Welcome to the 2023 GAC!
What is the GAC?
The Council of Graduate Students (COGS) invites you to the 15th annual Graduate Academic Conference (GAC). The GAC is a forum for graduate students to gain experience communicating their research to a non-specialized audience. Our adjudicators are MSU Alums (many graduate school alums!) with wide-ranging professional backgrounds who provide feedback that can help students fine tune their presentation skills.
As a presenter, you will benefit from constructive feedback that will help you learn to better communicate your research to generalized audiences as you progress in your research. You will also be able to network with your peers across disciplines as well as with your audience of judges and other interested professionals attending the conference! As an attendee, you will be able to view the great work being done by student researchers as well as have access to workshops geared to help all graduate/professional students!
Who is eligible to participate? ALL MSU Graduate & Professional students! Masters/PhD and all professional students – at any point in your program. The GAC is a great place to hone your skills as a communicator and presenter! Communication is a skill that takes practice. The GAC helps students get the practice and provides feedback they need to become better communicators.
Conference Date: February 18, 2023.
Venue: MSU Union Building (49 Abbot Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824)
Here is the 2023 GAC Abstract Submission Form
You must also fill out the 2023 GAC Registration Form
***Upload signed Advisor Consent Form with your abstract.
**Abstracts are limited to 250 words
Abstract Submission Deadline: January 16, 2023. **EXTENDED DEADLINE: January 31, 2023**
Categories:
- 15-mins Oral Presentations
- Poster Presentations (Mike Morrison Style)
- 3-Minutes Thesis (3MT)
Sessions:
Science and Society: This session is targeted at research that advances understanding and gears toward improving the human experience, including and not limited to research from fields of psychology, astronomy, engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, music.
Growing Knowledge: This session highlights research that enables cultivation of strong minds and bodies of all forms of life, including, but not limited to research from fields of education, medicine, agriculture, natural resources, and natural science.
Sustainability: This session focuses on research that promotes knowledge to guide us through an uncertain future, bridging research from fields related, but not limited to, climate change, food and water, energy, and business
Innovative Ideas: This session highlights research on novel methods or concepts that enables application of cutting-edge technology to address emerging issues in all fields.
Workshops:
- Writing high impact papers (Hybrid)
- Preparing for a job interview (Panel Discussion)
KEYNOTE: Dr. Angela K. Wilson, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor/Associate Dean for Strategic Initatives and President, 2022, American Chemical Society
Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry
NEW THIS YEAR!
Speed Networking (Registration required): Interact with peers in a short amount of time! In this session, you’ll be randomly paired with a participant for 6 minutes to connect, exchange information, and ask questions. When the time is up you move on to your next connection. The goal is to enable each participant to interact with over half a dozen colleagues and the opportunity to meet many more. Space is limited for this session.
Free Professional Photographs-Headshots
Free CV/Resume Review
All those presenting will be asked to pay a $5 Presenter fee. An email confirmation of Abstract Acceptance will be sent that includes a link to pay this fee. If payment is not received by the day before the conference, you will not be able to take home any winnings. Please pay the $5.00 Presenter fee once you receive COGS GAC Acceptance Confirmation email.
Registration is Open!
Not presenting? You can stil register to attend the conference! You can attend workshops, Keynote Lunch, view the amazing student presentations, and participate in activities throughout the day.
Abstract Submission/Registration (click/tap to open section)
The 15th Annual Graduate Academic Conference
Saturday, February 18, 2023
MSU Union, 9:00 am – 5 pm
Our Theme: “Making Knowledge Worthwhile”
REGISTRATION
**Register here to attend the conference, view presentations, keynote & luncheon, and attend workshops, etc**
Our 2023 Room Themes: Science and Society, Growing Knowledge, Sustainability, and Innovative ideas.
PRESENTERS: Abstract submissions are open until January 16th, 2023. **EXTENDED DEADLINE: JAN. 31, 2023** Presenters need to fill out a separate registration form. ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS OPEN.
All those presenting will be asked to pay a $5 Presenter fee. An email confirmation of Abstract Acceptance will be sent that includes a link to pay this fee. If payment is not received by the day before the conference, you will not be able to take home any winnings. Please pay the $5.00 Presenter fee once you receive COGS GAC Acceptance Confirmation email.
