Hosted annually by Lewis College of Science and Letters, Undergraduate Research Day showcases research projects, internship experiences, creative projects, and senior capstones from students who major in programs housed within the college. This experience helps foster professional development and public speaking skills among students, while also offering an opportunity for recognition and resume boosting via its awards ceremony honoring exemplary student work.
Participating in Research Day
All Lewis College students are highly encouraged to participate in research day. Students can submit abstracts independently or part of a research group.
Poster Instructions
Posters must be sized correctly—either 24" x 36" or 36" x 48"—and emailed to Prof. Legate in order to be printed at the MTCC post office. Your poster file must be a PDF (not PowerPoint, Word, or any other format).
Video Submissions
New this year, all presenters are encouraged to submit videos about their research along with their abstracts. These videos will be posted on the Lewis College of Science and Letters and departmental web sites.
Videos can be formatted in several ways, including (but not limited to):
- Describing the content of your poster while standing in front of it
- Displaying slides while narrating them
- Conveying information about your project to the camera without any visual aids
Students should consider answering the following questions in their videos:
- What is the underlying issue, problem, or concern that your research, internship, or project addresses?
- What methodological approach did you employ and why?
- What are one to two challenges that you faced when engaging in this project?
- Were there any unexpected findings or outcomes from your project?
- What is the most significant contribution of your project?
- What sparked your interest in this topic?
Video Guidelines
- Videos should be approximately two to three minutes in length.
- Presenters should dress professionally; i.e. as you would dress on Research Day itself.
- If using a cell phone to record the video, footage should be shot horizontally.
- There are no limits to the number of presenters in the video if the project has multiple authors.
- Do not use any copyrighted materials without giving proper credit.
- Complete a media release form when you submit your video (You will need to be signed in to your Illinois Tech Google account to complete the form).
- Be creative and have fun!
All videos will be reviewed by a panel of judges prior to Research Day and an award will be given to the best video at the event.
Questions?
Students should contact the research day faculty adviser in their departments with any abstract questions.
- Humanities: Professor Elisabeth Hildt
- Psychology: Assistant Professor Nikki Legate
- Social Sciences: Associate Professor Matt Shapiro