The Claremont Colleges Library and Pomona College are sponsoring a Spring 2021 semester Student Poster Showcase which highlights materials on our region’s environmental history found in the Western Water Archives.
Participants are encouraged to develop a poster if they are just starting on a project, presenting preliminary research, or in the planning stages of a creative work. To enter the showcase, students must choose at least one item found in the Western Water Archives and develop a digital poster presentation that captures the material’s significance with respect to the overall project.
Presenting a poster of your project or research will allow you to build your presentation skills by communicating concepts visually through technical and audio-visual methods as opposed to traditional written means such as a paper, article, or report. It will also allow you to engage with other scholars, open up potential for in-depth discussions about research with faculty, and allow you to share your research widely in an Open Access format.
The showcase will be held entirely online and will highlight between 5-10 projects selected by the judging panel. Students selected for participation in the final showcase will need to be available via Zoom to present and answer questions, Monday, May 10, 2021 at 9:00am (PDT).
Awards Offered
The Western Water Archives Student Poster Showcase is offering the following awards and prizes:
- First prize: $300.00 plus a year-long student membership to the professional organization of their choice: American Society for Environmental History ($40 value); Soil and Water Conservation Society ($40 value); or other science or history organization of student’s choice (not to exceed $50).
- Second prize: $200.00
- Third prize: $100.00
- All students will receive a certificate of participation after completion of the showcase and will be featured on the Western Water Archives website.
Cash prizes are distributed by Pomona College. Membership prizes will be distributed by The Claremont Colleges Library.
Important Dates
Round 1: Deadline to Submit your Project Summary
Sunday, March 21, 2021, no later than 11:59pm (PDT)
Applicants Notified of Invitation to Participate in Student Poster Showcase
Monday, March 29, 2021, sent out no later than 5:00pm (PDT)
All applicants will be notified via email if they are chosen to participate in the Student Poster Showcase. Not all applicants will be invited to Round 2 where they will be asked to submit their poster, video presentation, and bibliography for the showcase. The showcase will only include 5-10 projects.
Round 2: Deadline to Submit Your Poster, Video Presentation, and Bibliography to Participate in Student Poster Showcase
Sunday, April 25, 2021, no later than 11:59pm (PDT)
Day of Student Poster Showcase
Monday, May 10, 2021, 9:00am (PDT)
Notification to Prize Winners
Monday, May 10, 2021 via email no later than 5:00pm (PDT)
Eligibility
Enrollment Status
All students must be a enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at any college. Students may work individually or in teams. The maximum number of students per team is four (4).
Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
Project Topic
Poster projects should be focused on topics or specific materials found in the Western Water Archives collections. Students are encouraged to use a project that is in progress for a class or for a class they have already completed which uses materials from the Western Water Archives.
Example topics include, but are not limited to:
- Contamination and pollution
- Floods and floodplains
- Indigenous history and knowledge
- Irrigation
- Legal cases
- Specific locations such as the Santa Ana River; the Colorado River Aqueduct; the Los Angeles Aqueduct; the Salton Sea
- Reservoirs and dams including Boulder Dam, Davis Dam, and Parker Dam including the design and building of dams
- Watersheds
- Water companies and municipal water suppliers
- Water engineering
- Water rights, land ownership and other legal matters
NOTE: All posters must incorporate at least one item from the Western Water Archives.
Poster, Video Presentation & Bibliography Format
Prior to submitting your final poster (PDF), video presentation (MP4), and bibliography (PDF), save them to your own Google Drive, Box or Drop Box account.
To submit these materials, you will be asked to provide a link to each item; rather than physically uploading them.
Be sure to set your sharing privacy settings for each link to – Public, so that the judges may easily view your submission.
Evaluation Criteria
Please read the full Western Water Archives Student Poster Showcase Award – Guidelines & Judging Criteria for specific and detailed information about how your submission will be judged.
Prize-winning submissions will convey a clear and compelling vision of the research topic and highlight the materials found in the Western Water Archives.
Submissions must include the elements described in the Judging Criteria and will be evaluated by a judging panel composed of librarians and faculty.
How to Participate
Round 1: Complete the Online Application
Complete the Online Application.
The online application requires that you submit your project summary. The summary is limited to 500-1000 words. Project summaries should be concise and be able to appropriately describe your research within the word limit. You may link to the summary from your own Google Drive, Box or Drop Box account or paste the text directly into the application form.
For help with creating your summary, please refer to Round 1: The Project Summary found at Western Water Archives Student Poster Showcase Award – Guidelines & Judging Criteria.
Other application information includes:
- Name, email, college/university name, program of study of applicant
- Additional names, emails, college/university names, programs of study of group members (if group project is being submitted)
- Link(s) to material(s) you plan to use/have used from the Western Water Archives for this project
All applicants will be notified via email, no later than 5:00 pm, March 29, 2021, if they are chosen to participate in the Student Poster Showcase. Not all applicants will be invited to Round 2 where they will be asked to submit their poster, video presentation, and bibliography for the showcase. The showcase will include 5-10 projects, from which the final winners will be chosen.
Round 2: Submit Your Final Poster, Video Presentation & Bibliography
Once your project summary has been accepted and you have been notified of your invitation to participate in the final showcase, you will need to submit your poster, video presentation and bibliography by Sunday, April 25, 2021, no later than 11:59pm (PDT).
Please read the full Western Water Archives Student Poster Showcase Award – Guidelines & Judging Criteria for more information about how to create, save and submit your poster, video presentation and bibliography.
Agreements
- Agreement to Publish: Individuals and groups must agree to confer a limited license to The Claremont Colleges Library in order to make their work (poster or video, or both) publicly accessible on the Western Water Archives website and The Claremont Colleges YouTube Channel. All individuals will retain copyright of their works.
- Agreement to Attend Poster Showcase: Participants agree to attend the Poster Showcase and be prepared to present their posters if they are selected. Please check Important Dates for updated information.
Information for Faculty
Why should my students participate?
Participation in the Western Water Archives Student Poster Showcase offers numerous benefits to students who participate.
Projects presented can include research proposals, literature reviews, research projects or research presentations. Students enrolled in fundamentals of research courses, capstone courses, core classes, or other classes that require a research or project component may wish to incorporate student participation in the WWA poster showcase as part of a research project already in your syllabus.
This may work best if the course already has a visual poster/presentation assignment or final presentation (in lieu of an exam) so that students are not overloaded with additional preparation in an already demanding course.
How can I build the poster into my curriculum?
It is important that established due dates for each stage of the showcase are added to your syllabus or LMS (Sakia/Canvas) for students to review.
There are four stages:
- Application with project summary
- Poster, video and bibliography submission
- Expert judging
- Recognition
The dates for upcoming virtual poster showcases were decided based on review of a variety of university schedules, therefore the date ranges for each stage should provide flexibility for implementation into different class schedules.
Accommodations
Students who may benefit from the use of an interpreter at their educational institution should communicate their presentation through American (ASL) or International (ISL) Sign Language on camera with the assistance of an interpreter who will voice the presentation off camera. Support for interpretation services may be available at your campus Accessibility Services or Office of Disability Services. Please note, only the student presenter and the poster should be visible in the supporting video presentation.
Questions?
Do you have questions about the Western Water Archives or the Student Poster Showcase application process? Please feel free to contact us.