Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors

Join the Office of Student Research for the 29th Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, on the 4th floor of the Plemmons Student Union. This campus-wide event showcases the outstanding research and creative work of App State students and highlights the impact of faculty-mentored scholarship across disciplines. Throughout the day, attendees can explore student poster presentations, attend platform sessions and celebrate the achievements of our Mountaineer student scholars. All members of the campus community are invited to attend and support student research and creativity. The event kicks off at 9 a.m., with the last session concluding by 4 p.m.

To Apply

Submit your abstract using the Abstract Submission Form.
Submission deadline is Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Notifications will be made in early April.
Each student may submit only one abstract per year as lead author. Late submissions cannot be accepted.
All abstracts will be reviewed. Abstracts entered into the Poster Competition will undergo an additional review process to determine the top 10 finalists; submissions not selected for the top 10 will be scheduled in a standard poster presentation session.
Important: Carefully proofread all information before submitting, including grammar, spelling of names, presentation titles and academic department affiliations for both students and faculty. All celebration materials are generated directly from the information entered in your submission. Once an abstract is submitted, no edits or revisions can be made.
Abstracts should follow the appropriate guidelines set in your discipline. All abstracts should be well-written and well-organized. Additionally, they must be supported by at least one Faculty Mentor. Students can only submit ONE abstract as the Lead Author. No late submissions will be accepted. Please proof your abstract for grammatical errors, correct spelling of names, title, and academic departments as OSR cannot edit or make changes to an abstract once it is submitted.
We encourage students to submit from all disciplines. In addition, we will accept students who are in the proposal stage and have not yet collected any data (although these projects are not eligible for our poster competition).
There will be two presentation formats available, poster and oral/performance/demonstration.

Student Research Poster Competition

Eligibility
Lead author must be a student. Abstracts must reflect substantial student contribution to the project, including:

Research question
Study design
Data collection/procedures
Analysis and interpretation
Projects must be completed with results or a final outcome.

Selection

Faculty from multiple disciplines will review abstracts. The top 20 abstracts (undergraduate + graduate combined) will be selected to present as competition posters. Abstracts not selected for the competition will be scheduled in a regular poster session.

Review Criteria

Background and rationale
Methods or approach
Findings or conclusions
Scholarly impact

Finalists
The top 10 finalists in each division (undergraduate and graduate) will advance to live judging. Finalists must submit their poster PDF by April 15. At the celebration, finalists will deliver a 3–5 minute presentation and answer questions from judges. Judging is based on:

Understanding of the project
Ability to answer questions
Level of involvement and leadership
Poster quality and appearance

Awards
Awards will be given to the top 3 posters in each division.

Announcement: Start of the afternoon session (12:45 p.m.) during the celebration.

Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors Past Programs linked below:

The Celebration showcases meaningful research in all disciplines by undergraduates and graduate students at Appalachian.

Exhibiting Your Work

For platform talks or performances

You will have 15 minutes for talks and 5 minutes for questions. Oral talks and performances/demonstrations will be presented using PowerPoint presentations or video formats compatible with the technology cart/computer podim in the assigned room. If you have questions, please email us at osr@appstate.edu.

For poster presentations

Boards (4 ft x 4 ft), easels and pushpins will be provided for your use. If possible, please limit your poster display to 4 ft (wide) X 4 ft (high). If you will need more space, please email us at osr@appstate.edu to be certain that we can accommodate your request.

Some Good Advice

Advice about writing an abstract or description, including information about how to obtain feedback on a draft of your abstract is available from the University Writing Center.