LSU Discover Day

Undergraduate Research & Creativity Conference

Four students posingn for a group photo

 

Student with an art project

 


 

The 12th annual LSU Discover Day will be held on
Friday, April 25, 2025

Student applications to present are due by February 28, 2025

Student registration fee: $30

Questions or concerns? Contact us at lsudiscover@lsu.edu

 

click here to complete the online application - Due by Feb. 28, 2025


Student Presenters:

Apply now for Discover Day 2025

We are now accepting applications for undergraduate students from any college or university to present at Discover Day 2025!

Student presenter fee: $30


Application Deadline: February 28, 2025

Presenter eligibility: 

  • Undergraduates from any accredited college or university.
  • Undergraduates of any classification (freshmen, sophomore, junior, or senior). 
  • Undergraduates from any major.
  • There is no GPA requirement.
  • Applications will be sent to your designated faculty mentor or instructor for approval.
  • Students must be currently enrolled undergraduates with a graduation date of fall 2024 or later.
  • Each student must submit an abstract or artist statement of 250 words maximum with the online application

Please note: 

We understand that some projects will not be complete by the application due date. Students are welcome to submit applications for incomplete projects.

Students whose work is not complete by the event date can present a “progress report” or “state of my project” presentation.

November, 2024 Applications Open
February 28, 2025 Applications due before 11:59 pm
March 7, 2025 Mentor approval forms due (these forms are automatically emailed to your mentor when you submit an application)
March 12, 2025 Application decisions sent to applicants.  
March 28, 2025 Presenter registration fees due.  Accepted presenters will be sent a link to pay the registration fee.
April 17, 2025 Poster PDFs due for those presenters who want free printing.
April 23, 2025 Slides due (only for Oral presenters and Performance presenters)
April 25, 2025 Discover Day! 

 

This presentation format is for students who wish to present a poster which summarizes their research. Our poster stands are 4 feet by 4 feet in size and your poster cannot be any larger than the poster stand. The standard conference poster measures 3 feet x 4 feet and can be built in PowerPoint or similar programs.

For students who plan to present a poster larger than our poster stands, please select the Visual Display presentation format described below so that we can accommodate your poster. 

Poster presenters must be in attendance for the duration of their assigned 2-hour poster session.  Poster presenters should be prepared to give a short explanation of their poster to judges and visitors.  

All posters should include the presenter(s)’ and co-authors’ names and email addresses. All funding sources should be acknowledged in an “Acknowledgments” section on the poster as well.

Group presentations: Due to the set-up of the poster sessions, no more than 2 students from a group presentation may stand in front of their poster at a time.  If your group has 3 or more presenters, you will need to rotate presenters.

Free poster printing: Discover Day presenters (poster and visual display) can request to have their poster printed for free by emailing a PDF copy of your poster to lsudiscover@lsu.edu before Thursday, April 17.  Posters must be no larger than 36" by 48" and in a .pdf format to be acceptable for free printing.  

LSU A & M students who miss the free poster printing deadline are encouraged to have their posters printed at the Main Library's Print Desk on the first floor which offers the most affordable poster printing.

Click here for tips on how to create and present posters.

Click here to watch the video “Building Your Research Poster: Design and Construction”

Click here to watch the video “ Building Your Research Poster: Delivery”

Students who wish to deliver an oral presentation, with or without visual aids, should choose this format. Oral presenters will each be given 15 minutes for their presentation. Presentations should be 5-10 minutes in length leaving at least 5 minutes for questions from the judges and audience members. As a courtesy to the other presenters, oral presenters must remain in their assigned presentation room for the hour in which they are scheduled to present.

Oral presenters will be grouped into a schedule based on presentation topics and disciplines.  A moderator will be present to call students when it is their turn to present and to take questions from the audience.

Oral presenters who wish to present a slideshow must upload a copy of your slides in PowerPoint format before April 23 @ 5:00 PM to the following folder: 

Submit your PowerPoint slides

Students will NOT be allowed to open files from cloud or thumb drives during the event as this slows down the schedule and technical issues typically arise eating away at the presenter's allotted time.

When you arrive at your assigned room, your presentation will already be loaded onto the presentation computer by our staff.

