Graduate Research Achievement Day

Presentation Format

Graduate students will present their work in a poster format. Students whose studies focus on the creation of art are encouraged to present this work in the most appropriate format with an accompanying poster. Music graduate students are encouraged to present a short performance by recording as long as it assists with the analysis of their presentation (no live performances will be allowed). In all cases, an integral component of the presentation will be an explanation of their work understandable to a non-specialist attending GRAD, including fellow graduate students, faculty, and other members of the campus community.

Student Presentation

Students will present their research and other creative activities in a 3-5 minute Poster presentation to faculty and community judges during the live event on February 29 from 1-3pm at the Memorial Union Ballroom 214. An integral component of the presentation is for students to explain their work to a non-specialist audience, including fellow graduate students, faculty, and other members of the campus community.

Poster Creation

The poster template can be created in PowerPoint. 

PowerPoint allows a custom slide size of 40 inches wide by 30 inches high Click here for additional details on poster size. Using the master slide function, the graphics can be set up and students can edit the rest of the slide as needed. Adding a UND logo to your poster is strongly encouraged.

Posters can be printed on campus through UND Duplicating Services. The School of Graduate Studies will pay the cost of one (1) poster printing. Posters will be 40 (w) x 30 (h) in size and printed on tear resistant paper.

To print your poster, please complete the Duplicating Services Online Job Form.

• Convert your poster to a PDF file (FILE>Save As) Dropdown Save as type: "PDF". Please review for accuracy.
• Login with your UND credentials
• In the billing section, use these numbers:
  • Stop: 0000
  • Fund: 00000
  • Dept: 2850
• Date needed is Feb. 28.
• (Product Specifications) Select "Wide Format" for Job and "0x0, 0lb, Wide Format, Matte for paper-color/type"
• Finished size is 40x30
• Select "Pick up at Duplicating Services" for Delivery Options
• In the additional comments section, please type "Grad School Poster 2024"

Student Time Commitment

The judging session and public viewing will last from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. In addition to the judging session, all students are required to attend the awards ceremony to be present in the event of winning a prize and to support their peers and colleagues.

During these two hours you will be expected to be at your poster and ready to present for the judges and any others who stop by to review your presentation. If you are not present when a judge is judging your poster, this will result in 0 points from the judge as they will not be able to judge your work without your presentation.

Judging Guidelines

All submissions will be sorted according to discipline and level (Ph.D., Masters, non-degree) and will be judged accordingly, with cash prizes awarded to those students whose work and presentation are deemed best.

Judging Rubric

During the judging session, three separate judges will stop by your poster to judge your work and presentation. You will have 3-5 minutes to present your research and poster.

Presentation Format

All GRAD presentations will be held live online in virtualpostersession.org.  Students will provide a Zoom link to host their session. Students must start their virtual meeting on time and stay for the duration of the two-hour meeting.

Each student must have a computer/laptop, microphone, camera, and internet connection bandwidth necessary to support presenting in the online format. Students who experience technical difficulties due to their own internet or technology capabilities will not be able to participate in the program if they are not able to fix the issue before their scheduled time to present.

Students are required to stay in attendance for the entire two-hour judging session or they will be disqualified.

The judging sessions will not be recorded.

Zoom Presentation Details

Students will be required to create a Zoom room and provide a link to their meeting that will be used in the online platform, virtualpostersession.org. When setting up your Zoom room, follow these instructions.

1. Log in to UND.zoom.us using your UND credentials
2. Click “Schedule a Meeting”
   1. Topic: GRAD First Name, Last Name
   2. When: Feb. 28, 9:00 a.m.
   3. Duration: Two Hours
   4. Time Zone: Central Time (US & Canada)
   5. Meeting ID: generate automatically
   6. Passcode: make sure the box is checked (to add a passcode)
   7. Waiting Room: make sure the box is unchecked (no waiting room)
   8. Video: select “on” for both host and participant
   9. Click save
3. The student will provide the invite link to the Grad School when submitting their poster to the Qualtrics survey.

Students will be responsible for starting the Zoom meeting at the beginning of the judging session and moderating the session. Students and judges are encouraged not to use the live chat feature in Zoom during the judging session to prevent student participants from  having to monitor the feature while giving their presentation.

Graduate students (not participating in the program) and graduate faculty will be invited by the Graduate School to watch the judging sessions. Students are welcome to share the Zoom link with their family and friends to invite them to the judging session.