CO-presenters and Non-Presenters: Even if you are NOT presenting, you are welcome to attend the conference to watch your peers’ presentations, attend a workshop, attend our Keynote event and more! There is no charge for any of the events. For co-presenters where your primary presenter has completed the Abstract Submission form – please use this attendee registration form as well to be counted for lunch and workshops! Please register below:
Room Themes 2023 (click/tap to open section)
| Science and Society
This session is targeted at research that advances understanding and gears toward improving the human experience, including and not limited to research from fields of psychology, astronomy, engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, music. |
Growing Knowledge
This session highlights research that enables cultivation of strong minds and bodies of all forms of life, including, but not limited to research from fields of education, medicine, agriculture, natural resources, and natural science. |
| Sustainability
This session focuses on research that promotes knowledge to guide us through an uncertain future, bridging research from fields related, but not limited to, climate change, food and water, energy, and business. |
Innovative Ideas
This session highlights research on novel methods or concepts that enables application of cutting-edge technology to address emerging issues in all fields. |
Keynote Speaker (click/tap to open section)
Join us for the Keynote Luncheon in the MSU Ballroom starting at approximately noon. We’re excited to have Dr. Angela K. Wilson give the Keynote address. Dr. Wilson is a John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor/Associate Dean for Strategic Initatives and President, 2022, American Chemical Society – Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry
Workshops (click/tap to open section)
Information on Workshops
From 9:30-11am, the GAC will be hosting two workshops. Stop by to learn great interview tips and tips on how to publish your research in high impact journals.
- Writing High Impact Papers (Hybrid)
- Preparing for a job interview (Panel Discussion)
What is 3MT? (click/tap to open section)
What is 3MT?
Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) celebrates the exciting research conducted by Ph.D. students around the world. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Presenting in a 3MT competition increases their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. Competitors are allowed one PowerPoint slide, but no other resources or props. The winner of MSU’s 3MT competition will have the opportunity to compete at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 3MT in March 2023. Students must be enrolled during the Spring 2023 semester to compete. Please click on the LINK below for more information. You may also visit https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au for more information on 3MT.
Important Information for Speakers and Presenters (click/tap to open section)
NOTE: This schedule is preliminary – schedule will be updated and finalized after abstract submission is closed.
Please check in at the registration area on 2nd Floor of the MSU Union outside of the Ballroom area. Registration table will open at 9:00 AM. You are welcome to get set up and attend workshops in the morning. Coffee will be available throughout the day.
Preliminary Conference Schedule
- 9:00 Registration
- 9:20 – 11:00 Workshops
- 11:00 – 11:15 Break
- 11:15 – 12:15 Oral Presentations I
- 12:15 – 12:45 Lunch
- 12:45 – 1:45 Keynote Speaker
- 1:45 – 2:00 Break
- 2:00 – 4:15 Poster Presentations
- 2:00 – 3:00 Oral Presentations II
- 3:00 – 3:15 Break
- 3:15 – 4:15 Oral Presentations III
- 3:15 – 4:15 Speed Networking
- 4:15 – 4:30 Break
- 4:30 – 5:30 3MT/Snacks
- 5:30 – 6:00 Awards
Suggested dress code is Formal-business/ business casual.
PRESENTERS: Please check in at registration/check-in prior to setting up for your presentation. You do not need to come at any particular time, just make sure you check in before your presentation time and give yourself enough time to set up and be at your assigned location at your assigned time. You are welcome to participate in workshops, keynote lunch and other activities, but they are not required.
Coffee will be available throughout the day!
General Information on Presenting: Focus on Communication
The focus of this conference is to help students fine tune their presentation skills. Therefore, you are NOT being judged on the quality of your research. Was your research slowed down by the pandemic? Experiments not completed? Results not ready yet? No problem! We just want you to concentrate on how best to COMMUNICATE your research to a generalized audience!
Our adjudicators are MSU Alums, many former graduate students just like you! They represent a wide range of professional backgrounds.
To pay the abstract fee please follow this link (or wait for your confirmation email): *Link will close at 5PM on on Friday Feb. 18th. Please take care of payment before then to be eligible for prize $.
Abstract Payment
Oral Presenters:
- Arrive 10 minutes early to your time slot for your presentation.
- Send PowerPoint for Oral Presentation to the committee before the day of the conference.
- Oral Presentation is 10 minutes of presentation time and a 5-minute period for questions
Poster Presenters:
- There is no specific size or design requirement for Posters.
