What are the specific benefits of presenting at SURC?

SURC enables you to share your research with the broader UMD community and meet other community members excited about research. If you present at the event, you’ll further develop your capacity to communicate your research orally, visually, and in writing. Many of the event’s attendees will not be experts in your area of interest, which means that it offers a particularly good chance to practice talking about your research to non-specialists—a critical skill for researchers who would like their work to have an impact beyond their immediate field.

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Who is eligible to present at SURC?

SURC is an opportunity for undergraduates at the University of Maryland, College Park 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?

Yes! 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 am the only undergraduate working on my project, and I can only be physically present with my poster at SURC for part of the afternoon. Can I still apply to participate in the event?

We understand that you may have a class or other critical commitment that conflicts with the event and cannot be rescheduled. If you have such a commitment, you may participate in the event during the blocks of time that you are available. When your poster is unattended, please leave a sign indicating your absence and (if relevant) estimated return time.

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 the event 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 group members may have classes or other critical commitments that conflict with the event and cannot be rescheduled, and we do not require all group members to be presenters.

I worked on my project with other UMD undergraduates. Are we still eligible to participate if we cannot be physically present for part of the event?

We ask that you always have at least one group representative available by the poster. That being said, we understand that group members may have classes or other critical commitments that conflict with the event and cannot be rescheduled. You are still eligible to present even if your poster will be unattended for part of the session.  When the poster is unattended, please leave a sign indicating your team’s absence and (if relevant) estimated time of return.

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