New: Poster Printing Award

New opportunity to fund printing your poster for undergraduate research events.

Apply for Poster Printing

Poster presentations are a common method of research communication. Presenters use their posters to back-up short, engaged discussions about their research. Poster events are usually large in scale, with many people presenting at the same time. Presenters may even leave their posters to visit other presenters.

Poster Design

  • SURC/FURF/SURF display boards are 40in tall and 72in wide.
  • Standard size of posters are 3ft tall x 4ft wide - If using PowerPoint select 4:3 Ratio for Slide Size.
  • Downloadable templates https://designcenter.uiowa.edu/templates.
  • Check within your lab to see if anyone has a poster presentation template.

Poster Printing

  • Check with your PI/Mentor to see if you can use a larger format printer in your department
  • There are two services on that offer poster printing

Funding Acknowledgements

You should recognize support the organizations that have enabled you to participate in your experience. Check with your faculty mentor on what programs or funding you should acknowledge.

OUR Funding Acknowledgement 
(Fellowships, Supply Grants, Travel Awards)
Research reported in this presentation is supported by the University of Iowa (UI) Office of Undergraduate Research, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of the Provost, and the Sally and Ken Mason Student Success Fund.

New Fall 2025 - Poster Printing Award

The Office of Undergraduate Research is thrilled to open the Poster Printing Award in the Fall of 2025. 

The Poster Printing Award is a one-time award for undergrads to apply for funds to aid in the cost of printing a poster. Students must use either the UI Design Center or UI Print Services, please ask your mentor which print location is most appropriate for you. We heavily encourage you to use the UI design template to create your poster. 

Students must select if they are paying for their poster upfront to be awarded after for the actual amount of the print job, or if their department will be paying upfront for the OUR to reimburse for the actual cost of printing.  OUR will not pay for printing directly, this award will come after the initial payment. Your application may provide an estimate of the total cost to print; however, the OUR will only pay for actual costs up to $120. Details in the application itself. 

We encourage students to use their poster at multiple events, so be sure you have all your acknowledgements on it! If you are funded through OUR for a fellowship or travel award, we do appreciate being listed in the acknowledgements. 

Resources

There are an overwhelming number of helpful resources regarding poster presentations. The resources linked here offer good information to start with.

OUR's Poster Presentation Intro (PowerPoint Slides with in-depth Notes)
OUR'S Poster Presentation Intro (Summer 2022 Zoom recording, first few slides cut off, ~23 min long)

Design Center's "Creating Effective Posters" 
Guide to Poster Design and available video

Iowa Sciences Academy Poster Tip Sheet
Quick and easy basic tip sheet plus other helpful resources. Logos available to download. 
Helpful to anyone, though specific to ISA and STEM students.

A Better Poster: Part 1
A Better Poster: Part 2
The "Poster Revolution" is underway. Watch these videos that changed the way we think about posters.

University of Iowa Brand Manual 
(UI-Suggested Poster and PowerPoint Templates)