- A typical poster size is either 32″ x 40″ or 36″ x 48″ .
- Either portrait or landscape orientation is acceptable.
- We will have easels with large sturdy backing on which to clip or fasten your poster. (We have clips with the easels.)
- Poster resources are listed in the Poster Resources tab.
3MT Presenters:
- Arrive 10 minutes early to your time slot for your presentation.
- We will provide a time count down and a walk through before the event.
- Rules for 3MT follow the same format as the University of Queensland here.
Abstract Acceptance Email Information:
Oral Presenters:
3 Minute Thesis Presenters:
Poster Resources at MSU (click/tap to open section)
Resources
Poster Printing
Having trouble designing your poster? Follow this link to a cool new poster presentation called the Better Poster! https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/06/24/theres-movement-better-scientific-posters-are-they-really-better
Here are some additional links to youtube videos about poster design and how to make a poster in PowerPoint.
How to Create a Better Research Poster in Less Time
Mike Morrison on Better Posters
How to Use Science to Make Your Scientific Poster More Powerful
How to Make an Academic Poster in PowerPoint
Don’t know where to get your poster printed? Look into your department first to see if there is a place to print posters. If not, there is a poster printer in the library and at Erickson Hall that can help! Below is a little bit of information that may be helpful for you as well!
Where can I get a poster printed & how much does it cost for a poster?
Find the answers here:
- MSU Library: https://lib.msu.edu/node/1886123/
- Erickson Hall: https://education.msu.edu/resources/buildings-technology/service-center/
- The poster printing service is only available to MSU Students and Faculty/Staff. You must have a valid MSU NetID to log into computers that support the software needed to send a poster.
Important Information for Judges (click/tap to open section)
Please check in at the registration area on 2nd Floor of the MSU Union outside of the Ballroom area. Registration table will open at 9:00 AM. You are welcome to get set up and even attend workshops in the morning before the presentations get started if you arrive early. Coffee will be available throughout the day.
If you wish to help judge additional presentations, should we have last minute cancellations, please come to the Registration Area and let a staff member know. We almost always have a need!
Click on the link above if you need a quick glance at presentation times or location. Or come to the Registration Area (2nd floor outside of ballroom) if you need assistance!
- You will receive an email with all day-of details that you will need.
- We will have a session onsite at the conference to go over responsibilities for the conference and to help with any concerns.
- Session assignment times will be emailed to you. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions!
- Thank you for your service! Go Green!
- Questions? Contact the COGS Office: office@cogs.msu.edu or call (517) 353-9189.
Coming Soon: Conference Day Schedule
Previous Conferences (click/tap to open section)
2021 Conference Details
Congratulations to our 2021 GAC Winners, and thank you to our GAC Committee and The Graduate School for the support. We can’t wait to see you again next year!
Poster Presentations:
1st Place: Ying-Chen Lin, Horticulture
2nd Place: Sukhwindar Ajimal, Osteopathic Medicine
3rd Place: Talha Ghazi, Human Medicine
Oral Presentations:
1st Place: Megan Carrillo, Osteopathic Medicine
2nd Place: Erika Tvedten, Osteopathic Medicine
3rd Place: Jillian Sterman, Fisheries & Wildlife
3MT Competition:
1st Place: Tessa Grebey, Animal Science*
2nd Place: Sneha Banerjee, Electrical Engineering
People’s Choice:
Apoorva Kulkarni, Chemical Engineering
*Advances to Regional MAGS 3-MT!
[download id=”16327″]
2020 Conference Details
The 2020 GAC Conference was such a huge success that we just want to say thanks to everyone who came out to the 12th annual Graduate Academic Conference on February 22, 2020. Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you again to our amazing Keynote Speaker and Workshop leaders! Without you this conference would not have been the success it was! This conference led to some amazing participants and we are proud to award the following students with awards in each of the categories listed below. We hope to see you at the 2021 GAC!
Poster Presentations:
1st Place: Katayoon Maghami
2nd Place: Vinai Reddy
3rd Place: Brianna Alred
Oral Presentations:
1st Place: Amelia Stieren
2nd Place: Vanessa Maldonado
3rd Place: Skye Russell
3MT Competition:
1st Place: Syeda Anum Hadi
2nd Place: Xinyu Tu
3rd Place: Dhrubajit Chowdhury
Thank you to all who volunteered, judged, attended, presented, and planned our 12th Annual GAC! See below for pictures of the event.
