About UCF’s Graduate Research Forum

The Graduate Research Forum, a part of the Student Research Week, features poster displays and oral presentations representing UCF graduate students from diverse disciplines. The Research Forum is an opportunity for students to showcase their research and creative projects and to receive valuable feedback from judges. Scholarship awards will be provided for presentations deemed exemplary.

The 2020 UCF Graduate Research Forum will be held across two days, Tuesday, March 31 and Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Poster presentations will begin at 11:00 a.m. on March 31 and oral presentations will begin at 10:00 a.m. on April 1. All events will take place in the UCF Student Union and will be open to the public.

Submit Your Proposal Now!

Are you ready to submit your proposal for the 2020 Graduate Research Forum? Complete our Proposal Application Form today! Please ensure that you have read all requirements below before making a proposal submission.

2020 Important Dates

December 9, 2019: Applications Open
February 10, 2020: Application Deadline
Early March: Students notified by email of proposal acceptance
March 16, 2020: Withdrawal Deadline
March 24, 2020: Poster PDF/Oral Presentation Slides must be submitted
March 31, 2020: Graduate Research Forum (Poster Presentations)
April 1, 2020: Graduate Research Forum (Oral Presentations)

Event Schedules

All presentations open to the public.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Poster Presentations – Pegasus Ballroom
Poster Judging 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Open Viewing of Posters 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Oral Presentations – Cape Florida Ballroom
Session 1 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Session 2 11:10 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
Session 3 12:20 – 1:20 p.m.
Session 4 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Participant Criteria

Eligibility
Participants must be UCF graduate students enrolled in the spring 2020 term. Projects submitted must be research conducted as part of a UCF graduate program or class supervised by UCF faculty/instructors.

Presentation Format
Participants will need to select the presentation format when submitting their proposal and can only present in one format (oral or poster) per year. Once proposals are submitted students cannot change presentation format.

Originality of Submissions
While papers may have previously been presented or published, the submission should be the original work of the author. If the presented paper is a result of a collaborative student-faculty project, it is expected that the majority of the research to be presented was completed by the graduate student.

Primary Author and Co-Authors
Only one presenter is allowed for oral presentations. Additional co-authors are permitted for poster presentations (see poster requirements below for additional information).

Copyright Permission
Submission of your abstract and/or paper implies your agreement to the following copyright permission statement:

The author licenses the University of Central Florida to publish the paper in the Graduate Research Forum Proceedings and elsewhere as the university deems appropriate. The author retains copyright and retains the non-exclusive right to publish or license this article or any derivative.

Author warrants that he or she has the right under the Copyright Act to grant this license to the University of Central Florida and that no other person has rights in this article which are inconsistent with the author’s power to give this license and this warranty.

Note: If papers have previously been published, it is the author’s responsibility to ensure republication is permitted and to properly document previous publications according to the requirements of the original publisher.

Incomplete Projects
Scholars often present their work before their projects are complete. If you are working on a project for a class, you may not have your final results or final product by early April when the Forum will take place.

If you have any preliminary results, use them as examples of the kind of results you hope to obtain. Discuss the significance of these results.
If you don’t have any preliminary results, you can focus on projected results: what do you think you might find when your results are complete?
Whether you have complete, partial, or only projected results, keep in mind that your explanation of those results—their significance—is more important than the raw results themselves.

Poster Presentation Formatting and Requirements

Suggested Format

Because students from a wide variety of graduate programs participate in this event and because formatting styles can vary greatly by discipline, no specific layout or sections are required. Participants are free to format their poster in any way they would like or according to their adviser’s recommendations. Please note that while content format is flexible, all posters must still meet the requirements listed below.

However, posters are typically comprised of visual and textual content, such as tables, graphs, images, and citations, and convey information succinctly. Since posters are a common format for presentations at academic conferences and symposiums, participants may want to review examples from these events or seek out formatting examples from professional organizations in their discipline.

