Symposium for Student Innovation, Research, and Creative Activities (SSIRCA)

In keeping with this year’s theme, the symposium especially welcomes submissions that address one or more of the following areas:  

• AI, Technology, and Innovation: Exploration of emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, engineering, and innovative approaches that address challenges, expand possibilities, and shape the future.
• Arts and Creative Expression: Artistic inquiry, creative practice, and cultural expression that explore human experiences, communicate ideas, challenge perspectives, and inspire new ways of understanding the world.
• Coast, Water, and Environmental Resilience: Research, scholarship, and creative approaches that explore coastal and marine ecosystems, environmental sustainability, climate challenges, natural resources, and community resilience.
• Collaborative and Community-Based Solutions: Research, scholarship, and creative activities that bring together diverse disciplines, perspectives, and community partners to address shared challenges and opportunities.
• Education, Culture, and Society: Research, scholarship, and creative activity that examines learning, identity, history, culture, social systems, and the experiences and institutions that shape our communities.
• Health and Community Well-Being: Research, scholarship, and creative initiatives that examine physical and mental health, healthcare access, health equity, quality of life, and factors that contribute to individual and community well-being. 

While these areas encourage interdisciplinary conversation around the symposium's theme, they do not exclude strong research, scholarship, or creative activities addressing other topics.

The SSIRCA Excellence Awards recognize outstanding achievement in RSCA and effective communication through undergraduate and graduate oral and poster presentations. These awards celebrate the quality, rigor, and contributions of student work.

Eligibility

All accepted undergraduate and graduate oral and poster presentations are automatically eligible for consideration for an Excellence Award, provided presenters participate in the designated judging process. No separate award application is required.

Exhibits and performances are not eligible for Excellence Awards but are automatically considered for the Distinguished Award for Outstanding Creative Inquiry and Expression.

The SSIRCA Distinguished Awards recognize contributions that reflect the University’s commitment to fostering:

• Creative inquiry and expression,
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration, and
• Public impact.
  

Undergraduate and graduate submissions may be considered for a Distinguished Award based on the presentation formats and eligibility criteria outlined below.

Students submitting oral or poster presentations may request consideration for one Distinguished Award category by selecting the appropriate category during submission and providing a brief statement explaining how their work meets the award criteria. 

All accepted exhibits and performances are automatically considered for the Distinguished Award for Outstanding Creative Inquiry and Expression. Students submitting these presentation formats must provide a brief statement explaining how their work meets the award criteria. No separate award selection is required.

• Outstanding Creative Inquiry and Expression 
  • Open to exhibits and performances that demonstrate original creative inquiry, artistic expression, or innovative approaches as a substantive component of the work.
• Outstanding Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
  • Open to oral and poster presentations involving students from at least two distinct academic disciplines whose knowledge, methods, or perspectives are meaningfully integrated into the project.
• Outstanding Public Impact
  • Open to oral and poster presentations that address a specific public or community concern, need, or opportunity and provide evidence of an existing contribution or a feasible, well-supported pathway toward meaningful impact.

• Team award: For team submissions, each monetary award is made as one award per project, rather than as separate awards to individual student contributors.
• Academic level: Projects involving both undergraduate and graduate students will be evaluated at the graduate level.
• Multiple awards: Eligible oral and poster presentations may receive both an Excellence Award and one Distinguished Award.
• Award decisions: All awards are determined through the established SSIRCA judging process. Eligibility does not guarantee an award.