The annual Student Research Poster Competition is a signature event for the College of Engineering & Applied Science. Undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students showcase incremental and game-changing discoveries they’ve made through months and sometimes years of work in our labs with our faculty. They share their work with judges from industry, who provide invaluable feedback.
PLUS: $1,000 Michael Krauski Memorial Award; Learn More
Student Bonus
All participating students who register and attend the competition will receive a premium branded item.
Schedule
In-person event: Saturday, April 27, 2024 (location TBD)
Posters and brief PowerPoint presentations are due Monday, April 1, 2024 at midnight.
UWM is one of only two R1-ranked research universities in Wisconsin, providing graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to work with top faculty on real-world research.
The Student Research Poster Competition was created to provide you with an opportunity to present your research to a professional audience of engineers and computer scientists, as researchers do at conferences.
All students who register and participate in the poster competition receive a premiumbranded item.
Participant must be a student of our college or must have a research advisor from our college.
Research included in the poster must be extracurricular and not related to a required course.
Each poster must be submitted and defended by one student.
The following items must be submitted by the registration deadline:
Poster
Standard research poster dimensions are 44” wide x 36” high. We recommend your poster include two or three key findings with complex statistical results translated into simplified charts, tables and bulleted text to convey your findings as part of a focused and understandable story.
One student entry per poster. If a group worked on a research project, each of the students can enter their own separate poster that addresses a unique attribute of the research.
Template and Tips: Please use this template: CEAS Poster Template 44 x 36. More tips for poster creation can be found here. You will need to upload a PDF file to register for the competition. PowerPoint has a native PPTX-to-PDF converter – just select “Save As,” then choose “PDF” as output format.
Conference Poster Workshops: If you are new to poster design, or would like some tips and recommendations, you will be happy to know that the Office of Undergraduate Research holds complimentary conference poster workshops for any interested UWM student. See their calendar for available dates.
File Naming Convention: Please do not use spaces, dashes, underscores, etc. in the names of the files. To make file names more legible, please capitalize only the first letter of each word in the file name. For example, if you have a file named my_poster-competition.pdf, you can rename the file in something like MyPosterCompetition.pdf. Pease keep the length of the file name to a minimum.
No Duplicate Work Accepted. If a poster was submitted for this competition in the past, it can’t be submitted a second time unless there is substantial advancement to the research and findings.
Intellectual Property: Please consult with your advisor to make sure the material you are presenting is not protected Intellectual Property (IP) that cannot be published at this competition. Most of the content for this event is not considered IP.
PowerPoint presentation
All students must submit a PowerPoint presentation. Students who progress to Round 2 (six graduate and six undergraduate) will present a 5-7 minute PowerPoint presentation about the objectives and findings of their research project, that was summarized on the poster.
Keep in mind that a 5-7 minute presentation is normally comprised of 3-5 slides. If you submit more slides than you have time for, you will not be able to complete your presentation which will affect your score.
UWM is proud to be an R1 Research institution, ranked in the top 3% of universities worldwide. The College of Engineering & Applied Science is unique in that both undergraduates and graduate students are encouraged to participate in research as part of their college experience.
Do you enjoy learning about student research findings? Can you provide thoughtful and professional feedback to help students grow? If so, consider being a volunteer judge. A few hours of your time will have a big impact on our students. No previous judging experience is needed. You might even meet your next employee or inventor.
Details:
The in-person event will include Round 1, Round 2, a complimentary lunch, and the Awards Ceremony.
In Round 1 you’ll review the work of three undergraduate or graduate students in one-on-one fashion.
In Round 2 you’ll review the work of the six undergraduate or graduate finalists as they present a PowerPoint deck to the entire audience.
Research has practical implications/research is relevant to current industry needs
Research methodology is sound (e.g., research process, data quantity is sufficient)
The result/conclusion of the research is clear and easy to understand
Communication (up to 30 points)
Student clearly explains project, including initial problem or question, the process, and the result/conclusion
Student is able to explain the research in a way that is easily understood by those outside the subject area or without the specific technical expertise
Student speaks at an appropriate volume and pace
Student demonstrates enthusiasm for the topic
Appearance & Presentation (up to 20 points)
Research is displayed in a logical way
Data is displayed in such a way that lends itself to clear interpretation
Pictures, digital images and graphs are of a high quality
2023 Agenda:
Saturday, April 22 at the UWM Union Ballroom, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53211
7:30-9:00 a.m.Continental Breakfast, East Ballroom
7:30-8:15 a.m.Student Check-in
8:00-8:45 a.m. Judge Check-in
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Judge Orientation, East Ballroom
9:45 a.m. Round One Judging (All Students) Graduate: West Ballroom Undergraduate: Fireside Lounge
10:45 a.m. Networking – Students, Judges, Faculty, East Ballroom
Students advancing to Round Two will be listed at the student registration table.
11:15 a.m. Round Two Judging (Students Who Advance) Undergraduate: Fireside Lounge Graduate: West Ballroom
12:15 p.m. Lunch, East Ballroom Andrew Graettinger, Associate Dean for Research
1:00 p.m. Awards Program, West Ballroom
Congratulations to the winners (and their faculty advisors) of the 2023 Student Research Poster Competition. There were 65 poster participants and 69 judges from our college and across industry.
The work of every student who entered in the 2023 competition is worthy of acknowledgment. Their research addresses many of society’s pressing challenges and illustrates the curiosity, passion and abilities of students who attend one of the nation’s top research universities. Congratulations to every student who entered this year’s competition and to all of the faculty advisors who supported and inspired these students in their research efforts.
Finally, thank you to the judges and the many sponsors who helped make this event possible
Click here to view a full list of student poster entries by department.
2023
Graduate First Place: Abul Borkot Md Rafiqul Hasan, ME (Research Advisor: Krishna Pillai) Second Place: Rawan Aqel, CEE (Research Advisor: Rani Elhajjar) Third Place: Mohsen Sabbaghi, EE (Research Advisor: George Hanson)
Undergraduate First Place: Sonia Bendre, EE (Research Advisor: Rob Cuzner) Second Place: Weiling Xia, MS (Research Advisor: Xiaoli Ma) Third Place: Ian Smith, ME (Faculty advisor: William Musinski)
Mike Krauski Memorial Award Walaa Saadeh, ME (Research Advisor: Ryoichi Amano)
2022
Graduate First Place: Dantong Qiu (Faculty advisor: Deyang Qu) Second Place: Farah Nazifa Nourin (Faculty advisor: Ryoichi Amano) Third Place: Xiaoyu Liu (Faculty advisor: Susan McRoy) Student Choice: Mohamed Abousabae (Advisor: Ryoichi Amano)
Undergraduate First Place: Morgan Connaughton (Faculty advisor: Mahsa Dabagh) Second Place: Diego Avila (Faculty advisor: Matthew Petering) Third Place: Jameson Nedza (Faculty advisor: Xuefeng Bao) Student Choice: Rosalba Huerta (Faculty advisor: Konstantin Sobolev)
Mike Krauski Memorial Award Mohamed Abousabae (Advisor: Ryoichi Amano)
Undergraduate First Place: Hannah Ullberg (Faculty advisor: Pradeep Rohatgi) Second Place: Marina Slawinski (Faculty advisor: Ionel Popa) Third Place (Tie): Morgan Connaughton (Faculty advisor: Mahsa Dabagh) and Corey Huffman (Faculty advisor: Mohammad Rahman)