This presentation category is for students who wish to present non-art objects for display.  Examples of such items include, but are not limited to: models, specimens, laptop/screen displays, prototypes, and oversized posters (larger than 4 feet x 4 feet).

Visual Display presenters may also present a poster alongside their object(s) but this is not required.

Visual Display presenters must be in attendance for the duration of their assigned 2-hour session. Visual Display presenters should be prepared to give short (3-5 minute) presentations to judges and visitors who stop by their displays. 

Visual arts presentations (Art Show): Students may apply to present a piece, or pieces, of visual art such as paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, etc.  Students must upload images of their pieces into their application for review for acceptance. Presenters in this category must be in attendance for the duration of the 2-hour Art Show. Presenters should be prepared to speak briefly (3-5 minutes) about their piece(s) and answer any questions from judges and visitors. Set up and take down instructions will be emailed to Art Show presenters after acceptance to Discover Day.

Performing arts presentations: This format is for students who wish to present a musical, theatrical, or dance performance.  Students may present an original or authored piece. Performers will have a maximum of 10 minutes for the performance with 5 minutes allotted for questions from the audience. As a courtesy to the other performers, student must be present for the hour in which they are scheduled to perform.

Poetry readings: This category is for students who wish to recite an original piece of poetry.  The presenter will have a maximum of 10 minutes for the recitation with 5 minutes allotted for questions from the audience.  As a courtesy to the other presenters, students must be present for the hour in which they are scheduled to perform.

Film presentations: This category is for students who wish to show an original short film of up to 10 minutes in length and allowing for 5 minutes of questions from the audience.  It is recommended that students upload their film to YouTube for presentation during the event as the presentation equipment will have limited software for video play. As a courtesy to the other performers, student presenters must be present for the hour in which their film is scheduled to play.

Students who have been invited by a faculty member to take part in a Discover Day panel should select this presentation format.  Presentation instructions will be provided by the faculty member.

Professionalism:

  • Arrive early to your presentation.  It may take some time to get through the check-in line and then set up, so arrive at least 15-30 minutes early to make sure that you can begin your presentation promptly at the scheduled time.  The presentation schedule cannot be adjusted for tardy presenters.
  • Make sure to be prepared for your presentation several days in advance of the event.  Don’t wait until the last minute to print a poster or prepare materials.

Decorum:

Student presenters are expected to act as representatives of their university/college. Politely answer questions from visitors and judges, and be courteous to your fellow presenters. When you are not scheduled to present, make sure to view other student presentations and ask questions.  Should an issue arise, you should contact the event organizers before the event day (email: lsudiscover@lsu.edu) or by visiting the Discover Day Check-In Desk during the event.

Dress Code:

It is advised, but not mandated, that you dress in business casual or business professional for the event. The LSU Career Center can help with professional attire.

Below are the rubrics that the judges will use to review and score each presentation or poster. Please feel free to look over the rubrics and familiarize yourself with the different areas and categories to help you better prepare for Discover Day.

Art Show Rubric

Humanities & Arts Oral Presentation Rubric

Humanities & Arts Poster Presentation Rubric

STEM Oral Presentation Rubric

STEM Poster Presentation Rubric

Visual Display Rubric

Students at an award ceremony

Overall winners - all presenters are eligible

Award plaques will be given to the top students in these categories:

Poster presentation
Visual Display presentation 
Oral presentation 
Visual & Performing Arts 

Collegiate Monetary prizes - restricted to LSU- BR students 

The following LSU A & M colleges will award $125, $75, and $50 to the top 3 scoring students from their colleges.

Manship School of Mass Communication
College of Music and Dramatic Arts
College of Art and Design
College of Agriculture
College of the Coast and Environment
College of Human Sciences and Education
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
College of Science

 

The top 3 students from the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business will be awarded:

1st place - $200
Two runner up prizes of $100 each


The LSU College of Engineering is offering the following prizes for top scoring engineering majors:

Up to 5 of the top individual presenters: $100 prize each.
Up to 5 of the top design teams: $100 per team.

Student presenting a research project with bird specimens

 

Event Information

Friday, April 25, 2025
LSU Student Union

All events located in the LSU Student Union

The schedule listed below is tentative and will be subject to change/updated as we near the event date.