Student Presentation

Students will present their research and other creative activities in a 3-5 minute Poster presentation to faculty and community judges during the virtual event on Feb. 28 from 9-11am. An integral component of the presentation is for students to explain their work to a non-specialist audience, including fellow graduate students, faculty, and other members of the campus community.

Poster Creation

The poster template can be created in PowerPoint. 

PowerPoint allows a custom slide size of 40 inches wide by 30 inches high Click here for additional details on poster size. Using the master slide function, the graphics can be set up and students can edit the rest of the slide as needed. Adding a UND logo to your poster is strongly encouraged.

Posters should be converted to a single page PDF and will be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies via Qualtrics survey. The Graduate School will upload your poster to the virtualpostersessions.org website.

As mentioned above, all Posters for the GRAD 2024 virtual program will have to be submitted to the Graduate School through this Qualtrics survey no later than Sunday, February 25 at 11:59 p.m. (no exceptions). Posters will not be accepted by email.

Student Time Commitment

The judging session will last for two hours and the awards ceremony will last up to 30 minutes. In addition to the two hour judging session, all students are asked to view the livestream of the awards ceremony to be present in the event of winning an award and to support your peers and colleagues.

Virtual student participants are required to attend the judging session to participate in the program.  If a student does not attend the judging session, this will result in 0 points from each of the judges and they will not be able to judge your work without your presentation. A no-show will result  in automatic disqualification from the program. No make-up sessions will be allowed/scheduled due to being absent from the assigned time slot.

Judging Guidelines

All submissions will be sorted according to discipline and level (Ph.D., Masters, non-degree) and will be judged accordingly, with cash prizes awarded to those students whose work and presentation are deemed best.

During the judging session, three separate judges will stop by your poster to judge your work and presentation. You will have 3-5 minutes to present your research and poster.

Students will be disqualified if any of the following occur:

1. Student does not attend their scheduled time slot.
2. Student has technical difficulties that cannot be resolved during their judging session.
3. Student does not stay for the entire two-hour judging session

Judging Rubric

Become a GRAD Judge 

To celebrate our graduate students' research, scholarship and creative activities we need faculty judges from across UND's campus. We are expecting 150-200 students to participate in person or virtually, and the program success depends on faculty members like yourself taking the time to judge their research achievement during GRAD.

Judging Rubric

In Person Judging Session at the Memorial Union

We are requesting the majority of faculty volunteers for the in person judging sessions to ensure that we can accommodate the high number of students who will be presenting their research during the live event.

This year, there will be one two-hour in person judging session in the afternoon on February 29. Students will present their research and other creative activities in Poster presentation to a panel of judges. Judges will be assigned to judge up to six posters. Each student will be encouraged to present for three minutes with a period of Q&A to follow the presentation.

The total time commitment for each judge is 2.5 hours. Thirty minutes to prepare for the judging session and two hours to judge the students' work. Judging instructions and criteria, and a link to the electronic scoring sheet will be provided via email to the judges one week prior to the judging session. Judging assignments will be sent out the day prior to the event. The judging session time slot is below:

• Judging Session: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (12:30 p.m. – 1 pm will be judges training)

In Person Award Ceremony 

We do not require judges to be present during the awards ceremony starting at 3:45 p.m. on February 29, but we highly encourage you to be there. This is a one-day event where we will be able to acknowledge and celebrate the research activities of our graduate students from across campus. 

Virtual Judging Session

This year, there will be one two-hour judging session in the morning on February 28. The program will be hosted in the online platform, virtualpostersession.org, and utilizes Zoom. Students will present their research and other creative activities in Poster presentation to a panel of judges. Judges will be assigned to judge up to six posters. Each student will be encouraged to present for three minutes with a period of Q&A to follow the presentation.

The total time commitment for each judge is two hours. However, the time commitment ends when each judge has completed judging their assigned posters. Judging instructions and criteria, instructions for the online platform, and electronic scoring sheets will be provided via email to the judges one week prior to the judging session. Judging assignments will be sent out the day prior to the event. The judging session will be held 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Virtual Award Ceremony

The awards ceremony will be held virtually in Zoom at 1:00 p.m. on February 28. We do not require judges to be present during the awards ceremony, but we highly encourage you to be there. This is an event where we will be able to acknowledge and celebrate the research activities of our graduate students from across campus. 

Lunch for Faculty Judges

Free lunch will be provided for faculty judges prior to the on campus program from 11:30am-1pm on February 29 in the Memorial Union Small Ballroom.  A brief judges training for all judges participating in the on campus program will be provided by Chris Nelson, Dean of the Graduate School, starting at 12:30 p.m., during lunch.