Undergraduate Poster Competition

To enter the competition, you must answer yes to the undergraduate competition question and select the “Undergraduate Poster Competition” option as your second section preference when submitting your abstract.

Previous winners of this award are not eligible to compete.

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All students participating in the Undergraduate Poster Competition must upload a PDF of their poster to the abstract system by December 2, 2025. Participants who do not submit a PDF of their poster will be withdrawn from the competition.

Three finalists will receive complimentary registration to the annual conference and be awarded $1,000 each for their travel to and from the IETS Annual Conference. Out of the three finalists, a first-place winner and two runners-up will be awarded cash prizes (US$400 and US$200, respectively) and inscribed plaques. 

The experimental data presented in the abstract must be original and must have been gathered during the student’s program. The individual entering the competition must have been an undergraduate student at some point during the calendar year immediately prior to the annual conference for that competition. An individual student will be allowed to enter only one abstract per year, and that student must be the first author of that abstract. If an abstract is selected as a finalist, the student entering the competition with that abstract (the first author) shall present the poster at the annual conference.

The format must conform to the IETS guidelines for Preparation of Abstracts for Poster Presentations. Data presented in this abstract may not have been accepted for publication elsewhere, nor presented at any national or international meeting prior to the IETS Annual Conference.

If a student has submitted a manuscript containing the same data that are the basis for the abstract submitted to the IETS and receives notification that the manuscript will be published before the time of the competition, the abstract submitted to the IETS must be withdrawn immediately, and the student will not be eligible to compete at the IETS Annual Conference.

All students participating in the Undergraduate Poster Competition must upload a PDF of their poster to the abstract system by December 2, 2025. Participants who do not submit a PDF of their poster will be withdrawn from the competition. 

Entries are judged on the quality of the abstract, and no more than three will be chosen for further competition. These three finalists will present their work in poster format during the IETS Annual Conference.

At the IETS Annual Conference, the student finalists will be judged on the quality of their poster presentation. Judges will be representative IETS members appointed to the Education Committee of the IETS Foundation who have no conflicts of interest with respect to students in the competition.

Undergraduate Poster Competition abstracts that are rejected by the program co-chairs must be withdrawn from the competition. However, apart from acceptability of the abstract, the Education Committee of the IETS Foundation makes all decisions regarding the Undergraduate Poster Competition. Students whose abstracts are not among the three selected for poster presentation are encouraged to attend the conference and present their data in the poster session. If your abstract is accepted but is not one of the three finalists, as an undergraduate student, you will receive a complimentary registration to the annual meeting. However, you will not receive a travel grant. If students do not plan to attend the conference, they must withdraw their abstracts from the proceedings before August 22, 2025.