Time Event Details Location
7:30 am - 6:00 pm Check-in desk open Visitors, judges, moderators, and all student presenters must check-in  2nd floor East lobby (next to Cotillion Ballroom on 2nd floor)
8:15 - 8:45 am Welcome Remarks & light breakfast for presenters   Cotillion Ballroom, room 250
9:00 - 11:00 am Morning oral presentations Humanities, Social Sciences, Business, and Arts topics Capital Chamber, room 329 / Castillian, room 304 / International, room 303 / Vieux Carre, room 325
9:00 - 11:00 am Morning Poster Session STEM topics Cotillion Ballroom, room 250
10:00 - 11:00 am Performances   Red River, room 323
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Presenter Lunch Break  Buffet lunch provided to presenters Lunch ticket will be given at check-in on event day
12:00 - 3:15 pm Afternoon Oral Presentations STEM topics Capital Chamber, room 329 / Castillian, room 304 / International, room 303 / Red River, room 323
12:00 - 3:00 pm Student Panel TBA TBA
1:00 - 3:00 pm Afternoon Poster,  Visual Displays, & Art Show Session Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Business, and STEM topics Cotillion Ballroom, room 250
3:30 - 4:30 pm Careers in Research Panel TBA Capital Chamber, room 329
5:00 - 6:30 pm Keynote Speech & Awards Ceremony Keynote Speaker: TBA Atchafalaya, room 339

 

For All Student Presenters: 

$30 non-refundable fee.  Payment link will be sent to accepted students via email.

 

For Visitors: 

No fee or registration necessary!  Discover Day presentation events are free and open to the public. See the Visitor Info section below.

Louisiana State University is excited to welcome you to our campus for our undergraduate research conference, LSU Discover Day 2025, on Friday, April 25!  Discover Day will be held in rooms throughout the LSU Student Union located on the corner of Highland Rd and Veterans Drive. 

No registration or fee is required to attend Discover Day as a guest. Just show up at the LSU Student Union on Friday, April 25 and follow the signs to the Discover Day check-in desk!

Discover Day organizers rely on dozens of volunteers to help with set-up, registration, check-in, and clean-up. You can sign up for as little as one hour and all volunteers will be given a t-shirt.

Volunteer Sign Up Coming Soon!

We also invite faculty, staff, doctoral students, and industry partners to judge student presentations.  You can sign up for as little as one hour of judging. If your student is presenting, you will not be assigned to score your own student.  All judges will be contacted a few days before the event with instructions.

Judges Sign Up Coming Soon!

Please note that we have transitioned to an online judging format. You will need a smart phone, or tablet with wi-fi capability, to participate as a judge.

LSU Discover is seeking faculty or staff to serve as moderators for our oral presentation sessions.  Moderators are responsible for keeping student presenters to the time schedule, announcing the next presenter, and taking questions from the audience for the presenter to answer.  Moderators must be available for the entire 2-hour oral presentation session.

Those interested in moderating should contact Sarah Ferstel at sferst1@lsu.edu 


 

Thank You: MARC ProgramMARC Program banner

LSU Discover is enormously grateful to the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program for their generous financial contribution to Discover Day 2024. To learn more about MARC, visit marc.lsu.edu

 

 


Past Discover Days

LSU Discover proudly reports that the 11th annual LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research Conference was a great success!  With 379 presenting students from LSU and 22 other schools and universities, the event celebrated student research and creative work with poster, oral, art, performance, and visual display presentations.  Top presenters were selected by the 108 faculty, staff, and graduate student judges for awards in each presentation category.  An eager group of future researchers attended our panel on Pursuing Careers in Research, many even staying after the event to continue the discussion with the panelists. None of this could have been possible without the 92 volunteers who helped with set up, ran check-in stations, guided our 100s of visitors, and cleaned up.  We were delighted to have had LSU professor of environmental sciences, Dr. Margaret Reams, as our keynote speaker, who completed a wonderful day of research celebration.

