Each year when winter is about to break and the first crocus start to appear, the Graduate School hosts the Graduate Poster Forum to showcase graduate student research. The 2008 Poster Forum was held at Tangeman University Center (TUC) in conjunction with Showcase UC 2008 (faculty research) as both events seek to exhibit the first-rate research done at the university. Over 160 students from all disciplines participated in this adjudicated university-wide event with poster topics ranging from Victorian sensation fiction to the mating habits of wolf spiders and West Nile virus.

This Forum gives students an opportunity to practice presenting their research orally to a general audience – an important piece of graduate student development as students become professionals who will need to effectively communicate their research and its potential benefits to a number of audiences, including donors and granting agencies. Awards are given for top posters in different disciplinary areas and students receive copies of the judges’ remarks to better inform future presentations.