Student Poster Competition

5th Graduate Student Poster Competition during the 82nd Minnesota Nutrition Conference

The Minnesota Nutrition Conference will be hosting the 5th Graduate Student Poster Competition during the 82nd Minnesota Nutrition Conference at Mayo Health System Event Center in Mankato, MN, on September 22-23, 2021. 

Monetary awards are:
1st Place - $500
2nd Place - $200
3rd Place - $100

Graduate students may submit posters that have been presented previously at national or sectional meetings.  Students must be present in order to qualify for the awards. Awards will be presented to winners following the General Session on the afternoon of September 22, 2021 (https://mnnutritionconf.umn.edu).

Competition details

  1. Limit of one (1) contribution per student.
  2. Poster should be formatted according to guidelines for the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), Poultry Science Association (PSA) or American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) poster presentations.
  3. Boards to display posters are 8’ wide X 4’ tall
  4. Posters must be a minimum of 4' X 3'; maximum of 7.5' x 4'
  5. Students must bring their own push pins 
  6. Submit a 2,500-character (including spaces; about 380 words) abstract in advance (format and technical standards same as for abstracts submitted for ASAS, PSA or ADSA meetings).
  7. Submit a copy of your poster in PDF format (this file will be used by committee chairs to evaluate each entry prior to the conference)
  8. Poster entries (abstract and poster in PDF format) will be evaluated by a panel of independent judges
  9. Evaluation procedure
    1. A panel of four judges, two each with expertise in ruminant and non-ruminant nutrition will be selected to review entries
    2. Prior to the conference, entries will be evaluated on a 50-point score basis for (10 points each) quality of abstract, significance of the research to the industry, quality of the approach, ability to interpret results and visual appeal    
    3. During the conference, judges will visit with each student to evaluate their responses to questions (10 points each; 50 points total) regarding hypothesis, objectives, experimental design, experiment pitfalls and limitations, whether objectives were addressed by the experimental design, and depth of responses to subject matter and interpretation questions
  10. Space is limited; 16 posters will be selected. If more than 16 are submitted, a pre-selection of contributions will be necessary to eliminate posters based on the evaluation conducted prior to the conference

If selected to compete, students will be informed by September 10, 2021.

Submission procedures

Both the abstract and PDF copy of the poster must be received electronically by 11:59 pm CDT on September 3, 2021. Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered.

Send files to: Alfredo DiCostanzo at [email protected]

Poster setup and take-down

Posters must be set up between 7:30 and 10:00 am on September 22, 2021

Posters may be taken down after 1:00 pm on September 23, 2021

Staffing posters:

Students are expected to staff their posters on September 22 during the morning and afternoon breaks and during lunch.  Judges will need time to visit with each participant during these times.  Conference staff will ensure that students get lunch delivered to their poster.

Conference registration required

NOTE: Graduate students who are presenting posters are required to register for the conference by September 17, 2021

Register for the 82nd Minnesota Nutrition Conference online at:

https://learning.umn.edu/portal/events/reg/participantTypeSelection.do?method=load&entityId=29188953

The student fee is $50. Prior to registering, please contact Airton Serra ([email protected]) for discount code.

82nd Minnesota Nutrition Conference
September 22-23, 2021
Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center
1 Civic Center Plaza
Mankato, MN 56001