Student Research Festival

Student Research Festival

2025 Student Research Festival

The Student Undergraduate Research Festival (SURF) is now Carroll’s Student Research Festival (SRF)! SRF is our annual research event taking place in April. This is a wonderful chance for Carroll College students to show off their amazing research, and we welcome presentation applications from all disciplines!

SRF will take place on April 25, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and we are excited to showcase all of our amazing student research. Students will present in either oral or poster sessions. Oral presentations are 10-12 minutes long and sessions will be shared between presenters. Please see the information in the tabs below to register for SRF 2025. 
 
As of December 20th, 2024 the guidelines for formatting presentation posters and slides have changed. Please read the updated guidelines. Please note that you must have a faculty mentor edit your poster or slides. The SRF committee is NO LONGER editing submissions and posters and slides will be printed or made available as submitted! 

About SRF

The Student Research Festival (SRF) is a celebration of the research done by Carroll College students. The event occurs every April, and everyone is invited to attend. SRF is seen as the highlight of the year for all of the students doing research, and it is a wonderful opportunity for other Carroll students, Carroll faculty and staff members, and community members to see the amazing work done by our students. Our students are very excited to share their research during this time of student-driven, inquiry-oriented learning.

Questions? Contact Brenna VanPaepeghem

1. Application and Abstract. Submit your application to present at SRF no later than Friday, March 7, 2025 using the online form. Please note that the application requires you to submit an abstract. Working closely with your advisor on the abstract before the application deadline can help ensure that the abstract will be ready to be included in the SRF program with minimal revision.  If you submit an abstract that has issues (including spelling and grammar), members of the SRF Committee must work with you to correct them before the abstract can be approved. Please make sure that any editing comments left on your abstract by advisors or other faculty members are removed once revisions have been completed so they do not appear on your final abstract. 

2. Submitting a Poster or Slides. Please submit the poster or slides you will be presenting at SRF no later than Friday, April 11, 2025 using the online submission form. Posters take time and resources to review and print, and you can help to make this process easier for both your advisor and the Committee by doing the following:

  • Posters must be formatted 48 inches x 36 inches in PDF.
  • Around 50% of SRF submissions have errors or issues that the student has to correct, leading to a delay in printing.  You can avoid this by having your students make sure that their submissions have none of the issues mentioned here: Five Most Common Problems with SRF Submissions
  • SRF submissions must adhere to the submission formatting guidelines for posters and slides in the tabs below. Please have your students read the guidelines before they begin the process of creating their SRF poster or slides.
  • Submission Checklist here.

3. Printing at the Bookstore from Copy/Print Services

  • All posters and oral presentation slides should be submitted by Friday April 11, 2025, at 11:59 p.m., through the upload form at SRF 2025 Submission Form (available soon). 
  • Submit all files in a PDF format

Posters Format: 

  • Posters must be formatted 48 inches x 36 inches in PDF.

  • All posters must be submitted in PDF format.  If you are using PowerPoint to create your poster, go to “File” →“Save As” → “Save As Type” and select “PDF”.  If you are using Google Docs or Google Slides to create your poster, go to “File” →“Download” and select “PDF”.

  • We recommend using the following template: Poster Template. PLEASE, DOWNLOAD OR SAVE A COPY OF THIS TEMPLATE IN YOUR PERSONAL DRIVE. To make a copy, go to “File” → “Make a copy” → “Entire presentation”. 

  • Use of this template is optional, but recommended. In case this template doesn’t fit how you wish to present your research, we recommend using the template just as a model. In all cases, you must ensure that your poster file is in PDF format and has dimensions 48 inches x 36 inches.

  • Your poster must be easily readable from about 6 feet, and the images must not be pixelated. To make sure your poster meets these requirements, once you have exported your original document to PDF, please review this new file for any errors.

  • All posters must include the title of the presentation, the names of all authors/presenters, the name of the faculty advisor, and the name of the department or program.

  • The posters should include any information related to any grants that made the research possible.

  • Posters should not include brand images.

  • Posters should not include copyrighted images, unless the authors have written permission from the owner of the image (in this case, make sure to give credit to the owners of the images, as well as to mention the permission granted). 

  • Posters must give credit to all sources consulted and all external technologies implemented in the research process.

Next Steps:

1. You will receive an automatic email confirmation when you have submitted your poster to the online form.

2. Please remember to have a faculty mentor edit your poster. Posters will be printed as submitted.

3. Posters will be printed by the Saints Shoppe.  The Saints Shoppe will contact you by email when your poster is ready to be picked up. You are responsible for picking up your poster and bringing it with you to SRF on Friday April 25, 2025.

 

Questions can be directed to Brenna VanPaepeghem. If you have general SRF-related questions, please contact Prof. Erin Butts

Oral Presentation Slides Format:

  • All oral presentation slides must be submitted in Google Slides or PowerPoint format

  • The oral presentation slides must be easily readable from a distance, and the images must not be pixelated. To make sure your oral presentation slides meet these requirements, once you have created your slides, please review them for any errors.

  • All oral presentation slides must include the title of the presentation, the names of all authors/presenters, the name of the faculty advisor, and the name of the department or program.

  • The oral presentation slides should include any information related to any grants that made the research possible. 

  • Oral presentation slides should not include brand images.

  • Oral presentation slides should not include copyrighted images, unless the authors have written permission from the owner of the image (in this case, make sure to give credit to the owners of the images, as well as to mention the permission granted). 

  • Oral presentation slides must give credit to all sources consulted and all external technologies implemented in the research process.

Next Steps:

1. You will receive an automatic email confirmation when you have submitted your slides to the online form.

2. Please remember to have a faculty mentor edit your slides. Slides will be made available as submitted.

3. Slides will be made available to you on the presenter’s computer on the day of SRF, Friday April 25, 2025.

 

Questions can be directed to Brenna VanPaepeghem. If you have general SRF-related questions, please contact Prof. Erin Butts

All poster and oral presentation submissions are final. The SRF committee will not accommodate request for changes from oral to poster presentations once registration has been submitted. For questions, reach out to Erin Butts

To register for SRF 2025, you will need to fill out the registration form which is available here. Registration is open now! Your abstract should be submitted in the form alongside your registration info. The deadline for registration and your abstract is March 7, 2025. Please carefully read the instructions in the Information for Presenters tab above. 

SRF 2025 will proceed as follows: 

  • December 4, 2024 - Registration opens.
  • March 7, 2025 - Deadline for registration. Please make sure that any editing comments left on your abstract by advisors or other faculty members are removed before this date so they do not appear on your final abstract. 
  • April 11, 2025 - Deadline for submission of posters or presentation slides. This includes all revisions or re-submissions. This is to ensure there is enough time to get all posters printed and slides prepared in time for SRF. 
  • April 24, 2025 - The keynote speaker's speech will begin at 7 p.m. This year's speaker is Bryan Roth, MD, Ph.D (Carroll Alum '77). 
  • April 25, 2025 - SRF 2025 presentation day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
  • April 28, 2025 - Starting on this date, SRF committee members will work with presenters on getting their work uploaded to the college's institutional repository, Carroll Scholars.