Free Online Workshops for REU Students: July 2024
Making a Research Presentation 
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        If you are an undergraduate in a summer program that provides a research experience (REU), you are invited to attend two workshops in July on how to present your research. In the first workshop (July 9), you will learn effective strategies for the structure and spoken words of a research presentation. In the second workshop (July 16), you will learn the assertion-evidence approach for creating effective slides for a research presentation. In addition, the second workshop presents strategies for projecting confidence in your presentation. These two workshops are taught in the NSF REU program on Low-Carbon Power and Propulsion at Penn State.
        Teaching these workshops is Professor Michael Alley from Pennsylvania State University. The author of The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer, 2013), Alley has taught presentation workshops for more than 25 years. Sites include Google, Los Alamos, MIT, Harvard Medical School, University of Illinois, Purdue, University of Texas, University of Barcelona, Simula Research Lab, University of Oslo, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and University of San Paulo.
Workshop 1: Structure and Spoken Words
9 July 2024 (Tuesday)
12:00-1:00 EST (Zoom: 942 0581 9806) or 3:00-4:00 EST (Zoom: 999 1245 7187)

Recommended Preparation Assignment: Before the workshop, please spend 10 minutes viewing the two films below. The first film presents an excellent example of a 3-minute research presentation that targets a wide audience. The second presents a 7-minute NSF REU talk that was delivered to professional engineers at Pratt & Whitney. From these model talks, much can be gleaned about the structure, spoken words, visual aids, and delivery of strong research presentations. 
In this three-minute thesis talk, notice how Dr. Ramsey begins with the familiar before moving to the new. Also, notice how he uses an imaginative (but valid) analogy to explain his work. Finally, notice how he does not explain all details of his work--instead, he presents only those details that the audience needs.

Hannah Salas, who is a undergraduate mechanical engineer from University of Nevada at Las Vegas, summarizes her NSF research experience for undergraduates (REU). This research experience occurred at Penn State.

Workshop 2: Visual Aids and Delivery 
16 July 2024 (Tuesday)
12:00-1:00 p.m. EST (Zoom: 942 0581 9806) or 3:00-4:00 p.m. EST (Zoom: 999 1245 7187)


Recommended Preparation Assignment: Before the workshop, use the ​following tutorial to begin preparing slides for your upcoming research presentation. This tutorial calls on you to view about 10 minutes of film, to download an assertion-evidence template, and to begin drafting slides in that template. Given below are instructions for using an assertion-evidence template.  

Instructions for using an assertion-evidence template.