Research Expo Poster Presenter Instructions

Poster Setup

Research Expo is Wednesday, April 17. 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 4:30 p.m., when the Poster Session and award distribution concludes. All participants should stand by their posters during this time period; you must be at your poster when judges arrive 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 3. 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:

• FedEx Office
• Scantech Graphics
• Wēpa Printing on Campus
• Triton Print & Digital Media

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.

• Common Poster Template
• Download Department logos
• Download logos and poster headers for Agile Research Centers

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

Award Requirements

New this year is the option to participate in the Transdisciplinary Collaboration Award, with a $1,000 prize. The award will be given to a Jacobs School of Engineering graduate student who commits to partnering with a UC San Diego communication studies undergraduate student to work together to best communicate the significance of their research to a non-technical audience. To qualify for this award, graduate student poster presenters must meet the following criteria:

○ Must be a Jacobs School of Engineering graduate student
○ Must attend the March 12th "How To" Poster Presentation Workshop led by alumni judges, where you will be paired with a communications student (no exceptions)
○ Must commit to two (2) 30 minute sessions with your assigned undergraduate partner to collaborate on communicating your research to non-experts.

Note: Engineering students will collaborate with their communications partner, but it will be the sole responsibility of the graduate student researcher to communicate their research and present their poster at Research Expo.

The other three awards are open to all Research Expo participants, and will be awarded based on the judges' feedback for these four criteria:

• 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