SOCORRO, N.M. – The 2020 Student Research Symposium will continue as scheduled for April 14 through 17 – as a completely online event again this year.

Registration is now open for any and all students interested in participating. Students must register by Wednesday, March 3, at https://www.nmt.edu/srs/. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, March 10.

“Last year’s virtual SRS was exciting since it gave students a larger platform to showcase their research,” said Dr. David Cox, Director of Skeen Library and the Office of Student Learning. “We are looking forward to expanding this year’s event with departmental showcases and a socially-distanced golf tournament.”

New events this year will be department showcases that highlight senior and junior design clinic presentations. The SRS is expanding to allow all the NMT engineering departments to take center stage during the virtual event. The SRS is also adding a golf tournament on Saturday, April 17, for participants. More details will be available in coming weeks.

“Each engineering department contains an end-of-year capstone presentation event, where seniors and juniors are able to showcase their efforts,” Librarian Dr. David Cox said. “This year we are seeking to have as many departments participate by merging these showcase events with the Student Research Symposium. Students, faculty, alumni, and influential guest presenters can interact, share their research, and meet with each other.”

The symposium includes three traditional main events – oral presentations, three-minute speech competition, and poster sessions. These events will be streamed online via the NMT website and Zoom. The Symposium originally was proposed as a part of Tech’s re-accreditation process in 2010 and has already achieved much more than the earliest visions and expectations. Students present their research and design projects for a multi-disciplinary audience. 

“Our idea is simple – to get as many undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty as possible to present their ideas and shine. Along with the fine Career Fair activities, the Student Research Symposium is a signature event for students who participate and develop connections with alumni and industry leaders.”

The SRS is a hallmark event where undergraduate and graduate students have the unique opportunity to present their research in a variety of formats. In past years, the event typically has featured a wide range of innovative projects, including more than 75 posters presentations, six oral presentations and 30 three-minute speech competitors. 

Cox said, “The overall theme of the SRS is ‘Communicate to Educate.’ New Mexico Tech is a place where research scholarship is central to the process of molding Science and Engineering professionals. We learn by doing, and are especially focused on presenting and communicating in a manner that is both clear and accessible.” 

Faculty, staff, alumni and graduate students will review each project, providing feedback on presentation skills and quality of work. Anyone interested in volunteering as a reviewer should email srs@nmt.edu.

Event Schedule

Wednesday, April 14

Poster Session 1 -- 10 a.m. to noon

Poster Session 2 – 1 to 3 p.m.

Oral Presentations – 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Department Showcases:

Biomedical Sciences

Civil Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Thursday, April 15

Poster Session 3 – 10 a.m. to noon

3-Minute Speech Competition – 1 to 5 p.m.

Department Showcase:

Computer Science & Engineering –1 to 3:30 p.m.

Friday, April 16

Poster Session 4 – 10 a.m. to noon

Department Showcases:

Chemical Engineering: Junior Design

Chemical Engineering: Senior Design

Technical Communications – 9 to 11 a.m.

Chemistry – 1 to 3:00 pm

Mechanical Engineering – 1 to 5:00 p.m.

Materials Engineering – 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. 

Saturday, April 17

SRS Golf Tournament - details to be released soon

Poster Prentations

All posters will be viewable on the SRS website. Each group of presenters will be live in a Zoom meeting, with a moderator and questions will be accepted for each poster presenter. Visitors will be able to interact live with the student presenters and ask questions. These live rooms will be open for the time duration of the original poster presentations, and will be open for anyone to participate. 

Oral Presentation Event

Eight-minute oral presentations will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 14. These talks will be pre-recorded. During the live portion, the moderator will accept questions from the public to the presenters.

Three-Minute Speech Competition

The 3-Minute Speech competition will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 15. The event will be hosted in one Zoom room, where all presenters and the public can access. Each presenter will have one slide, which will be displayed by the moderator. The audience will be able to offer feedback via Zoom. All speeches will also be recorded through Zoom.

Navigate to nmt.edu/srs to view the full event calendar and watch the 2021 Student Research Symposium.

– NMT –