Learning & Research Fair

Submissions

• All students (and faculty submitting course entries) will submit abstracts and poster files.
   
• Posters (submission form linked above) will be ordered by the Lougheed Center for Applied Learning. 
  
  Note: Any poster that is available prior to the event can be picked up in Annette Kelley's office in Lougheed 101H between 8 am-4 pm Monday-Friday.  If you have not picked up your poster by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5th, your poster will be brought over at 5 p.m. to the Barrington Student Union MPR.
   
• Posters may be hung at your assigned panel in the Barrington Student Union MPR at one of two times: Tuesday evening before the event, 5–7 p.m., at a Presenters’ Social (pizza, soda, and tunes provided); and Wednesday, the morning of the event, 8–10 a.m. Presenters who are not part of the judging process should plan to remove posters from the MPR by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Event Day

• The L&RF will open for presenters and visitors at the Barrington Student Union MPR on Wednesday from 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (with a break for lunch from noon–1 p.m.). Presenters should be ready to always attend their posters unless otherwise busy with classes. Our visitors want to learn about your work; meeting with you is the highlight of the experience. Dress for success. Snacks will be available onsite.
   
• A free lunch and keynote address in the Fireside Lounge, BSU, is open to all presenters, mentors, and invited staff and administrators who have previously RSVP'd. Please plan to join us for lunch starting at noon; the buffet line needs to move expeditiously to avoid competing with the keynote address, which will begin at approximately 12:20 p.m. The keynote speaker this year is Chase Bond, a senior Biology major and student researcher.

Judging

• Students who wish to be considered for one of our research cash awards will be required to engage in a supplemental judging process.
   
• Judging sessions will follow the L&RF, running from Wednesday, 3 p.m., through Friday, 4 p.m. A meeting time will be assigned to you (or your team) for your judging session. If you are presenting more than one project for judging, you will be assigned a separate session for each project. 
   
• Each meeting will run no more than 20 minutes.  A panel of judges will ask you questions about your project as reflected in your abstract, poster, and your project overview.  These judges will probably not be specialists in your academic field; please pitch your responses to a general audience of broadly educated judges.  Mentors who wish to be present at their mentees’ judging session as silent observers should contact the LoCAL.
   
• Judges will consider the quality of students’ abstracts, posters, and interviews in their scoring.
   
• This year, all judging will take place in the Lobby of the Lougheed Learning Commons. Relevant posters will be moved there after the fair until your judging day and time, after which you may collect them. Any posters remaining onsite after 2 p.m.will be taken to the LoCAL.
   
• Winners will be announced on campus social media, by email, posted on the L&RF website, and posted on this website.

Contact

• Please contact the staff at appliedlearning@potsdam.edu or (315) 265-2507 if you need clarification on the process.
   
• We appreciate your willingness to present your work in this format.  Good luck!  We hope you enjoy the experience.  

• Use the latest version of PowerPoint to create poster (recommended).  You will complete a single slide for your poster.
   
• Set poster size before creating the poster (Design tab >Slide Size >Custom).  If you are importing a finished image from Photoshop or some other image editor, the image you import should be the same size as the poster size (otherwise, you will have a small image on a large field of white).  If you have any questions about how to do this step, please consult a YouTube lesson on the subject (there are many out there).
   
• For this event, due to space constraints, posters should be vertically oriented and sized at 30" x 42".  Larger posters will be permitted only when necessary, in order to comply with the norms of certain academic disciplines.  If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Baker at bakertn@potsdam.edu.
   
• Save and upload your poster as a PDF. This is the only form we and Central Printing will accept.
   
• LoCAL will pay for one poster to be printed. If you need multiple posters, please contact us at appliedlearning@potsdam.edu.
   
• LoCAL will not print a second poster due to errors (proof before submitting).

You will need the following information when filling out the abstract form: 

If your project is: 

• Individual: Name & email address 
• Duo: Name & email address of point person
• The email address you provide should be the point person who will be responding to emails from our office. 
• Team: Team Name, email address of point person, names of all participants 

The email address you provide should be the point person who will be responding to emails from our office. 

 All projects will need the following: 

• Faculty mentor name 
• Presentation title 
• abstract (150-word limit) 
• Photo of yourself/team 

Will you be entering your project for judging?

• Your project must be judged to be considered for a prize. There are prizes in the following categories:
  • Kilmer – Recipients of Kilmer Grants are automatically included (but must be judged to be eligible)
  • Ram Chugh – North Country-related topics (to be determined by LoCAL)
  • Provost’s Award – Chosen from projects judged but not eligible for either Kilmer or Ram Chugh prizes
  • Outstanding Mentorship of Undergraduate Research – Chosen from faculty mentors of L&RF presenters
• Winners will be announced on campus social media and by email, and posted on the Learning & Fair website and on this webpage.
• To learn more about the Learning & Research Fair format, view the archived projects on the Learning and Research Fair website.

Naming your abstract Word document

• Name of your project
• Name (team name if for a class - example APLE 123)