Office for Undergraduate Research and Artistry
Celebrate Undergraduate Research & Creativity Showcase
Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity
CURC 2024 will be held on Thursday April 18, 2024. Stay tuned for more information on next year’s showcase.
About CURC
Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity is an annual event held in April that showcases the creativity and scholarship of undergraduate students across various disciplines. The showcase culminates in a closing ceremony that recognizes all participants and honors award winners from events throughout the year.
History
CSU’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was responsible for the first formal research symposium on campus. Over time, that event grew into a college-wide event for students in the College of Natural Sciences (CNS).
Around 1989-1990, the Office of the Provost began working with CNS to facilitate the expansion of their annual research poster session into the university-wide event that we know today as the Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity Showcase. With the inclusion of all disciplines represented at CSU, CURC showcases much more that traditional research. Audiences attend CURC as much for the writing, artwork, music, and design projects as they do to observe the research presentations.
From a handful of students presenting their research from a single department decades ago, to over 500 students presenting their research from across the university today, CURC continues to be an evolving event that captures the spirit, creativity and scholarship of undergraduate students at CSU.
Sponsors
CURC is generously supported by CSU’s School of Music, Theater, and Dance, the Office for Undergraduate Research and Artistry and TILT.
Each year various CSU units, institutes, and colleges sponsor student awards to recognize creative and scholarly excellence presented at CURC.
Steering Committee
The CURC Steering Committee is composed of faculty representatives from each college at CSU. The goal of the committee is to ensure CURC is accessible and supportive of all creative and scholarly efforts of CSU undergraduates. If your college is not currently represented and you would like to be involved in next year’s planning, please reach out to OURA’s director.
- CLA: Ellie Light
- WCNR: Chris Myrick
- WSCOE: Christie Peebles
- CNS: Nancy Levinger
- CHHS: Matt Hickey
- COB: Ken Manning
- CVMBS: Alan Schenkel
- CAS: Thomas Borch
- OURA: Louise Allen, Courtney Ngai, Michelle Matter
Presentation Categories and Submission Guidelines:
All students interesting in presenting must register through Symposium (https://symposium.foragerone.com/csu-curc2023/register). To register, you must submit the following information:
- Name
- CSU ID Number
- College
- Presentation Category (see descriptions below)
- Mentor or Project Lead (if applicable)
- Collaborators or Co-Presenters (if applicable)
- Presentation Title
- Abstract or Project Summary (250 words maximum) – uploaded as .doc or .docx
Research Poster Category
Who Should Submit: Students who have completed or planned a project which involves asking one or more questions and trying to answer those questions, or hypothesizing about outcomes and checking those hypotheses.
Category Overview: Students will create a poster in virtual and print format. They will upload their poster and a 3-minute video narration of their work with their virtual submission to Symposium, and they will print their poster and present it at the in-person CURC event on April 20th in the UCA. Presenters will give a 3-minute narration explaining the poster/project to interested attendees and judges. Students will be assigned to one of two poster time sessions (9:00-10:15am or 10:15-11:30am) and must be present at their poster during the entirety of their time slot to speak with attendees about their work.
Community Engagement Poster Category
Who Should Submit: Students who have completed, helped with, or planned a project which involves helping a community meet their needs in a reciprocal way.
Category Overview: Students will create a poster in virtual and print format. They will upload their poster and a 3-minute video narration of their work with their virtual submission to Symposium, and they will print their poster and present it at the in-person CURC event on April 20th in the UCA. Presenters will give a 3-minute narration explaining the poster/project to interested attendees and judges. Students will be assigned to one of two poster time sessions (9:00-10:15am or 10:15-11:30am) and must be present at their poster during the entirety of their time slot to speak with attendees about their work.
Visual Art Category
Who Should Submit: Students who have created a visual work of art or project. Artwork can be in any medium, including sculptures, videos/films, paintings, drawings, textiles/clothing, or any other visual artwork.
Category Overview: Students will upload a 3-minute artist talk to the Symposium platform (use “Performing or Visual Art Submissions”), explaining their artwork. For the in-person event, art will be displayed from 12:30-1:45pm, and the artist is required to be present to talk about their work and answer questions from attendees.
Submitters are asked to contact OURA staff (email tilt_oura@colostate.edu) as early as possible to ensure we are prepared to properly display your work.
Performing Art Category
Who Should Submit: Students who enjoy performing art of any kind, including (but not limited to): dance, music, poetry, acting, spoken word, performance art, or any other performance-based art.
Category Overview: Students will also upload a 3-minute artist talk to Symposium in which they describe their performance. Students will then deliver their artistic performance at the in-person CURC event on April 20th. Performances will be scheduled between 9:30-10:45am. Performances will be live-streamed via Symposium, so remote attendees can watch these performances in real-time. Performances can be in any discipline, and shorter submissions are appreciated.
Oral Presentation Category
Who Should Submit: Students who have completed or planned a project which involves asking one or more questions and trying to answer those questions/hypotheses, or students who have completed, helped with, or planned a project which involves helping a community meet their needs in a reciprocal way.
Category Overview: Students will present their work during the in-person CURC event on April 20th. Students will give a 10-minute presentation on their project, using a PowerPoint (or equivalent) to help them explain their project to a general audience. The presentation will be followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. Students will be assigned to one of two oral presentation time sessions (2:00-3:15pm or 3:30-4:45pm) This presentation will be live-streamed via Symposium, so remote attendees can watch these presentations in real-time. Students must send their final PowerPoint (or equivalent) to tilt_oura@colostate.edu.
Students will also upload a virtual presentation to Symposium which includes a PDF image of the title slide and a 3-minute video narration of their work.
Written Work Category
Who Should Submit: Students who have completed all or part of an original written project, not including research papers or projects. Original work can be in any genre, including (but not limited to) fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scientific journalism, technical writing, written excerpts, or others.
Category Overview: Students can submit a completed original work of up to 25 pages in any genre, excluding scholarly research papers. The written work submission (25 pgs maximum) will be uploaded to the Symposium platform by April 6th. Students will also upload a 1-page PDF summary of their work and a 3-minute video narration of their work. The full written work submission will be sent to judges but will not be displayed via Symposium; virtual attendees will only be able to view the 1-page summary and author’s video narration. In-person CURC participation is not required for Written Work submissions.
