster Presentations as a Tool,” 633–9.

12. Shirley Carter-Thomas and Elizabeth Rowley-Jolivet, “Three Minute Thesis Presentations: Recontextualisation Strategies in Doctoral Research,” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 48, (2020): E100897.

13. Belford, Stoltzfus, and Houseknecht, “ConfChem Conference on Flipped Classroom,” 1582–3; Randviir et al., “Twittering about Research,” 798; Sung J. Shin, “Evaluation of Electronic Versus Traditional Format Poster Presentations,” Medical Education 46, no. 5 (2012): 519–20.

14. Merinda Kay Hensley, Sarah L. Shreeves, and Stephanie Davis-Kahl, “A Survey of Library Support for Formal Undergraduate Programs,” College & Research Libraries 75, no. 4 (2014): 422–41.

15. Michelle Reed and Merinda Kaye Hensley, “Image of Research: Celebrating and Sharing Undergraduate Work,” in Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices, ed. Merinda Kaye Hensley and Stephanie Davis-Kahl (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2017), 157–72.

16. Brett Sutton, “Understanding Scientific Knowledge and Communication: Library and Information Science in the Undergraduate Curriculum,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 37, no. 1 (1996): 11–29.

17. Richard E. Lucier, “Embedding the Library into Scientific and Scholarly Communication through Knowledge Management,” in Clinic for Library Applications of Data Processing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 1992 (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992), 5–18.

18. Peter Reuter and Andreas Brandtner, “The Library in a Changing World of Scientific Communication,” in Science Communication, Volume 17 , ed. Marcelo Dascal, Thomas Gloning, and Annette Leßmöllmann (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2019), 625–38.

19. Brigham Young University, “HBLL 2021 College of Life Sciences Virtual Poster Competition: Virtual Poster Gallery,” BYU Library. Dec 15, 2021. https://guides.lib.byu.edu/2021LS_PosterComp .

20. Brigham Young University, “ScholarsArchive,” Digital Commons, Dec 15, 2021. http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ .

21. Brigham Young University, “Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition,” Digital Commons. Dec 15, 2021. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/library_studentposters/ .

22. Brigham Young University. “Conference Poster Design,” YouTube. Dec 15, 2021, https://youtu.be/Wem55G5G4dk .

23. Brigham Young University. “HBLL 2021 College of Life Sciences Virtual Poster Competition: Judging Criteria,” BYU Library, Dec 15, 2021. https://guides.lib.byu.edu/c.php?g=1110159&p=8092859 .

* Megan E. Frost is Life Sciences & Communication Disorders Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] ; Michael C. Goates is Life Sciences & Geology Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] ; Gregory M. Nelson is Chemical & Life Sciences Librarian at Brigham Young University, email: [email protected] . ©2023 Megan E. Frost, Michael C. Goates, and Gregory M. Nelson Attribution-NonCommercial ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ) CC BY-NC.

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St John's Poster Competition

• Poster Competition 2023

Winners' Gallery

St john's poster competition 2023.

St John's is delighted to be launching our Poster Competition for 2023. The competition is open to UK students in Year 12 (England/Wales) / S5 (Scotland) / Y13 (Northern Ireland).

• What is it?

We’d like you to complete a small research project on an academic topic or question that interests you, from any subject area, and create an academic research poster about it. We’d also like you to create a three minute video presenting your poster. 

The theme of this year's competition is DARK , and so your submission should relate to this theme. We encourage creative interpretations of this theme.

For examples of previous submissions, as well as resources and videos to help, please see below.

Your submission will include 3 elements:

• An academic research poster , either digital or a photo of a physical poster
• A three minute video in which you present your poster and your project findings
• A separate  bibliography  (or references included on your poster)
• You need to submit your entry by Friday 4th August 2023 .
• Please click here for the form to submit your entry.  
• Best Poster
• Best Presentation
• Best Research
• There will also be a gallery of the year's best submissions posted on this webpage.   

Please get in touch with [email protected] if you have any questions.

Please see below for recommendations for creating the poster and the video:

To format the poster using  PowerPoint,  students can edit the slide’s size in the Design tab, clicking on Custom Slide Size - it is recommended to select A3 and ensure width and height measurements are 26.67cm and 35.56cm; posters can be landscape or portrait orientation.

To record the  3-minute video presentation,  students can use  Zoom . If you have any issues with this, or submitting the video file via the submission form, you can get in touch -  [email protected] . An example of the sort of poster presentation video that we’re looking for is here .

Poster Preparation Advice (from The Challenger Society for Marine Science)

• A poster needs to be attractive, and draw attention to itself.