2019 Conference Details
During the 2019 GAC we had many presenters and participants and we just want to say thanks to everyone who came out to the 11th Annual Graduate Academic Conference on February 16, 2019 and congratulations to all of our presenters. Without you this conference would not have been the success it was! This year we were proud to award the following students with awards in each of the categories below. We hope to see you this February as well!!
Poster Presentations:
1st: Azrina Azrina with the presentation titled ‘Salmonella typhimurium: Specific Signatures as Targets for Detection by Using DNA Aptamer in Foods and Enviroments’.
2nd: Albert Jiao with the presentation titled ‘Reversal of Cancer Gene Expression Predicts drug Candidates for Cholangiocarcinoma’.
3rd: Saba Manzoor with the presentation titled ‘Effects of seasonal variations on distribution patterns of Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) in rural and urban zones of Central Punjab, Pakistan’.
Oral Presentations:
1st: Kellie Walters with a presentation titled ‘Temperature and daily light integral influence growth and development of sweet basil’
2nd: Matthew Swiatnicki with a presentation titled ‘Whole genome sequencing of mouse mammary tumors reveals a Ptprh mutation with potential importance to non-small cell lung cancer’
3rd: Lauren Kiryakoza with a presentation titled ‘Concerted transcriptomic and lipidomic analysis highlights altered lipid metabolism in humane diabetic retinopathy, particulary in phosphatidylcholine and diacylglycerol generative pathways’
3MT Competition:
1st: Azrina Azrina with a presentation titled ‘Salmonella typhimurium: Specific Signatures as Targets for Detection by Using DNA Aptamer in Food and Environments’
2nd: Pretap Bhanu Solanski with a presentation titled ‘Staying Connected in the Underwater Realm via Light’
3rd: Tyler Derr with a presentation titled ‘Multi-Factor Congressional Vote Prediction’
Please see here for article – The State News
2019 GAC Photo Gallery
2018 GAC Photo Gallery
Videos from GAC 2021 (click/tap to open section)
Thank you all for attending this year’s conference! The day went so well and we could not have asked for better presentations! Thank you to our judges for all of your hard work! We also want to thank our workshop organizers/presenters and our Keynote speaker Provost Woodruff from MSU. The day was a huge success and we are so happy that the first ever virtual GAC was enjoyed by all that attended!
Below you will find the videos that we collected from the conference. We only recorded the Keynote Address and the Awards as we did not want any issues with research grants to effect our student presenters as they continue their work.
For those that attended the conference you are still able to access Whova for the videos as well. Thank you for your attendance and we look forward to next year’s conference!
Awards
Keynote
Learn About Last Year’s GAC Presenters!
On Saturday, February 19, 2022, The Council of Graduate Students (COGS) held their 14th annual Graduate Academic Conference (GAC). After its first ever virtual conference held in 2021, the GAC was back in person at the MSU Union. Highlighting the daylong conference were 60+ graduate & professional students sharing over 70 total outstanding presentations in the Oral, Poster and Three-Minute Thesis events.
The 2022 conference concluded with the exciting 3‐Minute Thesis, a nationally recognized competition where participants have exactly three minutes to summarize their research. The winner of the COGS 3MT event qualifies to represent MSU at the regional competition held by the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS). MAGS hosted the 3MT competition at their 78th Annual Meeting, scheduled for April 6-8, 2022 in Milwaukee, WI. You may also visit http://mags-net.org/three-minute-thesis-award/ for more information on 3MT.
View the 2022 GAC Program
Congratulations to This Year’s GAC Winners!
Here are the winners of the 2022 Graduate Academic Conference are awarded: $300 for 1st place, $200 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place/ 3MT people’s choice. Winners received the top scores averaged from their judging rubrics. Click HERE to view their Abstract pages.
Top Oral Presentations:
- Samridhi Satija, Chemistry/Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
- Chayce Griffith, Horticulture
- Md Shakir Mahmud, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Top Poster Presentations:
- Taylar Dickson, College of Human Medicine
- Nicholas Michel, College of Osteopathic Medicine; Department of Kinesiology
- Maria Kloboves, Food Science & Human Nutrition
Top 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Presentations:
- Pragya Saxena*, Pharmacology and Toxicology
- John Tran, Plant Biology
- Marzieh Ghiasi, Epidemiology (People’s Choice)
