Frequently Asked Questions

The CCAS Research Showcase is an annual event where CCAS undergraduate students,  graduate students, and postdocs have an opportunity to present their research, scholarly, and creative work to the wider GW community and general public in a poster session.

The CCAS Research Showcase is held once a year, usually in early-to-mid April, in the University Student Center Ballrooms. 

Schedule information is posted here. 

Friends and family, staff, faculty, parents, and anyone interested in research is welcome to attend. 

That is actually perfect! One big benefit of the Showcase is giving students experience in explaining their research to a lay audience, which is a very important skill to develop.

There are lots of general questions you can ask, for example: What made you interested in this topic? Why was this approach/tool/theory the most appropriate for your project? Where do you go from here with this research? What was the most interesting/surprising/challenging part of this project? Presenters will value any question asked with genuine interest.

We do not require that Research Showcase visitors complete feedback forms, but by doing so you can help our early career researchers hone their communication skills. Your input is highly valued, whether you are a subject matter expert or not. The ability to communicate your work to an educated lay audience is a crucial skill that enables researchers to influence policy and change the world for the better. Plus, if you fill out at least three feedback forms, you get a fun swag item to show our appreciation!

It will be available on this page on the day of the event.

The CCAS Research Showcase is open to all graduate and undergraduate students and postdocs in CCAS. Students who are not CCAS majors are encouraged to present in their home school’s research showcase. Students in joint programs which cross schools or with a double major should check with their research supervisor, departmental director of graduate or undergraduate studies, or their program director, in which Research Showcase they should present their work.

If you would like to engage in research, reach out to a faculty member directly with whom you are interested in working, or speak to an advisor of studies, or the department chair or program director, in the department in which you are interested in performing research.

There is an Infoready application portal which will be linked on the CCAS Research Showcase website and shared via emails as soon as it is available. The primary presenter should complete the application and submit it after discussing all of the information in the submission with their research advisor or faculty mentor, in particular the abstract and the funding acknowledgement.

Typically, you would list your research under the department in which you are a major or in which your graduate program is located. If, for some reason, you think that does not make sense, please discuss with your research advisor or faculty mentor which department they think you should list. If, after discussing with your research advisor, you still have questions, please reach out to us at ccasres@gwu.edu.

The primary presenter is the individual from the research project who will be in-person at the research showcase to present their poster, and will coordinate the submission of all details for the poster.

A co-presenter is a secondary presenter who will be at the showcase, in person, to help present a research poster.

A co-author is someone who contributed significantly to the research, scholarly or creative work presented in the poster and has an opportunity to review, and / or contribute to the poster presentation in advance of the Research Showcase.

Yes, you can. It is possible to serve as a co-author on multiple posters to be presented in the Research Showcase as one does the work of co-authorship in advance of the Showcase itself. An individual may serve as both a co-author and a (co-)presenter, or only a co-author, on any given poster. Note, while you may be a co-author on multiple posters, you can only be a presenter / co-presenter on a single poster.

A presenter, primary or co-, is expected to be physically present at their poster to explain their work and answer questions for the duration of the Research Showcase - and you cannot be in two places at once!

There is no single one-size-fits-all answer for who should be the primary presenter. You should discuss with your research advisor or faculty mentor and your research team who should serve as the primary presenter. The primary presenter MUST be available to attend the showcase in person. The primary presenter serves as a point of contact for logistical purposes, but all authors and presenters submitted in the abstract submission form will be listed in the abstract booklet.

You must be physically present to discuss your research with attendees and answer questions; it is hard to do that in two places at once! You can be recognized for your contributions to the other projects by acknowledgement as a co-author on those posters.

Given the number of presenters and topics covered in the CCAS Research Showcase, and the varied factors to be considered in the layout of the posters, it is not logistically possible to guarantee that we will be able to situate posters next to each other to allow you to present multiple posters at the same time. Therefore you may only serve as a presenter / co-presenter on a single poster.

We recommend you arrive around 30 minutes before your session starts, to allow yourself time to check in, find your poster location, and set up. If you have additional elements to your presentation or want to arrive more than 30 minutes before your session starts for any other reason, please email us at ccasres@gwu.edu

There will be coffee and tea available at both sessions, along with candy, chips, and other similar snacks. We will not provide meals.

Each poster will be assigned a location in either the Continental Ballroom or the Grand Ballroom. This location will be noted on the back of your badge along with a numbered map of the ballroom you have been assigned to.

You should dress smartly to present your poster, as you would to present a talk in front of an important audience at a conference. Remember that you will be standing for more than two hours, so choose practical and comfortable footwear! It may also be wise to have some layers (such as a jacket, smart sweater, or cardigan) available as the temperatures in the ballrooms can vary.

If you are aware of your needs at the time you are submitting your abstract, please share them in the appropriate question of the abstract submission form so we can account for your needs when arranging the poster layout etc. If the need for an accommodation arises later (for example, you break a toe after abstract submission), please reach out to us at ccasrres@gwu.edu so we can work to meet your needs as effectively as possible.

There are many great tips in the links on this page, but here’s a few more just in case. 

• You might be tempted to read directly from your poster, but do not do that. It is okay to use it like flash cards to remind yourself of talking points, but your summary should be significantly shorter than the actual poster.
• Prepare a short pitch on the main points of your research. Think of it as an elevator pitch. Your basic explanation should take 1-2 minutes, and avoid going too deep. Attendees will ask questions if they want to know more; all you’re doing is drawing them in. 
• Think ahead of time about how to explain your research to a lay audience: avoid jargon, technical speech, and consider what background information on the subject is necessary versus helpful.
• Practice, especially with friends, classmates, and/or family members who do not specialize in your subject.