The poster session is the student's time to shine, a chance to present your research to your colleagues and our guests in a format which is a standard for scientific presentation. Almost all major scientific meetings have "poster sessions," and posters are formatted in a standard way, so it's more than just a celebration of student research; it's preparation for a career in the sciences.

Who can participate?

Any undergraduate in the College of Natural Sciences is eligible to participate in the Undergraduate Research Forum. You must, however, be conducting research under the supervision of a UT faculty member or in a research setting approved by the college.

When is it?

The 2009 Undergraduate Research Forum will take place Friday, April 17 as part of UT's Research Week.

When do I register?

1. Students need to submit an "Intent to Submit a Poster".
   This form requires only basic information about each student and their proposed poster. It serves to get each student connected to our resources.
2. Students must submit an abstract. Abstracts are due March 27, 2009.

Posters will be displayed in Welch Hall. Poster frames will be provided and set up in advance. Poster frame dimensions are 4' tall by 6' wide. Posters can be attached using binder clips or tape (both of which will be provided).

Poster printing is provided free of charge by the college to students participating in the research forum. Students are welcome to print their own posters if they have access to alternative resources.

Printing by the College of Natural Sciences (CNS):

Printing can be done at any time up until the week before the research forum. This includes if you have a conference at another time during the year and would like to print your poster at that time, for later use at the CNS research forum.

Prior to April 10, posters can be printed anytime. Simply email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to set up a time. Beginning the week before the research forum (April 10- April 16), poster printing will be scheduled. The poster printer will run all day and student posters will be printed by appointment. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the day and time your poster will be ready to reserve a print time during that week. You should plan to have your poster ready as early in the week as possible to ensure that it is printed with no difficulty in time for the Forum.

Posters typically take 20-30 minutes to print (barring any formatting problems) and 3 hours - overnight to dry depending on how dark the poster is (how much ink is used). Our printer can print posters either 36 or 42 inches tall.

Other Printers

Undergraduate science students can also utilize the poster printers available in the School of Biological Sciences and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The Chemistry and Biochemistry printer is located in their Instructional Media Lab, WEL 3.428 and can print up to 36" wide. This facility is open weekdays 8-5, but students need to reserve the printer for a 1/2 hour block..

Designing Posters

Posters can be designed in Powerpoint one of two ways:

1. Design an 8 x 10 inch slide (normal size) and just zoom in to lay it out. The printer can scale it directly to 3 feet tall. Typical font size for the poster title at this scale would be around 20, with poster text around 8.
2. Set the poster up in Page Setup to the size you intend to print it. Typical font size for the poster title at this scale would be around 90, with poster text around 24.