More than 120 Graduate Students to Display Projects at Annual Expo
University of Maine graduate students will showcase their research and artistic works during the Graduate Student Government’s 2015 Graduate Academic Exposition April 2–3.
Work will be presented, judged and on display from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday in the Innovative Media Research and Commercialization (IMRC) Center on campus.
The event will feature four areas of competition — posters, oral presentations, intermedia and fine arts exhibits, and a PechaKucha, or rapid-fire slide show event. Students from a variety of disciplines are expected to present 129 submissions at this year’s event. Seventy percent of the students will take part in the expo for the first time, while 30 percent are returning presenters.
The poster and oral presentations will highlight the physical sciences and technology; natural sciences; humanities; and social sciences. The intermedia and fine arts exhibits will include art works, projects and performances.
The PechaKucha competition, open to students in all academic disciplines, invites participants to share their work in a slide show lasting under seven minutes. Unlike the other presentations, the PechaKucha talks will be judged by the audience rather than faculty reviewers. Presentations will take place 1–2:30 p.m. Friday, April 3 in the IMRC Center’s Black Box space.
More than $12,000 in prizes will be awarded to participants of the Grad Expo. Three new awards — the GSBSE Award in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Climate Change Innovation Award and Student Life Award — have been added this year, and will be presented during the awards gala, slated for 6 p.m. Friday, April 3 at the IMRC Center. The gala is open to the public.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering awards will be given to graduate students whose research projects are related to molecular and cellular biology; bioinformatics; computational biology and genomics; toxicology; neuroscience; or biomedical engineering. The GSBSE will designate judges to select the winners. The awards will be $200 for first place, $100 for second place and $50 for third place.
The $250 Climate Change Innovation Award will be awarded to a graduate student whose research focuses on climate change causes, effects and choices. Judges will be designated by the Climate Change Institute.
The UMaine Division of Student Life will present a $200 award to a graduate student whose research contributes to improving the lives of students at UMaine or in higher education.
Other awards include:
- The President’s Research Impact Award, a $2,000 award given to the graduate student and their adviser who best exemplify the UMaine mission of teaching, research and outreach;
- The Provost’s Innovative/Creative Teaching Award, given to graduate students who are lead instructors of a UMaine course and use innovative and creative teaching methods;
- Graduate Student Government Awards, presented to three students in each of the four presentation divisions;
- The Graduate Dean’s Undergraduate Mentoring Award, presented for effective undergraduate mentoring in research; and
- The UMaine Alumni Association Alum Award, given to a graduate student who earned their undergraduate degree at UMaine.
Details of the expo are online. For more information or to request a disability accommodation, contact Elisa Sance, Graduate Student Government vice president, at elisa.sance@maine.edu or umainegsggradexpo@gmail.com.