Tag Archives: poster session

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Who needs Psychologists When You’ve Got Teachers

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While politely waiting to pass through a crowded area in the basement of the Macaulay building I had been attracted to this poster. The student who was in the middle of a presentation had been very animated and enthusiastic about her project. That, combined with the fact that I had nowhere else to go, caused me to listen in on her poster presentation.

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Rebecca Kurtz and her group mate Karen Goldbeger had chosen to focus on the coalition between educational experiences and ADHD diagnosis. Inspired by the rising “ADHD epidemic” they decided to use statistics to see if there were any trends with ADHD diagnosis. When viewing a map of all of the cases of ADHD in America it is easy enough to see that most cases were concentrated around urban areas while the rural parts of America had very few ADHD cases. Rebecca and Karen wanted to see if quality education and understanding environments provided by psychologists and teachers could decrease the amount of ADHD cases, or if they could at least have a positive influence.

This topic was extremely intriguing to me since I had worked with students with ADHD throughout high school as a Spanish student teacher. Rebecca’s data was very thorough, almost too thorough. She had called the APA for the exact number of psychologists in each state. She then used that data in combination with the amount of ADHD diagnosis in a given area to see if there was any real relationship between the two. She repeated the graph, replacing the number of psychologists with the quality of education in a given area. In my opinion the second graph is subjective, because the variables that make up a school ranking can not cover everything that would be considered a “quality education”.

They used a complicated statistical formula to ultimately answer their question, and no there was no clear relationship between the three variables. However, some of the data is subjective so there wouldn’t have been a clear answer either way.

I really liked their poster it had a good balance of visuals and words. Rebecca’s presentation was engaging and her answers to my questions were very thoughtful.

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Poster Session

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Observing all of the posters was slightly intimidating for me because my poster was about half the size of many of them. But then my critical eye kicked in, and I was incredibly dissatisfied by the amount of posters whose entire space was jam-packed with words. And many of the posters that did employ graphics/colors/images were a little light on the content side. For instance (I mentioned this in class), one poster was organized nicely and seemed engaging, and the topic caught my attention—do men have a greater tendency towards riskier decision-making? This field has been widely researched, so I was excited to see how they synthesized this material or came up with their own research to corroborate previous findings. They tested their hypothesis by measuring the amount of men vs. women who jaywalked on a particular street corner. That’s right, one street corner. For how long? Well, how long do you think four college students had the patience to sit at a street corner? They found no difference between men and women in their study. Shocking.

While quality research was often hidden underneath lines and lines of small-lettered words, low quality research was often presented quite nicely. An exception to this rule was fellow Brooklyn College students’ poster, “Behind Closed Doors…If There Are Any: A Comparison of Social Issues that Define the Upper East Side and Harlem.” Despite the lengthy title, the group’s poster was very well done in my opinion. Words did not overwhelm the poster, and graphs were utilized strategically to explain content. The poster was a thorough analysis of the impact of race and income on a variety of societal issues, including alcoholism, homelessness, mental illness, domestic violence, and substance abuse. I was impressed by how comprehensive it was. Each member clearly did his or her part, and they all knew their respective sections very well. They walked me through the poster in an informative and engaging manner. There were major trends in the research; lower socioeconomic areas are plagued more intensely by these negative factors, as expected, but having it all written and organized clearly in one place is very important. It has a stronger impact on the viewer when he or she sees that not only is East Harlem subject to fewer health resources, but also has a higher rate of homelessness, higher rates of death due to drug abuse, and higher domestic violence rates than the rest of the city. For someone interested in education, public policy, public health, or just general community service, information like this is important. I applaud their ambitious project and creative presentation.

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Juice dieting: just another fad?

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The poster session at the Macaulay building on Sunday was filled with a myriad of attention grabbing, colorful posters about topics that seemed either too simple or complex for an average college audience. There were posters that tried to incorporate too many details at the expense of captivating passersby. Others offered relatively little insight and simplified analysis of their data. Despite representing the latter type of poster, “Juice Diets,” a poster designed by Baruch College students caught my attention simply because of its topic.

Juice dieting has become a fairly popular, yet misunderstood trend in young people all across the country, especially in urban areas. It involves substituting all meals with a liquid meal of pressed fruits and vegetables. This diet is said to help cleanse the body as it eliminates toxins from the body. Seeing this topic on a poster interested me because I know that the diet, just like many other fads, instigates a subsequent false mentality that it is the sole decision necessary to lose weight. It simple: only drink juice and you will lose weight. Juice dieting is by no means a clear-cut method for weight loss; however, many people are not aware of that fact and therefore misinterpret its functionality.

