1. Advocacy and Undergraduate Researchers Preparing Your application
Posters on the Hill 2018
Advocacy and Undergraduate Researchers
Preparing Your application

2. What is Posters on the Hill (POH)?
POH is the Council on Undergraduate Research’s (CUR) perennial advocacy event in Washington, DC.
POH participants play a role in the advocacy and awareness building for undergraduate research.
Past POH events, including accepted abstracts, can be found at
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Posters on the Hill is largely about advocacy and it is typically held in Washington DC during April. This year, the general timeline is as follows: abstracts are due on November 4th. Abstracts are then reviewed and selections finalized by the end of January. The tentative date for the event will be announced as soon as it is known.
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As mentioned, this event focuses on advocacy for Undergraduate Research. POH participants advocate for undergraduate research in two ways: 1) They present their research to members of congress, congressional aides, and representatives of federal agencies. 2)They visit their congressional representatives to discuss the importance of undergraduate research. This event allows you to add your personal story to the importance of supporting undergraduate research.
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We strongly recommend you look at past abstracts to gauge the level at which they need to be written. We also have several examples of abstracts that were selected along with their alter-egos; with the respective abstract written in such as way that it would not have been selected.

3. Deadlines Applications accepted Sept. 6-Nov. 1
Application deadline is 11:59 PM ET F Nov. 1
Application review: Dec 2017 – Jan. 2018
Notification of selection: early February 2018
Poster on the Hill event in Washington DC: Spring 2018 (typically in April)

4. Things to Keep in Mind Abstracts are limited to 250 words.
Typically applications are submitted and ~60 are selected.
At least 1 person selected from each state
Good representation from range of disciplines
For the past 4 years, an NAU student has represented Arizona at Posters on the Hill!!

5. Topics The research should represent one of CUR’s Divisions
Arts and Humanities
Biology
Chemistry
Education
Engineering
Geosciences
Health Sciences
Mathematics/Computer Science
Physics/Astronomy
Psychology
Social Sciences

6. Selection Criteria A completed application!
Readability of the abstract to a non-technical, but educated, audience.
The student’s demonstrated ability to present to a non-technical, but educated, audience.
The technical merit of the project.
The broader interest of the project.
Is the research complete or is it reasonable to assume the research will be completed by March?

7. Ready to Go?
Links to the Call for Abstracts, on-line submission form, required information for the application, and POH FAQs can be found by visiting the program’s webpage:
There is a lot of great information about the event that can be found at our website. Please take the time to read through this information when putting your abstracts together.

8. Questions? For questions, contact: Lindsey Thomas lthomas@cur.org