Summer Conference

What are the specific benefits of presenting at SURC?

SURC enables you to meet other members of the campus community who are excited about research and to share your research with them. 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 undergraduates, hone your capacity to ask useful and probing questions of other researchers, and learn from the experience of observing other students present. 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 and to learn about research being conducted beyond your field.

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Who is eligible to apply to present at SURC?

SURC is an opportunity for undergraduates at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) to share research and learn more about research being conducted by other undergraduates. Presenters must be either current UMD undergraduates or undergraduates from other institutions participating in summer research programs on the UMD campus. Most presenters at the event share research conducted at UMD, but current UMD undergraduates can propose to share research projects that they have undertaken at other institutions.

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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 senior researcher 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 deepen your knowledge of research being conducted at UMD and elsewhere. Speaking with other students about their work will also enable you to observe and learn from how they approach presenting while honing your capacity to ask thoughtful, probing questions about research in a range of fields. These opportunities for growth are among the key benefits of participating in SURC, as noted above. 

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SURC consists of two sessions, and presenters are generally expected to attend both sessions. I have a time conflict with one session that involves a summer class or other important commitment that cannot be rescheduled. Can I still submit a proposal to present?
We do not expect presenters to miss critical commitments that cannot be rescheduled (e.g., classes) to attend the entire event. You can still apply to present if you have a time conflict involving this type of commitment. You will have an opportunity to tell us more about your time conflict on the proposal submission form and to indicate the session in which you would be available to present. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to place you in the session that you identify, but we will be attentive to time conflicts when assigning students to sessions. 

SURC consists of two sessions, and presenters are generally expected to attend both sessions. I am part of a group of undergraduate researchers who would like to present a project at the event, but some of our group members have time conflicts with parts of the event. These conflicts involve summer classes or other important commitments that cannot be rescheduled. Can we still submit a proposal to present?
We do not expect presenters to miss critical commitments that cannot be rescheduled (e.g., classes) to attend the entire event. Your group can still apply to present if members have time conflicts involving this type of commitment. You will have an opportunity to tell us more about your group's time conflicts on the proposal submission form and to indicate the session in which your group prefers to present. If you face a situation in which some group members have conflicts with one session and other group members have conflicts with the other, you should discuss the issue as a group and come to a shared decision about which session will be listed as your preference on the form. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to place you in the session that you identify, but we will be attentive to time conflicts when assigning students to sessions. (Given that we cannot guarantee placement in a particular session, any group member interested in presenting should be listed on the proposal form, even if they have a conflict with the session that your group lists as its preference.)

 

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