2008 Graduate Student Poster Award

Eligibility

To be eligible for an award, applicants must:

• Be the first author on a poster submission
• Be a full-time graduate student at the time of submission
• Be a student member of SPSP
• Present their poster research at the SPSP conference
• Be presenting a poster that reflects the applicants’ work, and not that of an advisor

Students currently serving on the SPSP Graduate Student Committee are not eligible for an award.

Student members can apply for the award multiple times, with the exception that students who receive an award are not eligible for consideration in the year following their award.

Award Criteria

Winners are selected by a committee that considers the GPA submission, the poster itself, and a conversation held with the presenter at the poster session. In the poster, the committee looks for a concise statement of the research problem, a clear statement of methods, appropriate data analysis, conclusions that are warranted by the data, an explanation of why the work is important, and a well organized and clear presentation. In the conversation with the presenter, the committee is interested in the applicant's level of understanding of the research, ability to describe the work to non-experts and experts, and the degree to which the work represents the student's own intellectual effort.

This Year’s Award

We are pleased to announce that we will be awarding 7 First-Place GPAs (one at each poster session). First-Place winners will be awarded the following:

1. An award certificate
2. A $100 monetary award
3. Free personal copies of MediaLab and/or DirectRT for the remainder of their graduate student career, plus one year post-graduation. The software can be used on up to two computers or laptops, and is provided courtesy of Empirisoft.
4. The winner's choice of either: a DirectIN Millisecond Precision Keyboard (value $290) or a DirectIN Precision Response Box with Custom Button Layout (value $390), provided courtesy of Empirisoft
5. Their poster displayed in a designated “GPA Winners” area of the poster area for the duration of the conference.

We will also provide 14 Runners-Up GPAs (two at each poster session). Runner-Up winners will be awarded the following:

1. An award certificate
2. A $50 monetary award

The names of all First-Place and Runner-Up award winners will also be published in a subsequent issue of Dialogue and in the FORUM.

Application and Award Process

Applying for an award consists of a simple two-step process.

Step 1. If your first-authored poster has been accepted for the 2007 SPSP program, you may then apply for a Graduate Student Poster Award by emailing a 500-word award submission statement to the SPSP Graduate Student Committee at spspgsc@yahoo.com. The submission should not exceed 500 words and should include four separate sections:

1. The problem or major purpose
2. Procedure
3. Results
4. Conclusions

Your award submission statement should be accompanied by a letter from your research or academic advisor attesting that the work that is to be presented is the result of your own product, and not that of your advisor. These letters do not need to be kept confidential. They can be emailed to the SPSP Graduate Student Committee at spspgsc@yahoo.com either with or separately from your submission statement.

Note: The deadline for Step 1 of the 2008 award application process is November 15, 2007.

Step 2. Send a copy of your completed SPSP poster being considered for an award to the SPSP Graduate Student Committee at spspgsc@yahoo.com.

Note: The deadline for Step 2 of the 2008 award application process is January 14, 2008.

You must complete both steps of the application process in order to be considered for a Graduate Poster Award.

Previous Winners

To view past poster award winners, please click on a link below:

• 2006 Winners
• 2005 Winners
• 2004 Winners
• 2003 Winners