All CSI undergraduate students, whose research/scholarly projects (or works in progress) have been mentored and sponsored by a CSI faculty mentor, are eligible to participate in the conference. Students are welcome to submit abstracts for individual or group projects and may participate in more than one presentation.
Acceptance to present in the conference will be based on the quality and timeliness of the mentor-approved applications.
Highest priority will be given to submissions that are based on original research or in-depth extensions of previous research. While we understand that a conference submission may emerge from a course assignment that your professor might have encouraged you to submit as part of your overall grade, there is no guarantee that your submission will be accepted.
If you have any questions, please email UGConference@csi.cuny.edu.
Guidelines: Application Procedures
Application Procedure
- Notify your faculty mentor that you are interested in presenting your work. (Do this as soon as possible!!)
- Ask for their guidance in preparing an abstract (see description below).
- Submit your abstract using the Online Submission Form by the March 3, 2026 deadline. Be sure to have your faculty mentor review your abstract BEFORE you submit - mentor approval is mandatory for acceptance in the conference!
- Your mentor will be prompted with a follow-up email to respond to your abstract/application submission by March 5, 2026.
- If your mentor approves your abstract, you will receive an email confirming approval and the completion of your application.
- If your mentor does not approve, you will be notified via email and asked to address any modifications with your mentor for resubmission before March 6, 2026.
Abstract Guidelines
An abstract is a concise summary of your project, no more than one or two paragraphs. Abstracts include the reasons for undertaking the work, the methods used, findings and your conclusions. In the case of creative works, describe your project. When appropriate, you should also consider the importance of the work and its applications.
- Abstracts for this conference should be no longer than one page (250 words in length). Abstracts must be entered as part of the Online Submission Form.
- It is important that you carefully review your abstract with your mentor for content, spelling, punctuation and grammar before submitting it online.
- For reference, you may wish to review abstracts from one of the Archived Undergraduate Conferences.
Guidelines: Poster & Presentation Prep
Poster Presentation Guidelines
Poster design and printing is a lengthy process! You should therefore plan accordingly, allow yourself plenty of time for the construction, editing, and printing of your poster. We strongly advise all students to attend the “Workshop on Creating a Poster” as well as the one-on-one sessions offered. Please be sure to check out the webpage, Workshops / Drop-In Assistance, for more information.
In addition, we encourage all students to review the slide presentation, Creating a Research Poster. This tutorial has been designed to familiarize students with poster presentation guidelines, and includes many helpful tips.
Presenters must adhere to specific guidelines. To help you remember them all and to stay on track, we recommend that you download the Checklist for an Effective Poster. Here we provide our key poster requirements:
- All posters must be 36” height x 48” width. Tri-fold poster boards of the same size will be provided to presenters the day of the conference.
- CSI and CUNY Logos must be included on all poster submissions.* Note: please do not distort logos when resizing – be sure to retain the proportions given for each logo when applying to your poster.
- It is not necessary but always good practice for you to include your mentor as co-author or to have his/her name represented elsewhere on your poster.
Poster Printing
- Final poster entries must be emailed as both PowerPoint and PDF files to UGConference@csi.cuny.edu
- All poster submissions must include a Poster Approval Form from your mentor.
- Printing of conference posters is offered free of charge to UGC participants by the CSI Print Shop.
- We will coordinate the printing process for you. Please keep in mind that we can only print your poster once so please be sure that it has been carefully reviewed and is FINAL before you submit.
- After your poster has been printed, you will receive an email that it has been printed. If you wish, you can view it in Building 1A – Room 211. We will bring your poster to the conference for you, and will assist you with set-up during registration.
Guidelines: Event Day Agenda – What to Expect
What to Expect on the Day of the Conference – Thursday, April 30th, 2026
More information will be shared in Spring 2026. Check back soon!