2024 Student Symposium

The 27th annual Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium was a university-wide competition with presentations by students at University Crossing on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Open to all UMass Lowell undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, this event was an opportunity for students to share their research, service learning projects, study abroad experiences, creative works, and other academic endeavors with fellow students, faculty, deans, department chairs and the extended UMass Lowell community. Students entered the competition as a team or as individuals.

The format for the 2025 Student Symposium will be announced next year. Please see the format for the 2024 Student Symposium below.

2024 Student Symposium Format

Students chose between an oral presentation or poster presentation. For both options, students first submitted an abstract for approval by their faculty or staff advisor. 

Oral presentation

Students interested in an oral presentation submitted a video of no more than 3 minutes describing their project. These videos were available for public viewing and voting from March 14, 2024 to the day of the Student Symposium on April 2, 2024. A team designated by each college dean selected a certain number of finalists proportional to the number of submissions from their college to continue to the next round of live oral presentations at the Student Symposium.

Finalists selected to proceed to the second round were asked to present their project live in front of a panel of 3-5 judges. The judges had the opportunity to ask presenters questions to learn more about the finalists’ projects and their challenges, solutions, impact, etc.

Students had the opportunity to elect to only compete in the first round of the competition by submitting a video. These students were be eligible for a Fan Favorite award.

Poster presentation

Students who participated in a poster presentation submitted a 36” (width) X 24” (height) poster by March 15, 2024.

Students presented their posters to multiple judges. Students were allowed five minutes for presentations followed by five minutes of Q&A with judges.

Competition Winners

Each college awarded at least one undergraduate and one graduate student or team as winners for both tracks.

Oral presentations: Individual and team submission winners received $300.

Poster presentations: Individual and team submission winners received $200.

In addition, each college recognized at least one “Fan Favorite” winner based on the number of likes on YouTube, attendee feedback, and input from judges. Fan Favorite winners received $100 as both individuals and teams.

How to Participate

Instructions for participating in the 2025 Student Symposium will be announced next year. In the meantime, students may reference the steps for participants from 2024 below.

1. Submit Your Abstract

Students who participated in the Student Symposium submitted an abstract of up to 250 words to be approved by a faculty or staff advisor.

2. Submit Your Video or Poster

Students who received approval by their advisor received a link to submit their video or poster. Videos could not exceed 3 minutes.

Posters were formatted in a 36" (width) X 24" (height) size.

3. Prepare for Live Presentations

Oral presentation finalists selected to proceed to the final round were asked to present live in front of a panel of judges at the Student Symposium. Poster presenters were also asked to provide presentations to a set of judges.