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 either live or by recording. 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 March 3 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.

• Login with your UND credentials
• Place zeros in the Fund Number & Department Number sections
• In the additional comments section, please write Grad School Poster

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 he/she 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 Zoom. Students must arrive to the virtual meeting on time and stay for the duration of the one-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 be excluded from the judging session if they are not able to fix the issue before their scheduled time to present. In the event that the technology fails for all members of the judging session, participants must be prepared to attend a make-up session following their assigned time slot, or they will be excluded from the program.

A staff member from the School of Graduate Studies will moderate the judging session. The judging process and instructions will be shared by the moderator at the start of the hour and the students assigned to that time slot will present their work in alphabetical order. Students are required to stay in attendance for the entire hour of the judging session or they will be disqualified.

Led by the Graduate School moderator, the agenda for the judging session will be as follows:

• Judging Instructions
• Each student will have 10 minutes which will include a 3-5 minute presentation with the remaining time for Q&A with judges
• Q&A with general audience will occur at the end of the one-hour session if time allows

The judging sessions will not be recorded.

Zoom Presentation Details

The live chat feature in Zoom will not be used during the judging sessions to prevent student participants from having to monitor the feature while giving their presentation. The moderator will provide each student with a one-minute warning when their time is almost up and will notify each presenter when the presentation must conclude.

Graduate students (not participating in the program) and graduate faculty will be invited by the Graduate School to watch the judging sessions. During the session, general audience members in attendance will be invited to ask questions after the judges have completed their Q&A and evaluation of each student if time allows. Students are welcome to share the Zoom link with their family and friends to invite them to the judging session.

The zoom link and assigned time slots for the judging sessions will be sent to students and judges approximately one week prior to the program.

Make-Up Session is scheduled for:

• March 3: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Student Presentation

Graduate students will present their work virtually to a panel of three judges using up to three PowerPoint slides. Students whose studies focus on the creation of art are encouraged to present this work in the most appropriate format with an accompanying PowerPoint. Music graduate students are encouraged to present a short performance either live or by recording.

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.

Up to Five graduate students will be assigned to a one-hour time slot. The total presentation time for each student is 10 minutes. Students should strive to keep their presentation to 3-5 minutes or less and allow the remaining time for question and answer.

PowerPoint Guidelines

As mentioned above, students will present their work in up to a maximum of three static PowerPoint slides and should be prepared to do a “screenshare” in Zoom. To keep judging consistent, in-slide animations are not allowed. Participants must have an Internet connection that supports the bandwidth needed for their presentations. Students who present more than three PowerPoint slides will be disqualified from the competition. As mentioned above, Music graduate students (only) are allowed to use videos or short live online performances in addition to the three PowerPoint slides.

Students can decide how best to design their PowerPoint slides but they should keep in mind that the content should be large enough for judges to see and read during the screenshare. Adding a UND logo to the presentation is strongly encouraged. If you would like to, you can use a UND Branded PowerPoint.

Optional: To save space on the PowerPoint, students may choose to send the judges a PDF of their citations/references through the live chat feature in Zoom.

Student Time Commitment

The judging session will last for one hour and the awards ceremony will last up to 30 minutes. In addition to the one hour judging session, all students are asked to view the livestream of the awards ceremony to be present in the even tof winning a prize and to support your peers and colleagues.

Virtual student participants are required to attend the assigned judging session to participate in the program.  If a student does not attend the assigned 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 to the assigned time slots results 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 judges will attend your Zoom session to judge your work and presentation. You will have three minutes to present your research and seven minutes for Q&A.

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 10-minute slot.
3. Student either has no slides or uses more than 3 slides.
4. Student does not stay for the entire one-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.

Virtual Judging Sessions in Zoom

This year, there will be two one-hour judging sessions in the morning on March 3. During the judging sessions, up to five graduate students will present their work to a panel of three judges. Each student will be provided 10 minutes total, with three minutes for presentation and seven minutes for Q&A. The judging session will be facilitated by a staff member from the School of Graduate Studies. Students will be given a one-minute warning and informed when their ten minutes are up and will be asked to end their presentation to ensure the next student will have enough time to present.

The total time commitment for each judge is 75 minutes. Fifteen minutes to prepare for the judging session and one hour to judge the students work during a Zoom meeting. Judging instructions and criteria, the Zoom link for the judging session, and electronic scoring sheets will be provided via email to the judges one week prior to the judging session. The judging session time slots are below:

• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.  
• 10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.  

In Person Judging Sessions at the Memorial Union

We are requesting the majority of faculty volunteer 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 March 3. Students will present their research and other creative activities in Poster presentation to a panel of judges. Judges will be assigned up 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. The judging session time slots are below:

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

Judging Rubric

Lunch and Room for Faculty Judges

Free lunch will be provided for all faculty judges located on campus from 11:30am-1pm in the Memorial Union Small Ballroom. The Small Ballroom will be available for faculty judges all day and you will have full access to this room, this is also where you will meet for faculty judging prep for your session. A brief judges training will be provided by Chris Nelson, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, starting at 12:30 p.m., during lunch.

Award Ceremony and Reception

We do not require judges to be present during the reception and awards ceremony starting at 3:30 p.m., 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. 

REGISTER AS A JUDGE FOR GRAD 2022

To celebrate our graduate students' research, scholarship and creative activities- we need the assistance of undergraduate volunteers. As a volunteer, you will assist with tasks such as collecting judging ballots, assisting faculty judges, data entry and aid in the organization of the event. 

Session 1: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. 
Session 2: 11 a.m.- 12 p.m.
Session 3: 12 - 1 p.m.
Session 4: 1 - 2 p.m. 
Session 5: 2 - 3 p.m.
Session 6: 4 - 5 p.m.

As a token of our appreciation, you will get a $10 gift card to Dining Services and a free shirt and lanyard which you will wear during GRAD.

Award Ceremony and Reception

We do not require volunteers to be present during the award ceremony and reception which starts at 3:30 p.m., 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. It is also an opportunity for you to see research from a variety of areas and learn more about graduate education.  Dessert will be provided during the reception. 

To sign-up as a GRAD volunteer, email the gradschool@UND.edu