2010 SPOKANE INTERCOLLEGIATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference Committee invites proposals from interested students for the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference, to be held on April 24, 2010, at Gonzaga University. The conference is dedicated to promoting and recognizing distinguished, original undergraduate student research performed in partnership with faculty or other mentors.
Doors will open at 8:00 for students presenting posters to set up, and two morning sessions will run from 9:00 am until 11:45. Lunch (by reservation only) for participants, their parents (or a guest) and their faculty sponsors will be followed by a keynote speaker. Students will also present at two afternoon sessions. A detailed schedule will be posted in March.
The Form of Presentations: There are two types of sessions:
- Regular Sessions (one and a quarter hours consisting of either three 20-minute papers or four 15-minute papers) that are proposed by the student. Application deadline: February 19, 2010
- Special Sessions (one and a quarter hours consisting of three to five papers) that are proposed and moderated by faculty. Application deadline: February 19, 2010
Students may choose to convey their research through a spoken presentation or a poster presentation (maximum size 3’ x 5’). The presentations may be based on a senior thesis, a research project, an independent study, regular course work, a study abroad experience, a collaborative learning experience, an internship experience, or work done in association with a program (for example, NIH, Weyerhaeuser, SIRTI, GUIEC, Murdock, Templeton, NEH, etc.) They may reflect work in a single field of study or be interdisciplinary in focus. The student's work must be of sufficient substance or significance that a professor would recommend it for presentation at a regional conference in the student's discipline. Only current students are eligible to make presentations. Students may submit only one proposal each. (A student submitting a collaborative project may not submit a second project.) If two students wish to make a presentation together, they should submit a single proposal with clear indication that both will be presenting. Faculty proposing a special session may submit only one proposal.
Sponsorship for a Regular Session: Before students submit a proposal for a regular session, they should ask a faculty member to sponsor them and discuss their plans with the sponsor. By becoming a sponsor, the faculty member agrees to work with students in formulating and developing the presentation. The actual project, however, must reflect the student’s own work. Students should make every effort to give proper credit to those who have significantly contributed to the project in their abstracts, posters, and during their presentations.
Participating faculty must read each sponsored proposal and indicate that the proposal conforms to discipline norms. Faculty endorsement of proposals will be ascertained through the conference planning committee’s written communication with faculty members whose names student submit with their proposals.
Sponsorship for a Special Session: While faculty members may sponsor individual student presentations, they can also convene or sponsor a special session. These one-and-one-quarter hour sessions can be proposed by a single faculty member but should be associated with an academic program, a department, or a research program (e.g. NIH, Weyerhaeuser, SIRTI, GUIEC, Murdock, Templeton, NEH, etc). By proposing a special session, the faculty sponsor agrees to designate a faculty moderator for the session, identify three or four students to deliver papers in the session, and have each of those students submit a “Student Presenter” application form. The conference planning committee hopes to assign an additional student from a different institution to the panel, for a maximum of five students per session. Depending upon the number of students per session, individual presentations will last 12-20 minutes, and the remainder of the session will be devoted to a question and answer period.
Review of Applications and Conference Structure: After the February 19th deadline for submissions, the conference planning committee will review the proposals, determine which to accept, and construct a conference program from the abstracts. Students' presentations will be organized into panels. Each panel will normally have a common theme and may well be interdisciplinary. Panels will run concurrently in various locations around campus. Posters will be exhibited together in one room, and exhibitors will have an opportunity to discuss their posters with the public.
Please direct any questions regarding the suitability of a proposal or about the application process in general to Patricia Terry, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Gonzaga University (509-313-3885).
Selection Criteria:
- Originality: The student's work must be based on a hypothesis or thesis that is supported by original research, as defined by faculty in that student's discipline. The work must break new ground and not simply restate or synthesize what is already known in the student's discipline.
- Quality: The student's work must be of such a quality that a professor would recommend it for presentation at a regional conference in the student's discipline.
- Significance: The student's work must be of sufficient substance or significance that a professor would recommend it for presentation at a regional conference in the student's discipline.
The Application and Abstract:
- Please click on either the regular or special session application form below. Complete the form and include an abstract of the proposal of no more than 150 words, written in the third person. All faculty sponsors will be contacted by the planning committee for verification. In addition, if the research involves collecting data from human subjects, approval of the Institutional Review Board is required before that data is collected.
- Click “submit” at the end of the completed application.
Proposals for Regular Sessions are due on or before 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 19, 2010.
Proposals for Special Sessions are due on or before 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 19, 2010.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REGULAR SESSION STUDENT APPLICATION
(for the student proposing an individual presentation)
CLICK HERE FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION FACULTY SPONSOR APPLICATION
(for the faculty member organizing the session)
CLICK HERE FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION STUDENT APPLICATION
(for the student proposing a presentation for a panel organized by a professor)