• A poster needs to be easily readable, and not just by someone standing really close to it. For the main text, take care to choose a clear type-face at sensible point size. Avoid long complex sentences.

• Avoid large slabs of text and overlong line-lengths; the optimal line-length for readability is considered to be 50–65 characters per line, including spaces. For consistent spacing between words, use unjustified text.

• Ensure your diagrams are large enough to be seen clearly, and that the line weights of graphs etc. aren’t too spindly.

• Ensure that you have explained your symbols and acronyms, and have put scales on figures if necessary.

• Aim to have no more than about five figures (diagrams and photos). Remember that a well-chosen picture can be worth a thousand words.

• Diagrams need to be close to the text that relates to them, or very easily located.

• Make use of colour to enliven the poster and help direct the reader where to look.

• Don’t be tempted into over-complicating the appearance of the poster, and obscuring your message.

• Try to convey why your research and your project is so exciting.

What is an Academic Poster?

Research: Where to Start?

How to Research Online

How to Make a Scientific Poster

How to Make an Arts and Humanities Poster?

Example poster and accompanying presentation

Project Title: RNA Rosetta Stone: RNA origami codes for exploring RNA diversity

Video presentation

Other Examples of Academic Posters

Helpful links and resources

Super-curricular resource hubs from Cambridge and Oxford:

University of Cambridge Super-curricular Suggestions

Super-curricular Resource Hub from University College, Oxford

Advice and guidance on academic research skills e.g. referencing, effective academic reading and note-making:

CamGuides for Undergraduates

Open Access research from Cambridge University:

Cambridge Digital Library – a database of digitised research and material from Cambridge

Cambridge University Research – latest news

Apollo - University of Cambridge Open Access Repository

Open access journals and search engines

Bio Med Central - open access journals in biomedicine, physical sciences, mathematics and engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - open access, peer-reviewed journals in all areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and humanities

JSTOR - an open access platform for scholarship, primary sources, and research collections

NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science - an open access journal covering the relevant physical, chemical and biological components of atmospheric and climate science

Open Library of the Humanities - an open access platform supporting academic journals from across the humanities subjects

Open Book Publishers - open access e-books

The 2022 theme was CYCLE , and we were delighted with the creative interpretation of this theme. Take a look below at some of the winning submissions.

This thoroughly researched and comprehensive poster project hugely impressed our judges. This submission was the Overall Winner for the 2022 competition.

This submission was an excellent interpretation of the competition's theme, presented in an interesting and accessible way. This poster was awarded the Research Prize in 2022.

This visually effective submission with excellent referencing was awarded the Best Poster prize for 2022.

The 2021 theme was CONNECTING , and we were impressed by how imaginative the entries were! Take a look below at a selection of winning submissions.

This striking poster on the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was the Overall Winner in 2021.

This brilliant poster on the iconic building, The Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier, won the 2021 'Best Poster' award.

This illuminating poster on quantum entanglement was the joint winner of 'Best Presentation' in 2021.

This eye-catching poster on genetic mapping was the joint winner of 'Best Presentation' in 2021.

This innovative poster on connections between people, place, and identity won the 2021 award for 'Best Research'.

The 2020 theme was GREEN , and we were delighted by how creative the submissions were! Take a look below at some past winners.

This fantastic poster on Fibonacci sequence in nature was the Overall Winner in 2020 and was awarded the prize for 'Best Poster'. 

This great poster on Environmentally Sustainable Spaceflight won the 2020 award for 'Best Research'. 

While this amazing languages poster for Pan's Labyrinth won Best Presentation in 2020.

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• Archive Blog

Film Poster Design Contest: Student Artist Winners

About the author.

The Archive is renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media. It is dedicated to ensuring that film history is explored and enjoyed for generations to come.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive is pleased to announce the winner and runner-up of a film poster design contest that invited UCLA student artists to show their unique interpretations of the newly restored film Smog (dir. Franco Rossi, Italy, 1962). This contest was open exclusively to students in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture .

Set against the backdrop of modernist Los Angeles, Smog explores the alienation and class systems inherent to American life through the outsider perspectives of a visiting Italian attorney (Enrico Maria Salerno) and an Italian expat (Annie Girardot). Featuring iconic locations and architectural landmarks such as the Theme Building at LAX, the Stahl House by Pierre Koenig, the Triponent House by Bernard Judge, the oil fields of Baldwin Hills and the Pacific Coast Highway along Pacific Palisades, the film is a fascinating time capsule of our ever-evolving city.

Smog was restored by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and the UCLA Film & Television Archive in collaboration with Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., with funding provided by the Golden Globe Foundation. 

