Call for Applications: 2027 Big East Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium

The Big East Conference has announced plans to host its sixth annual Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium this March at Madison Square Garden. This event, scheduled to coincide with the conference’s storied men’s basketball tournament, brings together the top student scholars from each of the 11 schools in the conference to engage in a rigorous competition. The Office of the Provost will be accepting applications from student scholars who would like to be considered to represent our university at this year’s event. Submissions are reviewed by a committee of faculty and administrators who evaluate and score projects in alignment with the criteria used by judges at the annual competition, with priority given to works that demonstrate a high level of student-directed contribution and previous experience presenting their work internally or externally.

The competition calls for student researchers across disciplines, with awards given for the highest-scoring presentations. Last year, the program expanded to offer awards for top performers in three distinct categories, including Social Sciences; Humanities and Business, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry/Biochemistry and Biology; and Health Sciences/Biomedical, as well as an overall team award given to the college or university with the strongest overall scores across competitors. Team winners received a trophy, while individuals who podium in each category receive medals. Recognition is also given during the BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Championship game to showcase the conference’s commitment to both athletic and academic distinction. Last year’s program with student researcher abstracts can be reviewed here.

Last year, Seton Hall was proud to have five projects representing the university, each presented by an individual or pair of undergraduate student researchers, spanning disciplines of English, Chemistry, Communications, Biochemistry and Psychology. This was a result of a continuous effort to encourage students and research mentors across schools and colleges at Seton Hall to apply for consideration.

Students selected for Seton Hall’s team participate in a training program developed by Caryn Grabowski, M.S., CCC-SLP, director of Experiential Learning and Sona Patel, Ph.D., assistant provost for Academic Excellence and Assessment, where, in collaboration with each student’s individual faculty mentors, they engage in coaching on a range of transferable communication and professional skills, including communicating to varying audiences, data visualization and poster design and verbal presentation strategies.

“When we started this program a few years ago, we derived a series of topics from our own experiences mentoring students. There tend to be thematic areas that all student researchers and novice researchers benefit from coaching. It isn’t always possible for a mentor to support student training in some of these skills when the focus is often primarily on the scientific principles of the work,” says Sona Patel.

“We see this program as an opportunity to bridge the high rigor of scientific training offered by our faculty colleagues with techniques for strategic verbal and written professional communication, ultimately strengthening the competitiveness of each of the projects we bring to competition,” added Caryn Grabowski.

In addition to presentation skill development, the unified team approach to preparation offers students across disciplines an opportunity to expand their networks and develop a supportive team mindset with their peers in the program. Students engage in peer-to-peer appraisal and feedback, encourage one another and develop friendships that support their professional networking as they continue to develop in their scientific and professional careers.

“The projects brought forth each year are increasingly reflective of the rich discipline-spanning portfolio of scholarship produced at our University. Our office is proud to support enriching programs like this one in alignment with the university strategic plan, Inspiring Great Minds to Greater Purpose, focusing on transformational student experiences and impactful research programming and we look forward to another successful competition this year,” said Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Erik Lillquist.

Undergraduate students at Seton Hall University should complete the brief application to be considered for this year’s competition by November 4, 2026. Team members will be announced near the end of the fall term and weekly coaching sessions will begin upon return to the spring term in January. Selected students will be financially supported to travel overnight to New York City as a team before the conference and will receive a complimentary ticket to the Men’s Basketball Conference Championship Game held the same evening as the competition.

This will mark the sixth year of Seton Hall’s participation in the symposium and the fourth year offering selected students coaching and development sessions as part of the team preparation. The Provost and involved faculty are confident in the promise of a successful competition this year! Students can reach out to Caryn Grabowski, director of Experiential Learning, at caryn.grabowski@shu.edu and Sona Patel, assistant provost for Academic Excellence and Assessment, at sona.patel@shu.edu for additional information or questions.

Categories: Community Engagement, Nation and World, Research