2011 Student Showcase Award Winners

Student Showcase took place on November 4th, 2011 near the UA grass mall in front of the Main Library.  Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this event, as it would truly not be as successful without your contributions!

The GPSC hosts Student Showcase as the academic segment of Homecoming weekend every fall on the University of Arizona Mall. Around one hundred students participate in this exhibition of undergraduate and graduate scholarship demonstrating the wide spectrum of University student research projects. With tens of thousands of visitors attending the one-day Homecoming event, Student Showcase offers students a significant forum for communicating the importance of their research to the broader University of Arizona community.

Implemented in 1993 by the GPSC, Student Showcase represents the only student-run research exhibition of its magnitude in the United States. Students who participate in this event can be proud of their efforts and academic achievements. Demonstrating the valuable research that takes place with the help of local and state funds to everyone involved, Student Showcase also has the honor of including state representatives and many other community members as judges.

Graduate and undergraduate students participate in Student Showcase in approximately equal numbers.

By participating, students gain valuable experience presenting their work and interacting with the public. Additionally, deans, faculty, advisors, staff, administrators, department and community members serving as judges will actively encourage student participation. Student Showcase also fosters the mentoring relationship among students and their advisors and professors.

During the judging process, a panel views each exhibitor's presentation and rates it according to overall display, clarity of presentation, and the exhibitor's ability to field questions concerning their project.  The students are also judged on the academic merit and the value of their research to the community.  This aspect of the judging process considers the presenter's depth of presentation, the implications of the research and the possible foundation for future research, as well as the cultural, social, ecological, economic, and/or political value the research brings to the community.  Taking all of these components into consideration, the judges tally the score for each exhibit and compare it with other projects in their category and division.

Local business sponsors also contribute a substantial amount of support for Student Showcase each year, and have increasingly guaranteed its success. An excellent reflection of the success of the University of Arizona's programs, Student Showcase allows the Tucson community to take pride in the University and its continuing capacity to further education and visionary research.

Categories include:

• Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
• Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture
• Biological Sciences
• Business, Public Administration, and Economics
• Education
• Engineering
• Health Sciences
• Humanities, Literature, and Languages
• Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science
• Public Health
• Social Sciences and Law
• Visual and Performing Arts