Running an Undergraduate Research Conference

Independent research and design is a critical component of engineering education, yet undergraduates often have few opportunities to showcase their work. It can also be difficult to convey their experiences succinctly on a resume unless they publish or present their design. In order to provide a forum to communicate and celebrate undergraduate student achievement, many universities have created undergraduate research conferences. The primary goal of these conferences is the promotion of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity performed in partnership with faculty or other mentors. A secondary goal is to help faculty discover new and more sophisticated ways to incorporate undergraduates in research and to encourage students to undertake research projects of their own. In this paper we describe how to create and direct a first-time undergraduate research conference. Specifically we examine the steps of planning, budgeting, forming and managing the necessary subcommittees, raising interest among potential presenters and attendees, managing abstract submissions, and orchestration of the conference event itself. We also describe some of the pitfalls that can occur to first-time conference organizers, their solutions, and how to use the existing infrastructure of the school to reduce staffing requirements.