What is the Interdisciplinary Forum?
The Interdisciplinary Forum (IDF) is a venue allowing graduate students to share the research and creative work they have completed in their graduate programs with students and faculty from across campus and from area colleges and universities. The Forum includes both oral and poster presentations. Faculty members and graduate students who are not presenting research are encouraged to attend.
What are the objectives of the Forum?
The four underlying objectives of IDF are:
· to increase public awareness of scholarship activities on the Missouri State University campus,
· to facilitate discussion of graduate scholarly works across campus/community, and
· to promote an understanding of research work of graduate students across disciplines spread over the six academic Colleges CNAS, CHHS, COE, CHPA, COAL, and COBA and the School of Agriculture. (The word research in here includes conventional research, scholarly projects, creative activities, and juried performances)
· to provide an opportunity to the presenters to sharpen their presentation skills based upon feedback from people outside their discipline
When & Where is the Forum?
The Interdisciplinary Forum will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2012, in the Plaster Student Union.
What is the format of the Forum?
· There will be two presentation categories. Category A will involve presentations from the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS), the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS), and the School of Agriculture, and Category B will involve presentations from the College of Arts and Letters (COAL), College of Humanities and Public Affairs (CHPA), College of Business Administration (COBA), and College of Education (COE). A student falling in either category as defined above is expected to make a presentation in that category unless a convincing rationale is provided for a switch to the other category.
· Graduate students will present their research work either through an oral or a poster presentation.
· Abstracts from students who choose the poster presentation option will be placed in two poster categories—CATEGORY A. POSTERS and CATEGORY B. POSTERS. There will be one award for every ten posters. Separate judging criteria and judges will decide winners in the two categories.
What type of presentation will I be doing at the Forum?
· From the pool of abstracts submitted for oral presentation, the IDF committee will select a total of 24 for oral presentation. The twenty-four oral presentations, each lasting eight minutes for presentation and two minutes for questions/answers, will occur in the same lecture hall. The criteria used to pick oral presentations will be: (i) significance of the research work within and beyond the field/discipline and (ii) quality of the work consistent with the oral presentation evaluation criteria. Students other than these 24 in the oral category will be urged to present a poster.
· Although oral presentations from all the colleges are in the. same room, separate judging criteria and judges will decide winners belonging to either category A or category B. Separate evaluation criteria for the category A and category B presentations are posted on the IDF website.
What is the award system for the Forum?
· Two awards for best oral presenters belonging to category A.
· Two awards for best oral presenters belonging to category B.
· One award winner for every ten posters in category A.
· One award winner for every ten posters in category B.
· Recognition certificates/plaques for faculty advisors of the award winners.
Will there be refreshments or door prizes?
Hors d'oeuvres will be available at 11:30 am – 12:30 pm.
Refreshments will be available during the entire IDF event.
There will be two prize drawings, at noon and at 2:00 pm.
How will I benefit from participating?
The Forum allows you to sharpen your presentation skills as you receive feedback on your research from people outside your discipline. Additionally, the Forum gives you a chance to see the projects of other graduate students from across campus. Participation in the Forum provides you with a valuable presentation experience and it can be included on your resume.
How can I get involved?
· Start thinking about what type of presentation you would like to do. You may choose either a poster display or an oral presentation. Participants for each category are limited and abstracts must be submitted by noon on Monday, March 26, 2012.
· Talk to your advisor and begin working on your abstract which summarizes your research or creative work.
· Attend the graduate student workshops, 'How to Write an Abstract' and 'Presentation Pointers: Oral and Poster Presentation Success'.