Dear colleagues,

On behalf of the University of Montana Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Committee, I am pleased to announce the 20^th annual UM Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR), which will be held in a virtual environment Friday, April 16, 2021. UM students of all majors are invited to present their research and creative scholarship through oral presentations, posters, and exhibitions. A panel of UM faculty involved in research related to the COVID-19 pandemic and response will provide this year’s plenary address. We look forward to building on the success of last year’s virtual event, featured here: UMCUR 2020 on Scholar Works.

Please encourage participation in this event, especially in courses or other educational activities where students engage in research or creative scholarship that could yield a substantive public presentation, whether that be a poster presentation, an (oral) research presentation, or an exhibition of original creative work. Please consider course recognition for students who present.

To propose an UMCUR poster or presentation, students must submit a 300-word abstract or artist statement on their work. Faculty mentors should review their students’ proposals before they are submitted. The abstract submission deadline is March 15 ; and final presentations must be uploaded by April 11.

Our intention is to accommodate every UM undergraduate who wishes to participate in UMCUR, and to encourage presentations from every discipline on campus. Music, drama, dance, and poetry readings are welcome. In this spirit, we will continue to feature a Visual and Performing Arts Exhibition. Interested students are invited to submit a JPEG image of a single artwork or a video clip of less than two minutes, along with an artist statement, to be considered for a juried exhibition during UMCUR. Capstone presentations from the Franke Global Leadership Initiative will also be featured and recognized as part of UMCUR proceedings.

In advance of conference submission deadlines, we will offer training and question/answer sessions designed to help interested students prepare for UMCUR abstracts, presentations and posters.

The Committee on Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship will present awards for top UMCUR presentations. Winners will be announced April 23.

For more information about UMCUR, including an online proposal form, presentation templates, contact information, and sample abstracts, please visit the updated UMCUR website. Also available are links to last year’s conference submissions and award winners.

Thanks in advance for your participation and support, and for all you will do to ensure the success of UMCUR 2021. Let’s make this 20^th anniversary event our biggest and best UMCUR ever. With the quality and diversity of undergraduate engagement in research and creative scholarship at UM, we certainly have much to celebrate!

Timothy J. Nichols, Dean, Davidson Honors College