Requirements

Posters will be displayed on whiteboards with magnets (provided the day of the event).
Posters must be no larger than 48″ wide x 36″ tall in order to fit on the whiteboard.
Participants must bring their printed out poster the day of the event.
Participants must be physically present during the judging time of 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on March 31, 2020.
Participants must submit a PDF of their poster by March 24, 2020 (a submission link will be provided to those with an accepted proposal).
All presentation information should be on your poster; there will be no space in front of your poster for displaying items.
Co-authors are permitted for poster presentations; please note: only the primary author will be recognized in the event program, receive a name badge at the event, and a scholarship award (should the poster be judged exemplary).
During the specified judging times at the Graduate Research Forum, the presenting author will be required to be at their poster station and authors should be prepared to explain their presented work.

Oral Presentation Requirements

File format must be PowerPoint.
There will not be a PowerPoint slide limit, but it is highly suggested that presenter limit their presentations to 5-7 slides
No animation or video is allowed.
The participant must be able to communicate their research to the audience within the 10-minute time allotment.
Participants must be physically present during their scheduled presentation session time on April 1, 2020.
Participants must submit their static PowerPoint slides by March 24, 2020 (a submission link will be provided to those with an accepted proposal).
There will be no co-authors allowed for oral presentations, as the judging will be based heavily on the individual communication of the project.
Your PowerPoint slides will be pre-loaded on a laptop the day of the event and no changes can be made at the event.
Oral presentations are not eligible for the statewide research forum.

Judging Process

Judges for the Graduate Research Forum come from across the UCF community. Ensuring that your project is designed for an audience of educated non-experts (i.e. professors in other departments) is a good practice when preparing your presentation. The following criteria will be used by Graduate Research Forum judges to award scholarships for exemplary presentations.

Poster Presentations

Poster judges will be paired up in teams and each team of two judges will have a group of presentations to evaluate. Judges may divide the reviews as they wish, meaning presenters may only see one judge. However, each judging team will come together to choose one winner from their group.

Methodology
Poster Organization and Overall Clarity
Quality of Figures, Tables, Graphs, Photos, Illustrations
Presenter’s Depth of Understanding and Ability to Explain Project
Contribution to the Field of Study
Evaluator’s Overall Sense of the Poster

Oral Presentations

Oral presentation judges will be paired up in teams. Each team of two judges will have a group of presentations to evaluate and each judging team will choose one winner from their group.

Clarity of Information on Slides
Presenter’s Delivery
Presenter’s Knowledge of Topic
Communication of Topic to General Audience
Organization of Presentation
Evaluator’s Overall Sense of Presentation
Presentation was within 10 minute time limit

Poster Printing

Students are required to print their own poster. The College of Graduate Studies does not provide printing services. However, some departments do have large-format printers, so inquire with your program for details. Remember, a PDF of your designed poster will be required to be submitted by March 24, 2020. It is highly suggested that you have your poster submitted for printing well before that date.

Campus Options:

UCF Print Shop – printing.ucf.edu
The Spot – spot.ucf.edu/index.html

Online Option:

Make Signs – https://www.makesigns.com/products/scientific-posters
Printed from your PowerPoint or PDF file. You must account for shipment time.
Staples – https://design.staples.com/banners
Pick up at a local Staples store
Convert your file to a PDF. Choose “Upload Your Own Design”, Banner Size should be 3’ by 4’, Orientation is ‘Landscape’. Before you confirm you will be able to preview it. Be careful of your margins because things too close to the edge will be cut off, as you will see in the preview. If this happens, you will need to go back to your PPT slide to adjust it and then convert it to a PDF.

Helpful Workshops

Pathways to Success Workshops

- Presentation Skills
- The Basics of Poster Presentations
- Dealing with Communication Anxiety

All Pathways to Success workshops are held in the Graduate Student Center located in Trevor Colbourn Hall, suite 213.
Register for Pathways to Success workshops through your myUCF Student Center under Graduate Students then Pathways to Success.

See All 2019 Participants and Their Abstracts