The Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) is a time each year when we suspend our other campus activities to celebrate the academically centered creative endeavors and research efforts of Elon’s students. SURF brings to light our students’ wonderful academic and creative pursuits. SURF 2023 will be held on April 25 (Tuesday), 2023. We invite you to join and support the student presenters and performers as they share the joy of exploration and discovery that are the hallmarks of an intellectual community.

 

The SURF Submission Process

The SURF 2023 abstract submission deadline is March 3 (Friday, 5:00 pm), 2023. The submission site can be accessed here. To start the submission process, students need to first log into the Google account using their Elon email.

SURF abstracts must be submitted pre-reviewed by two Elon faculty members other than your mentor. So, we ask mentors and students to work together to identify two faculty members with content expertise to review your abstract prior to submission. The process should utilize the following guidelines:

  1. The student and mentor draft an abstract for submission to SURF.
  2. The student and mentor collaboratively identify two faculty with content expertise to serve as reviewers.
  3. The student forwards the abstract to the reviewers. Please be mindful of the submission date and review time.
  4. The student receives their abstract back from the reviewers with comments and makes appropriate changes in consultation with their mentor.
  5. Once the mentor approves the abstract, then the student may submit it to SURF.

To be accepted to SURF, approval from the Institutional Review Board (when applicable) is required. View the IRB Web site for additional information.

It is essential that the abstract is well-written and in language understandable by representatives of any discipline across campus. Discipline-specific jargon should be avoided, and if necessary, should be clearly defined. Abstracts and titles must be in the English language. 

It takes several weeks to organize the SURF programming. In order to facilitate a timely release of the SURF program, please make sure that the information you provide in the submission form and the abstract are accurate and consistent. It is also very helpful if you respond to our emails in a timely manner.

In order to facilitate the submission process, we will share a list of information needed for completing the SURF 2023 submission. This list will help you get prepared for the submission. Please note that this list is NOT the actual submission survey. You still need to go to the SURF 2023 submission site to provide the relevant information and upload the abstract.

SURF Abstract Guidelines

You must submit an abstract to present at SURF. Use the abstract guidelines below to help you prepare your submission. The guidelines also include sample abstracts.

SURF Abstract Guidelines

* To help with SURF abstract preparation, the Writing Center will host a workshop on “Write and Revise your SURF Abstract” on February 28, 2023 (4:30pm-5:30pm). Please check this website for more details.

SURF Presentation & Preparation Guidelines

For Poster Presenters:

SURF 2023 Poster Preparation Guidelines

SURF 2023 Poster Printing Information

* To help with poster preparation, the Writing Center will host a workshop on “Design and revise your SURF poster” on April 18, 2023 (4:30pm-5:30pm). Please check this website for more details.

For Oral Session Presenters:

SURF 2023 Oral Presentation Guidelines

Current & Archived SURF Programs

2022 2021 2020(abstract booklet only) 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012