The poster drew from a study the students conducted in which 133 college students were questioned about juice dieting and their opinions on its effectiveness. The results portrayed a mixed opinion, leaning slightly towards a belief that juice dieting was effective and trusted. However, the group’s analysis of the data was what sold the poster for me. They critiqued their own study, offering possible questions they could ask in response to the data they collected, and suggested that further research was necessary to acknowledge any adverse effects juice dieting might have on the body (juice cannot supply you with all the vitamins, nutrients, protein, etc. that you need). While the poster did not go into much depth on the “science” of juice dieting, it provided a good analysis of a new and potential solution for a topical issue.

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Does a Warmer Climate Make a Better Home?

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This poster really caught my eye at the session on Sunday. I loved the focus on the maps in the center and the overall use of color that was interesting but not overwhelming. The green and orange fit nicely with the idea of heat and plants.

The maps show how climate is changing globally but the focus of the project was on invasive plants in New York City. Perhaps the group should have focused their maps to the immediate area and how climate is changing locally

Though there was a lot of text, it was large print and legible to the reader. It was easy to follow with large, colorful titles and supplemented with transparent photos of the plants being discussed.

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“A Study for Correlation between Climate and the Invasiveness of Two Introduced Plant Species in New York City”
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Do you have worms in your water?

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“Maybe,” answered a pair of presenters at the 10–12:00 Sunday (12/6) poster session. Samuel Berger and Lisset Duran of John Jay College of Criminal Justice looked through logs of 311 complaints about the city’s water quality. (The database saved complaint locations as coordinates [rather than as addresses or names of buildings], and going through the data proved tedious as each point had to be then put on a map.) Most of the complaints were regarding the smell of the water, which the group then further broke down by type of odor described. They also looked at the number of callers by borough, though noted that Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens likely had the most callers because of their greater populations. The graphs were laid out well and were clear in showing the main points of the poster.

One of the medium-level1 311 complaints, however, was of worms in people’s water. And when the group tried calling 311 to ask about said worms, the response was along the lines of “oh, that happens sometimes,” and to not worry about it. That reveal was somehow both surprising and expected, and the duo’s delivery made it even better. A key reason I enjoyed this poster so much was that the presentation was simultaneously informative and entertaining; I’d never considered the thought of worms in my water — much less encountered any — and the group did an excellent job of balancing potential squeamishness with a sense of levity. Their pitch made me laugh at times (which I appreciated), provided an insight into how the city 311 complaint system works, and overall was just really fun.

Image of poster: Do You Have Worms in Your Water?
“Do You Have Worms in Your Water?: Analysis of Water Quality Complaints from 2011–2015 in New York City”; pictured: Lisset Duran and Samuel Berger.

Another poster whose title caught my eye was “Greenery vs. Immorality in Manhattan” by Ansh Jain, Nazir Jalili, Dennis Mejia, Gustavo Ramirez, & Ben Stannis of Hunter College. The pitch was engaging; they’d found that despite hypothesizing that there’d be more crime in areas with fewer trees (more “urbanized” areas), there was a slight positive correlation, albeit statistically insignificant, between the number of trees and crime rate. When I first saw the title I hadn’t realized the poster was about crime rates, and had almost expected them to be trying to connect amounts of greenery with people’s morals.

Image of poster: Greenery vs. Immorality in Manhattan
Not “immortality,” as a presenter was quick to note.

 

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Norilsk Nickel Factory: Transforming the City of Horror

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As I was walking around, looking for a poster to catch my eye and draw me in, one student from CCNY did that instead. She saw the opportunity of someone walking by and took it, asking if I wanted to learn about the research she and her group have done. I kindly said, “sure!” even though the poster was way too wordy for my liking. I would not have stopped if she didnt ask me to listen because the poster intimidated me.

However, once the student started explaining to me everything on the poster, it was really interesting. She said that Norilsk is a city in Russia and one of the world’s most polluted cities. That was due to the nickel factory in middle of the city, which happens to be the biggest employer in the city as well. She spoke about the effects of the pollution and the challenges with mitigating it. One thing that really stood out to me is that the life expectancy for the people who live there is 36 years old. To put that into perspective with her words; “we would be middle aged right now.” From what I understand, it is a very complex situation.

