Graduate Research Symposium

Each year CBE proudly hosts the annual Graduate Research Symposium. Attended by all graduate students and faculty, the symposium provides a forum for students in their second and fourth years to present their work. Second-year students present a poster and fourth-year students must give a 20-minute oral presentation. At the start of the symposium, a keynote lecture is delivered by a faculty member.

Graduate Research Symposium outcomes

The symposium invites industry representatives and recruiters to review student presentations. As a result, students receive valuable feedback and networking opportunities through the symposium. This annual event has four goals:

• To give graduate students an opportunity to interact with a broad audience while discussing their research projects
• To make others in the community aware of current research projects in the department
• To create opportunities to network with industry representatives
• To give and receive feedback on research presentations

In recent years, representatives from Corning, Air Products, Arkema, ConocoPhillips, and 3M have attended the Graduate Research Symposium. Following the symposium, each presenter is provided with a report that includes faculty and peer evaluations of their presentations. 

Symposium dinner and awards banquet

At the conclusion of the symposium, the dinner and banquet celebrates the years’ successes and achievements in the Smith School. Recipients of graduate student awards are recognized, including the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award and the Best Paper of the Year Award. 

The banquet gives our graduate students, faculty, and staff to congratulate one another and contribute to the highest of professional attitudes and collegiality in the graduate program.