Graduate Studies hosts Graduate Poster Showcase

Graduate Studies at The University of New Mexico will host the annual Graduate Poster Showcase on Thursday, March 12 in Ballroom C in the Student Union Building with judging beginning at 2 p.m. Judging and viewing will run from 2-4 p.m., with a reception to follow from 4-5 in the SUB atrium. The event is open to all and the public is encouraged to attend.

The event will take on a new look this year, with participants divided into 13 different topical tracks and a separate judging panel for each track. The top two posters in each track will receive a cash prize. Nearly 100 students are expected to compete across all tracks.

In addition, there will be nearly 40 judges across the different tracks, drawn from both UNM and the wider community.

Bill Gannon, a research professor emeritus in the biology department, coordinates these events each year and said the new format is designed, in part, to make for less of a demanding day for participants and to increase opportunities for students to be recognized for their work.

"In the past years, we'd be setting up around at 7 a.m. and students would have to attend to their presentations from 11 to 2 with their poster for the judging" Gannon said. "Then everyone would have to come back for the finalists to be announced and another round of judging before winners are announced and the reception. It can be a long day for the students, so we wanted to make it feel a little bit more accessible."

This year saw an uptick in applications with more than 110 students submitting to participate in the event. While there is not room for everyone who applied, Gannon made sure that everyone had something to show for their time with feedback on their work.

"We couldn't take everyone, but I wanted to make sure and give everyone feedback on their work so they could take something from it anyway," Gannon said. "I go through the abstracts pretty critically and gave almost all the students some feedback about their work and encouraged the ones we didn't select to hone their work and apply for LoboBITES in November.

Gannon said another benefit to this event for graduate students to give them another opportunity to practice presenting their research in another form and for a more general audience, as well as to increase and encourage communication across different disciplines.

"The thing that always amazes me about this is the brilliance we have going through (at UNM)," Gannon said. "The innovation, the creativity, where folks can synthesize things from real disparate fields and realms and come up with new novel ideas. Our graduate program is strong and is our best hope for the future."