The group made some proposals to help the city, which ranged from a bacteria that filters pollution to Americans lobbying for funding to better the city’s conditions.

The student really knew a lot about her research. The poster had really great pictures and graphs, which she pointed to ask she was explaining. That just shows that Professor Branco is right… the posters should not be so wordy. I didnt want to approach the poster, but when I had, I did not read any of the words on the poster, and the information that was relayed to me was great nonetheless!

I think this group won in one of the categories but I’m not sure which one. Their research was very thorough and clear. It was quite intriguing.

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Poster Presentations

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There are many ways to communicate your science to an audience. Lectures, whether part of a conference or symposium, or a lone invited presentation are popular, but represent a linear and one-way form of communication. Slides and information are presented by the speaker to the audience, and there is no time to dwell on a single slide or piece of information before the speaker moves on. Interaction between the audience and the speaker occurs as a question and answer session at the end, if time permits. It is extremely important for the speaker to hone their message so that the audience remembers the content later.

The scientific paper or report is another type of one-way communication that can pack in more information. The reader can take as much time as they like reading and rereading the information. However, the author is not there to interact with the reader and answer questions.

Posters can be some of the most interesting and interactive ways to communicate science to various audiences. It is a two-way form of communication that integrates elements of both the scientific talk and the scientific paper. A good poster promotes dialogue between the presenter and the audience, which is contantly changing as people drift in and out of the conversation. A good poster should rely on graphics to tell a story. If people have to spend too much time reading your poster, then it is not well-designed.

Examples of past Macaualy posters can be found here:

http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/seminar3posters/category/2014-posters/

Some good resources on science posters can be found on the Internet here (from North Carolina State University):

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters

and here: (from UC Merced):

http://graduatestudent.ucmerced.edu/jmatthews/Site/Designing_Effective_Research_Posters.html

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Email from Dean Ugoretz: Register NOW for Seminar 3 Poster Sign Session

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Dear Students,

The Macaulay Seminar 3 Science Forward Conference is upon us! The dates of the conference will be
Saturday December 5, and Sunday, December 6.

There will be one morning and one afternoon session each of these days (10-12 or 1-3). Your group will attend and present your poster at one of these four sessions. (Please note that you will be signing up for a time slot that is 2 hours long. You are expected to attend for the entire period. You will take turns with your group members standing next to your group’s poster and presenting it to other students. The rest of the time you will be an audience for your classmates, evaluating their posters and discussing their research.)

Registration will be open THIS week

Registration is on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS, and slots do fill upquickly. Please nominate one member of your group to register on behalf of the entire group, and be sure to reach an agreement with your entire group–the full group should attend the same session. Because of space issues and given the cross-campus nature of the event, you will most likely not be at the same session as other groups in your seminar.

The Seminar 3 Presentations website is where you will register. The site also features a detailed FAQ and provides other necessary information about the format of the event. Your ITF and your professor will also be able to answer any other questions you might have.

So please carefully read the site, and be sure to nominate ONE member of your group to sign your group up for a session during the open registration time this week: eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/seminar3presentations/

Questions? First check the FAQ on the website. If you don’t find an answer there, feel free to email me (joseph.ugoretz@mhc.cuny.edu).

Looking forward to seeing your posters!

Associate Dean Joseph Ugoretz
Macaulay Honors College

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Handout: the Science Poster

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Fellow ITF Laurel Mei-Singh made this super helpful handout about creating a science poster for the MHC Poster Sessions (Dec. 5-6) and she has graciously let the rest of the ITFs share it with our classes. You can also find this handout in the Google Drive folder.

Update, Nov. 3: Print your poster for free at Macaulay Central on the following dates, no appointment necessary on a first come, first serve basis (the handout has been updated to include these dates):

  • Monday, Nov. 23, 10 am-5 pm
  • Tuesday, Nov. 24, 11 am-7 p
  • Monday, Nov. 3-, 10 am-5 pm

You must go to Macaulay Central in person with your poster saved as a PowerPoint file on a flash drive. Posters can’t be reprinted, so please carefully read your work before printing. Please note that if you miss these dates, you are responsible for printing your poster on your own.

If you’ve created a personal eportfolio site to showcase your work, keep in mind that the poster is a fantastic project to demonstrate your visual and communication skills! I’d love to work with students on their posters: we can brainstorm some initial ideas, work together on the design, or troubleshoot any issues that might arise.

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