The Graduate Professional Council (GPC) is proud to announce its 40th Annual Research & Creative Activities Forum (RCAF) which will take place in Jesse Hall Rotunda (11 AM – 1:30 PM) on April 25th, 2024 with a celebratory awards banquet to follow at Ketcham Auditorium (Lafferee Hall Engineering Building) at 5 PM. All participants are requested to check in at 10:15 AM sharp.

This event offers an invaluable opportunity for students to showcase their academic projects/research as poster presentations in front of their professors, mentors, research colleagues, and visiting faculty from other institutions in Missouri.

Call for RCAF Poster Abstract:

Any Mizzou Graduate and Professional student can participate in the Forum. We encourage presenters from all disciplines to present their work, even “works in progress” should be considered for the forum. The abstract must be submitted by March 23rd, 2024.

To submit your poster abstract, fill out this form.

Notification of Acceptance will be communicated in early April 2024.

Due to the expected volume of presenters, we encourage you to apply early. Space is limited.

Awards

All the participants will be critiqued by the judges using a set of rubrics and will be considered for an award. For each category, we have first, second and third prizes.

First Place – $200
Second Place – $150
Third Place – $125

And, perhaps the most exciting part, we present the GPC People’s Choice Award with a prize of $100.

Categories:

Posters are categorized into 7 different categories. You will choose which category your work falls under.

Sciences:

· Social & Behavioral Sciences – projects using research methods appropriate to human behavior and social systems including, but not limited to, psychology, anthropology, sociology, education, public health, economics, political sciences, communication studies, journalism and business.

· Life Sciences – lab-based, field-based, or theoretical projects answering basic and applied questions in biology, biochemistry, ecology, biomedicine, etc.

· Physical Sciences & Mathematics – experimental and theoretical research in the natural sciences and mathematical sciences, excluding the life sciences.

· Engineering Sciences and informatics – experimental and applied research designed to understand and build effective structures, systems and processes. Interdisciplinary research area utilizing data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning and emerging technologies to address scientific and societal issues across diverse data sets, ranging from molecular to satellite levels.

Humanities:

· Artistic Expression – Projects that involve visual art pieces, fashion design, music, theater and creative writing. Performance-based projects will also be included in this category.

· Applied Design – projects that solve a problem with an original design solution including, but not limited to, design projects for theater, architectural studies, photojournalism, graphic design and advertising.

· Humanities – projects using methods appropriate to study modern and ancient languages, literature, history, philosophy, religion, culture, journalism and other humanities disciplines.

Meals: Meals will be provided to all the presenters, Judges and VIP guests following both the poster session and the award ceremony.

Dress Code: All presenters are required to dress in business attire and present their research findings to judges and interested attendees.

Poster Design/Print Guidelines: Please stick to the RCAF template (W: 48” H: 36”) provided here (you can download and edit the template). Participants are responsible for printing their own posters. Please make sure that you print the posters early (at least 48 hours before the event to avoid the last hour rush). Most of the departments offer financial support for printing. So, consult with your department regarding this. If not, fill this form for potential reimbursement.

Judging Rubrics: STEM rubrics can be found here, and Humanities rubrics can be found here.

For more information, please contact:

Ashwin Dhakal
RCAF Chair
Director of Programming
Graduate Professional Council
(gpcprogramming@missouri.edu)
University of Missouri-Columbia