2020-2021 Undergraduate Learning Fair Dates 

Spring Learning Fair: Thursday, April 27-30, 2021 virtual showcase during the last week of classes.

Students may enter the Undergraduate Research Category or the Class Project Category. Both categories will be judged. Judges will award a maximum of first, second, and third place awards for each category. The registration form below contains category descriptions and additional guidelines

Spring Registration Deadline: Wednesday, March 31
Deadline to Submit Presentation Files: Monday, April 19, at 8:00 a.m.

Registration Form for Participation
*Students registering for the Undergraduate Research category must submit an abstract with the registration form.

All students who register for the event will be provided with resources to assist with project formatting and development.

**Additional Award Opportunity for Undergraduate Researchers! **

This semester’s registration form also includes a section offering undergraduate researchers the invitation to enter their projects for the University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy. This award will be judged separately during the Learning Fair, and our head librarian, Emma Beaver, will award separate prizes.

Students will receive further instruction about that award process (such as when to submit their references page and participate in follow-up discussions with the judging panel) at a later time. Information about the Excellence in Information Literacy Award and the evaluation rubric can be found at the following website. Please contact Emma Beaver with any questions about this competition: [email protected]

Questions about the Learning Fair? Contact the Student Success Center:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 724-430-4119
Zoom Meeting ID: 724 430 4119

Basic Author Guidelines for Student Research Project Abstract

Abstract Structure and Content

The abstract should consist of the following six sections:

  1. Main title
  2. Author's (student's) data:
      This section includes:
    • name (first name and last name)
    • major
    • email
             If there is more than one author, these data should be listed for each of them.
  3. Research Adviser's Name
      This section includes:
    • name (first name and last name)
    • title
    • email
  4. Keywords  
    • This is a common separated list of up to five words or expressions.
  5. Basic text
      The text should be up to 20 lines (about 260 words) including at least the following two paragraphs:
    • The research project description (formulation)
    • Results and personal contribution to the project.
  6. References
              This is a list of up to three titles. Bibliographical references should be numbered.
              When references are used in the basic text, enclose the citation number in square brackets, for example [1]. 

Sample Abstract

The First Three Rungs of The Cosmological Distance Ladder

Erica Debenedictis
Astronomy
[email protected]

Jeremy Steeger
Physics
[email protected]

Research Adviser: Dr. Agnes Kim
Assistant Professor of Physics
[email protected]

Keywords: astronomical telescopes, cosmology, distance measurement, Earth rotation, eclipses, laboratory techniques.

Abstract:  It is straightforward to determine the size of the Earth and the distance to the Moon without using a telescope. The methods have been known since the third century BCE. However, few astronomers have done this measurement from data they have taken. We use a gnomon to determine the latitude and longitude of South Bend, Indiana, and College Station, Texas, and determine the value of the radius of the Earth to be Rearth=6290 km, only 1.4% smaller than the known value. We use the method of Aristarchus and the size of the Earth's shadow during the lunar eclipse of June 15, 2011 to estimate the distance to the Moon to be 62.3Rearth, 3.3% greater than the known mean value. We use measurements of the angular motion of the Moon against the background stars over the course of two nights, using a simple cross staff device, to estimate the Moon's distance at perigee and apogee. We use simultaneous observations of asteroid 1996 HW1 obtained with small telescopes in Socorro, New Mexico, and Ojai, California, to obtain a value of the Astronomical Unit of (1.59+/-0.19)×108 km, about 6% too large. The data and methods presented here can easily become part of an introductory astronomy laboratory class.

References:

[1] Krisciunas, K., “Determining the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit without a telescope.” 2010, American Journal of Physics, 78, 834
[2] Rowan-Robinson, M. The cosmological distance ladder: Distance and time in the universe.1985, New York, W.~H.~Freeman and Co, 1985, 364 p.