Student Poster Competition

Geospatial Information Sciences and Technologies Awareness Day

The College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Geography are sponsoring a poster contest open to all University of Alabama undergraduate and graduate student users of Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing and other Geospatial Technologies.

Posters will be displayed and competition winners will be announced on Thursday, November 15, 2012, in the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. The poster competition is part of a larger event sponsored by the University Libraries’ and the College of Arts and Sciences’ to highlight the widespread applications of geospatial sciences and technologies.

Undergraduate and graduate submissions will be judged separately, and the winners in each category will receive CASH PRIZES in the amount of the following:

1st place:   $250

2nd place:  $150

3rd place:     $50

Posters may reflect student research from any college on campus.  However, the poster’s theme must emphasize how geospatial sciences and technologies were used in the research process.

Submission Instructions and Evaluation Criteria

Submission Instructions

The Deadline for all poster submissions is November 5, 2012

All submissions must be in .pdf format and emailed to BOTH of the following addresses:             lwatson@bama.ua.edu,  cartlab@bama.ua.edu

  • Final posters will be printed at a size of 24 x 36 inches.  It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that the contents of his/her poster conform to these dimensions.  We cannot make modifications to the content of the posters.  The Department of Geography will print the posters and ensure that they are laminated and mounted at no cost to the student.
  • In the subject line of the email, please indicate that your status as an undergraduate or graduate, and in the body of the email, please include the following:
    • Student’s name
    • Title of the poster
    • Academic status Junior, Senior, Masters’ candidate, etc.
    • Major/Department

Poster Content

  • The poster must include student’s name, title, academic status and department or major.
  • The poster should feature geospatial technologies as either the research focus or in support of a broader study.
  • Each poster must have at least one map or image, preferably more, which demonstrate(s) the outcome or results of the research and significant methodological steps along the way.
  • The text on the posters must state a research question or geospatial problem to be examined; outline a research methodology, outcomes and conclusions.  However, the accompanying textual information must have as its PRIMARY focus the geospatial technologies used to conduct the research, including the specific software and versions of that software used.
  • Sources of data used in creating the posters must be properly cited.

Evaluation Criteria

Posters will be judged by non-users of the softwares, so your explanations should be free of technical jargon.  If you choose to use acronyms, prior to using them, spell them out, and be sure to explain what they mean.  In addition, the following criteria will apply:

  • Clarity and completeness of presentation– Is the content of the poster presented in such a way that it is understandable to a general audience who have never, or do not typically, use these technologies?  Is there a logical consistency to your poster?
  • Design– Are the contents of the poster presented in a visually pleasing manner; do maps and images conform to cartographic design principles (title, legend, north arrow, etc); are the textual components free of typographical errors and presented neatly?
  • Citations– Are your datasets sourced; if you create your own data, is your methodology in doing so clearly explained?

 

The posters will be displayed on November 15th on the second floor of the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library prior to the Geospatial Information Sciences and Technologies Awareness Day Symposium.  All contestants are expected to be in the poster display area at 12:30 and to attend the Symposium beginning at 1:00.  The awards will be announced at the end of the Symposium.