Center for Interdisciplinary Writing and Research

Virtual Undergraduate Research Conference (VURC) 2023

The Virtual Undergraduate Research Conference (VURC) is an annual conference highlighting undergraduate research. The conference is entirely virtual. Undergraduate students in the United States and faculty whose work involves undergraduates are encouraged to participate.

Proposal submission deadline: March 10, 2023 by midnight (PST)

Conference date: April 21, 2023

We’re excited to open up submissions for presentation proposals for our second annual virtual undergraduate research conference. We’re hoping to build on last year’s success by increasing the number of participants and variety of presentations. Check out the FAQ below to address questions you might have about the conference and then submit your own presentation proposal.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the Virtual Undergraduate Research Conference

Who can participate? The short answer- You! Undergraduate students from all disciplines can present their original research in either a poster or paper format. Faculty and others who incorporate undergraduates in the research process can also present their research in a paper format. Further, faculty and others who wish to discuss the undergraduate research process and other topics related to undergraduate research can propose a “big idea” discussion. For example, last year we had discussion on open science practices in undergraduate research.

Why should I participate? Do we really need to answer that? VURC was created to give opportunities to showcase undergraduate research in a easy and free format. Often, undergraduate researchers and even their mentors face too many obstacles to present their work. The cost of travel and registration fees may prohibit participation in other conferences. To facilitate sharing undergraduate research, we developed VURC to eliminate many of the main barriers to participation. To further motivate you to consider participation, here are some other benefits:

• Opportunities to hear about research outside of your major/area of interest
• Prizes (in the form of gift cards) for first (student) authors of the top 3 poster and paper presentations
• Easy participation (completely virtual)
• No cost to participation (absolutely no fees to participate, either as presenter or audience

I’m in, but how does the conference work? First, you need to submit a proposal by March 10, 2023 at midnight. The CIWR will review proposals and notify you about whether your proposal was accepted. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll receive a link to participate in the conference using Microsoft Teams. You are free to share the link with others who may wish to watch your presentation. Depending on the type of presentation, there may be some differences in how you will be expected to present.

• Poster presenters- You should expect to prepare a short description of your work verbally as well as answer any questions. You’ll likely be grouped with other poster presenters. Poster sessions will last approximately 30 minutes. Posters should be uploaded to Twitter before the session with the hashtag, #CIWRVURC2023
• Paper presenters– You should expect to prepare an approximately 20 minute presentation of your work. Although you are not required to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the description of your work, you may want to consider it to help the audience follow along with the main ideas of your work. Ten minutes will be set aside for the audience to answer questions. Similar papers may be grouped together in “sessions” to facilitate discussions across different research projects.
• “Big idea” presenters- Because this type of presentation could take many forms, there is greater variety in presentation delivery. Ideally, these presentations will be more interactive with the audience than the other two types of presentations; however, presenters can decide what format will work best for the ideas under discussion. Thirty minutes will be set aside for these presentations unless presenters request more or less time.

To reinterate the highlights:

• Proposal submission deadline is March 10, 2023 by midnight (Pacific Standard Time)
• The conference will take place on April 21, 2023.
• Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 (as judged by CIWR personnel) student, first author poster and paper presenters.