Student Presentations

We have two forms of student presentations poster and talk. You can chose to give one or the other.

Poster Guidelines

Posters must:

• Be electronically generated and printed in advance of the conference.  If your school does not have poster printing services, here are some online printing services:
  • FedEx
  • postersmith.com
• Include names of: you, your research advisors/collaborators/contributors,  the name of your institution/the institution at which you conducted your research.
• Be no larger than 42″x42″.
• Be mounted in the location specified on the list below. Poster boards and pins will be provided. Please make sure you place yours at the correctly numbered locations.

Click here and here to see templates and tips on creating an effective poster.  In particular:

• Watch out for the resolution of your images!  Graphs that look fine on a computer screen are often fuzzy in print – make sure images are generated with at least 300 dpi (screen grabs or jpgs are usually 72 dpi, and post-processing them to 300 dpi may not help sharpen them).
• Do NOT use anything less than 18-point font (make sure the size of the PowerPoint or Keynote slide is set to how large the poster will physically be).  For headings, use at least 48-point font.
• Keep your audience in mind: fellow undergraduate physics majors who are not specialists in your field.  Avoid using jargon you didn’t learn in your physics classes.  If you must use it, both define and explain it.
• That said, err on the side of fewer words – detailed explanations are for your verbal interactions with the people stopping by your poster. If you can convey the same message in a plot, diagram or picture, please do so!
• Use at most two fonts, three colors.  The simpler, more elegant the design, the better.
• Arrange your poster logically.  Visually draw attention to both the problem your research addresses and to your conclusions.
• Tell a story. “But I’m a physicist!” It is really important to learn how to effectively present your work to those not familiar with it and make it interesting to others. Try thinking about as a story that has a beginning, middle and end.

Talks

Talks will be 10 minutes long, with 5 minutes for questions. We have space for 8 talks.

If you are interested in giving a talk, please indicate so when you register. You will need to provide an abstract of no more than 250 words. You will be notified after registration if you have been selected for a talk. If not, you are still welcome to give a poster.