What are the specific benefits of presenting at SURC?

SURC enables you to meet other UMD community members excited about research and to share your research with the broader community. If you present at the event, you’ll further develop your capacity to communicate about your research orally, visually, and in writing. Equally important, SURC provides an opportunity to learn more about the research projects of other UMD undergraduates and to hone your capacity to ask useful and probing questions of other researchers. SURC attracts presenters and audience members from a wide range of fields, which means that it offers a particularly good chance to practice communicating about research with people outside your area of study.

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Who is eligible to present at SURC?

SURC is an opportunity for undergraduates at the University of Maryland, College Park (including undergraduates from other institutions participating in summer research programs on the UMD campus) to share research and learn from the experience. Undergraduates whose projects have been approved for presentation by their research advisor and OUR can participate as presenters. Faculty, staff, graduate students, and researchers at other institutions may be listed on SURC posters as research collaborators and advisors. However, the presenter(s) discussing a given project at the event should be undergraduates. Undergraduates should also take the lead in authoring abstracts and designing posters for the event.

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What type of work can be presented at SURC?

Undergraduates are welcome to present scholarly and creative work in all fields. This work may have been conducted as part of a campus course, research program, or internship, or it may have been undertaken at another institution during the presenter’s undergraduate years.

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Is it acceptable to propose to present a research project on which I am still working?

We welcome the presentation of ongoing projects. At a minimum, we would ask that you have a well-developed research design or plan for the project in place to share with the SURC audience. Please ask the faculty member advising your project whether they feel it would be a good idea for you to present at SURC. If they think it would be, please submit a proposal.

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I worked on my project with other UMD undergraduates. Can we still share our work at the event if only some of us can be there?

Ideally, all of the undergraduates who worked on your project would have the opportunity to present the project at the event. (In the case of large groups, you might need to divide your session into shifts to enable everyone to present given the limited space that will be available in front of your poster.) At the same time, we understand that some group members may not be based in the College Park area this summer or may not be able to present for other reasons, and we do not require all group members to be presenters.

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I see the event is divided into two poster sessions. If I present, should I be there for both sessions?

Yes! ​During one session, you will present your poster; during the other, you will have the opportunity to speak with other undergraduates about their projects, and, in so doing, to learn more about research being conducted at UMD and to hone your capacity to ask thoughtful, probing questions about research in a range of fields. This opportunity is one of the key benefits of participating in SURC, as noted above. 

For answers to other questions related to SURC, contact our-office@umd.edu.