Dear Symposium Judges,
On behalf of our undergraduate researchers, we would like to reiterate our thanks and gratitude for your time and valuable service to our undergraduate research community. We have so much appreciation for your willingness to inspire our student researchers by generously sharing your experience and wisdom. Your commitment to excellence in research and teaching align perfectly with OUR’s mission and vision. Presenting in a professional setting and receiving constructive feedback from expert judges is an essential function that contributes to our students’ research and career readiness and it also aligns well with all of UNLV’s five University Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (UULOs): (1) Intellectual Breadth and Lifelong Learning, (2) Inquiry and Critical Thinking, (3) Communication, (4) Global/Multicultural Knowledge and Awareness, and (5) Citizenship and Ethics.
Symposium Judging Process and Awards
- As the Fall 2021 Virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium is an asynchronous event, running from November 15 – 19, 2021, please evaluate the assigned presentations at your leisure provided that you submit your scores for each presentation and your overall ranking to designate your session winner on the hard deadline of 5:00 pm, Wednesday, November 17, 2021!
- Please download the academic program to familiarize yourself with UNLV research conducted at the undergraduate level. Browse through our academic program webpages and engage with our student researchers via the comment function; ask questions, comment, and provide feedback!
- Presentations are categorized following a three-tier organizational structure. First, presentations are organized by two broader academic disciplines: AHS – Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and HNSE – Health and Natural Sciences and Engineering. Second, each presentation appears under either oral category, which consists of lightning and podium talks, or poster category. Finally, a group of 4 to 6 presentations make up sessions.
- Please note that we use alphanumeric codes for each presentation for the convenience and ease of reference. For example, AHS-O-1 refers to Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Oral Session (note that there is only one oral session in both academic categories), Presentation #1. NHSE-P4-5 refers to Health and Natural Sciences and Engineering, Poster Session 4, Presentation #5 so and so forth.
- Using the alphanumeric codes, please locate and access your assigned presentations from the Academic Program of our symposium website. Just click on the “View Presentation” link and enjoy it!
- You will be then directed to the individual web page where the presentation and all the accompanying media live.
- Oral presentation web pages will feature a YouTube video, student researcher credentials, presentation abstract, and various metadata. On the side panel and within the “Speakers” frame, you will find credentials for student(s)’ faculty mentor(s), faculty and/or graduate student co-authors (if applicable), and other student co-authors (if applicable).
- Poster presentation web pages will feature the poster itself as an image that you can right-click to open in a new window so that you can read along or zoom in on desired aspects. As well, a YouTube video that narrates the poster, student researcher credentials, presentation abstract, and various metadata accompany posters. On the side panel and within the “Speakers” frame, you will find credentials for student(s)’ faculty mentor(s), faculty and/or graduate student co-authors (if applicable), and other student co-authors (if applicable).
- The formal judging process entails a panel of two faculty judges, who are encouraged to collaborate, usually evaluating a complete session with a group of 4 to 6 presentations. We provide rubrics with explicit assessment criteria via online, customized surveys. You will receive an email with a link to your customized Qualtrics survey on Friday, November 12, 2021 before 5:00 pm. Upon receiving the survey, choose your name from the drop-down box and follow the on-screen instructions. The survey will list the name of each presenter you will be evaluating at the top in boldface. Once you have answered all the questions to score explicit assessment criteria, the survey will automatically move to the next student you will evaluate and so on and so forth. Upon completing your scoring, please rank order your presenters on the final screen and submit!
- Although the virtual setting will not be a substitute for in-person sessions, students can still benefit and gain immensely from peer and expert engagement and interaction in the form of questions, comments, constructive criticism, and positive feedback. To interact with the presenters, please use the “Comment” function under the “Leave a Reply” section. We strongly encourage that in addition to interacting with the assigned student presenters, judges visit with as many students as possible virtually to listen to their pitch, ask questions, comment, and provide constructive feedback!
- Judging takes place in two phases: First, all of the judge panels submit their “session winners” by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Then, our “Grand Jury” will evaluate the finalist and identify awardees for:
- Best Oral Presentation in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
- Best Poster Presentation in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
- Best Oral Presentation in Health and Natural Sciences and Engineering
- Best Poster Presentation in Health and Natural Sciences and Engineering
Finally, we would like to respectfully remind everyone that our student researchers completed their projects while sheltered in place and in a limited capacity. Presenting in a professional and judged symposium will be a first-time experience for many of our researchers, let alone presenting at a virtual symposium, recording their own videos, and being mentored remotely! Let’s offer our student researchers nurturing, gracious, generous, positive, and constructive feedback to inspire and encourage our future inventors, researchers, and colleagues.