2024 Conference Program

DISCOVER DAY 2024 OVERALL WINNERS

DISCOVER DAY 2024 MONETARY WINNERS

The 10th annual LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium was held in person on Friday, April 19th, 2023 at Louisiana State University's Student Union.  Over 300 undergraduate students from a wide variety of majors and from over 25 different colleges and universities presented art, posters, oral presentations, performances, poetry readings, and more.

Click here to view the Discover Day 2023 Program

discover day 2023 Overall Winners

discover day 2023 monetary winners

The 9th annual LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium was held in person on Friday, April 22nd, 2022 at Louisiana State University's Student Union.  Over 300 undergraduate students from a wide variety of majors and from over 20 different colleges and universities presented art, posters, oral presentations, performances, poetry readings, and more.

 
Click here to view the Discover Day 2022 program

discover day 2022 overall winners

discover day 2022 monetary winners

 

The 8th annual LSU Discover Day Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium was held on Thursday, April 15 – Friday, April 16, 2021. Over 160 students from 16 different universities presented their research or creative work virtually to an audience of faculty, graduate students, friends, and family.

CLICK HERE for THE DISCOVER DAY 2021 PROGRAM

discover day 2021 overall winners

discover day 2021 monetary winners

On April 27th and 28th, 2020, the 7th LSU Discover Day undergraduate symposium provided a forum for undergraduate students from any major to share their research and creative works in a virtual event. 104 intrepid undergraduate students braved the frontier of remotely presenting their research online! 

Scroll down to see the list of student presenters and award winners.

CLICK HERE for THE DISCOVER DAY 2020 PROGRAM

discover day 2020 overall winners

discover day 2020 monetary winners

 

On Tuesday, April 9th, 2019, a record 349 undergraduate students from LSU and 16 other universities and colleges presented their research and creative works at the 6th annual LSU Discover Day symposium in the LSU student union. This event provided a forum  for undergraduate students to share their research and creative work with the LSU community and visitors.  

Click here to view the Discover Day 2019 Program

discover day 2019 overall winners

discover day 2019 monetary winners

 

On April 10, 2018, LSU Discover hosted the 5th annual LSU Discover Day undergraduate research and creativity symposium in the LSU student union. There were over 200 undergraduate presenters, hundreds of visitors, many fantastic judges, volunteers, and staff members, and one fantastic keynote speaker! Thank you to everyone who came out to LSU Discover Day 2018!

Students from each college at LSU competed in the poster, oral presentation, or the juried art show competition, all of which were judged by LSU faculty, staff, and doctoral students.  LSU Discover was also happy to welcome student presenters from the University of New Orleans, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Dillard University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Montgomery University, Vanderbilt University, Zamorano University, the University of Mississippi, Southeastern University A&M, Baton Rouge Community College, and Baton Rouge Magnet High School.

Click here to view the Discover Day 2018 Program

discover day 2018 award winners

On April 4, 2017, LSU Discover hosted the 4th annual LSU Discover Day undergraduate research and creativity symposium in the LSU student union.  There were 176 undergraduate presenters, 400+ visitors, 89 judges, 40 volunteers, 7 staff members, and one fantastic keynote speaker!

Students from each college at LSU competed in the poster, oral presentation, or the juried art show competition, all of which were judged by LSU faculty, staff, and doctoral students.  New this year, LSU Discover was very happy to welcome student presenters from the University of New Orleans, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and Baton Rouge Community College.

Click here to view the Discover Day 2017 Program

Date: April 7, 2016

Location: Cotillion ballroom, LSU Student Union

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

LSU Discover Day 2016 was a big success!

More than 100 student participants from 10 colleges showcased their research & creative projects. Well over 400 people including faculty, staff, students and visitors, attended the event!

Click here to view the Discover Day 2016 Program

Date: March 19, 2015

Location: Cotillion ballroom, LSU Student Union

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Discover Day 2015 was a success!

More than 100 student participants from 9 colleges showcased their research. Around 400 people including faculty, staff, students and visitors, attended the event!

Click here to view the Discover Day 2015 Program 

On March 10, 2014, LSU Discover hosted the inaugural LSU Discover Day research and creativity symposium. Each college was asked to send 10 students to present a poster or performance in the Student Union ballroom.

Click here to view the LSU Discover Day 2014 program