The new restoration of Smog makes its Los Angeles debut at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation on April 7 at 8:30 p.m. The winning poster design will be on display in the Billy Wilder Theater lobby, and every audience member in attendance will receive a poster to take home. Special thanks to the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles , a community partner on the screening, for making the poster reproductions available to the audience.

First Prize ($750)

Yifei wu (major: art, 2027).

About the artwork

“In the 1960s, when spaghetti westerns were hitting the movie market, Smog emerged as an understated and distinctive movie that exhibited modernism and examined modernity. The movie’s narrative and cinematography are ‘lightweight,’ but its message of loneliness and alienation is heavy. Especially the scene when the protagonist finds himself trapped at the desolate Triponent House. Thus I designed this poster with minimal visual language that outlines the iconic architecture but simultaneously tried to condense the bewilderment of the ‘outsider.’”

About the artist

Yifei Wu (Instagram: y1fei_wu ) honed her critical thinking skills by delving into social, historical and cultural issues through the lens of a young woman. Her artworks explore diverse subjects, ranging from feminism to philosophical thoughts and sociological theories, manifesting her conceptual thinking in exquisite metaphors. Experimentation is at the core of her artistic journey, and she embraced a variety of mediums. Beyond basic art making, she ventured into installation, handmade books and performance art. Each piece contributes to a distinct and cohesive personal style that captivates viewers at first glance. She invites observers to delve into layered interpretations, as her artwork is often presented in thematic groupings, fostering a deeper connection with the audience.

Second Prize ($250)

Katherine wang (major: design media arts, 2024).

“My poster design is heavily influenced by the central thematic idea of an outsider navigating a new environment and encountering unfamiliar customs. Hence, this is reflected in the sense of mystery created by the blurred background and the vastness of the setting compared to the central figure. The expansive and seemingly limitless backdrop suggests the liberated and full-of-potential lifestyle of mid-century Los Angeles, contrasting with Ciocchetti’s [the protagonist] background. In the artistic process, I manipulated and expanded a snapshot from the film, playing with typography and opacities to enhance the sense of mystery.”

Katherine Wang is a multimedia designer, driven by an interest in uncovering and advancing the intersections of art, design and diverse fields. With professional internship experience in various design realms and coursework exposure, she has gained proficiency in a spectrum of media, ranging from web design and graphic design to visual design, 3D modeling, creative coding, video production and animation. Her multidisciplinary approach allows her to navigate seamlessly across these domains, bringing a unique and comprehensive perspective to her work. Through her experiences, Katherine continually explores the dynamic interplay between creativity and technology, pushing the boundaries of design innovation in a constantly evolving digital landscape.

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The Prize Foundation will be hosting its first-ever poster competition

The Prize Foundation will be hosting its first-ever poster competition for Film Prize Junior.

On Monday, Prize Foundation announced a collaboration with Trouble Muse Studios, allowing students to gain design experience and marketing skills while creating assets for their 2024 Film Prize Junior film entry.

"There are a few kindred spirits in Shreveport doing amazing work and Troubled Muse is a bright, shining light in our town," said Gregory Kallenberg, Executive Director of the Prize Foundation. "It’s an honor that they are sponsoring the first annual Film Prize Junior Poster Competition!"

The poster competition will be open to all films competing in the Film Prize Junior 2024 Festival this spring.

Each film has the ability to submit a poster that will be prominently displayed during festival hours, allowing festival goers to view and vote for their favorite design for middle school and favorite design for high school.

“Troubled Muse Studios is honored to sponsor this poster competition at Film Prize Junior,” said Andru Davies, CEO of Troubled Muse Studios. “We are committed to empowering the filmmakers of tomorrow and excited to witness the boundless potential to be unleashed through their art."

Film Prize Junior is the student version of the Prize Foundation’s flagship festival, Louisiana Film Prize. It is open to high school and middle school students across the state of Louisiana.

The competition was created by Tobias Kallenberg, son of the Film Prize’s founder Gregory Kallenberg, and aims to incentivize students to become engaged in the collaborative, multidisciplinary art form of filmmaking and creative entrepreneurship while guiding students through the entire process from pen to production to marketing of the film.

Winners of the competition will be announced on April 14.

The winning poster for the middle and high school divisions will earn the student designers honors and a certificate. As well as a $250 prize for the sponsoring teacher and a $1,500 tech bundle including a Mac Mini and accessories for the student’s school.

For more information on Film Prize Jr. visit filmprizejr.com .

More: Film Prize hosts 13th annual kickoff party at Remington Garage Wednesday evening

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: The Prize Foundation will be hosting its first-ever poster competition