Research Expo Poster and Video Instructions

The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is hosting its 41st annual Research Expo on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. This is an opportunity for our graduate students to showcase their research to our industry and community partners, recruiters, and faculty from across the Jacobs School.

Research Expo student poster presentations are evaluated on four major criteria related to the students' ability to clearly communicate the significance of their work:

  • Student's oral presentation is well-prepared, concise, and provided a good synopsis of the significance of the research, results and possible future applications
  • Student's response to questions shows insightful knowledge and contributed to my understanding of the research
  • The poster is well organized and visually appealing
  • The poster communicates the significance and relevance of the results

Several awards will be presented based on the judges' feedback:

  • $1,500 M. Lea Rudee Outstanding Poster Award
  • $750 Department Best Poster Prizes 
  • $500 People's Choice Award

Poster Setup

Research Expo is Wednesday, April 26. Poster presenter check-in and poster setup runs from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Once you have checked in and set up your poster at some point between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., you are free until 1:00 p.m. Please plan to stay at your poster from 1:00 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., when the Poster Session concludes. All participants should stand by their posters during this time period; you must be at your poster to be eligible for awards and prizes. 

Poster Tear-down

All posters should remain up for viewing throughout the entire Research Expo event from 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Please keep your poster up so that the maximum number of people have a chance to look at your work. Poster tear-down is at 5:15 p.m. Posters left following the event will be recycled.

Poster Instructions

  • Your poster should be 3' x 4' in landscape format. Place poster title and author(s) name at the top of your poster, with printed characters at least 1" high.
  • The title should be the same as the title you registered with your abstract when you registered to participate.
  • The poster should have large, legible text and figures. Describe results in a manner that would be clear to a reader, even in the author's absence. It should be possible to read your poster from 3 feet away.
  • We recommend that you print your poster on coated heavy weight paper. Heavy foam core-type posters are not recommended due to the type of display boards used at Research Expo.

Poster Printing

We recommend that you have your poster printed by April 12. If you wait until the last moment, you may end up paying extra for printing, or find that you cannot get your poster printed in time! Please note: Printing cost is the responsibility of the student.

Recommended vendors include:

Special AV/Facility Requirements

We encourage students to bring along prototypes or laptop demos. However, these demos must fit within the space provided (approx. 2' x 4') and students are responsible for their own equipment (i.e. no outlets provided, so laptops should run off battery power).

Poster Categories and Logos

Posters will be judged by department. If your research is also affiliated with one of the Jacobs School's "Agile Research Centers," or an established Research Institute or Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, you are encouraged to include those affiliations / logos on your poster as well.

See the campus-wide UC San Diego logo guidelines here.

    Video Requirements

    We are recommending all poster presenters to include a 2-3 minute video presentation that highlights the research performed and the lessons learned. Videos over 3 minutes in length will not be accepted. Video submissions are due by Wednesday, April 12. Upload your video here. 

    How to record your video presentation:

    • Install Zoom meetings on your computer or smartphone if you haven't already done so.
    • Sign in with your AD credentials
    • Download one of the UC San Diego or Jacobs School of Engineering virtual backgrounds for your presentation. In your Zoom video settings, click "Choose Virtual Background" and Add then Select your image as your virtual background. Some devices, such as older computers, may not support virtual backgrounds. In this case we recommend using your smartphone or tablet to record your video with the appropriate background.
    • Join a Zoom meeting. Be sure to include all of your co-presenters if you are presenting as a group.
    • Record your Zoom meeting:
    • Once your meeting has started, press the Record button. 
    • Note: What is seen on the host’s screen is what will be recorded. 
    • Note: The recording can be started and stopped multiple times. Each time the user clicks Stop, Zoom will store a snippet.
    • End your meeting.
    • Zoom converts the recording, collates all snippets, and stores one file on your computer. Please rename the file using the same naming convention as your poster (Department_PosterTitle). 
    • From the Zoom interface, select Meetings from the bottom of the home screen.
    • Zoom presents a list of recorded meetings, and their paths, stored on your local hard drive.
    • Navigate to the path you want to share.

     

    If you have any questions regarding the poster session, please contact  researchexpo@eng.ucsd.edu.