The 2025 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase will take place on Wednesday, April 16 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in Penn Pavilion. This event is an opportunity to share your team’s work with the Duke community and includes an open floor session during which teams can present either a poster or an interactive display, awards and a reception. 

Please register for the showcase and review this guidance to prepare to share your team’s work at this event. All questions about the showcase can be directed to Meghan O’Neil.

Please note that, in addition to the showcase, we require that all teams provide Bass Connections with a summary of their work at the end of the year. We encourage teams to do this in the form of a team profile that can be shared on the Bass Connections website. Team profiles should be submitted by May 2. Teams that opt not to complete a team profile will be required to complete an outcome reporting form.

Showcase Registration and Participation

To help us prepare for this event, please have one member of your team complete this showcase registration form by Friday, March 7. You will be asked to indicate whether your team will participate in the showcase and whether your team will present a poster or an interactive display (please see below for more information about these options).

We strongly encourage all 2024-2025 project teams to participate in this event, which offers teams the opportunity to celebrate their achievements with friends and colleagues and make new connections with individuals across campus and beyond. Teams with external partners are encouraged to invite them to the showcase.

Please discuss your showcase plan with your team ahead of time, and plan to have at least one member of your team standing with your poster or display at all times during the open floor portions of the event. We hope that showcase participants will stay for the entire program to visit other teams’ posters and displays. 

Showcase Schedule

This year’s showcase will be on Wednesday, April 16 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in Penn Pavilion. The event will include an open floor session featuring posters and interactive displays, award announcements and a reception with light refreshments. 

  • 3:30-4:30: Open Floor featuring posters and interactive displays – Students from each team will share their research findings through either a research poster or an interactive display. Showcase guests will be invited to mingle and talk with students about their research.
  • 4:30-4:45: Remarks and Awards – Alec Gallimore (Provost) and Ed Balleisen (Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies) and will give short remarks and announce the winners of this year’s poster awards, mentorship and leadership awards, and student research grants.
  • 4:45-5:30 Open Floor resumes – Showcase guests will again be able to mingle, visit posters and interactive displays, and talk with teams about their research.

Guidance for Preparing Your Showcase Poster

The showcase provides teams with the opportunity to share the outcomes of their research with a broad, interdisciplinary audience. Through poster presentations, students can practice communicating complex ideas, methods and outcomes, thereby expanding the reach and impact of their research.

Bass Connections will recognize teams’ efforts to communicate their research through the Bass Connections Poster Competition, which includes an award for the best poster as chosen in advance by a panel of judges.

Teams must submit their poster using this online form by April 9 at 5 p.m. for display at the showcase and consideration in this year’s poster competition. Please visit our detailed poster guidance to access the poster template and learn more about poster submission, deadlines, awards and expectations for the day of the showcase.

Please note that, due to space limitations, teams may only submit one poster for printing and display at the showcase. However, teams may submit more than one poster for consideration in the poster competition and display on our website. 

Interactive Displays at the Showcase

Teams have the option to bring materials to set up an “interactive display” at the showcase. Due to space constraints in Penn Pavilion, teams must choose to present either a research poster or an interactive display, not both.

An interactive display can take a number of forms, but all display materials must be supplied by the project team. Teams that are considering this option should read our full interactive display guidance and plan for their display to fit on (or in the equivalent space of) one eight-foot table. To help ensure that your interactive display will be feasible in the space provided, we are requiring that you share a brief description of your display with us in the showcase registration form.

Examples of interactive displays include (but are not limited to): 

  • tablets that allow showcase guests to interact with an application, digital exhibit or digital tools
  • prototypes or models that you want guests to be able to interact with in-person
  • games or augmented reality gear that allows guests to experience a computer-generated environment
  • printed pamphlets or infographics that you would like guests to be able to pick up and take with them
  • poster board or media with interactive quiz or trivia about a team’s research topic 
  • microscopes (or other small, portable lab equipment) and samples
  • works of art and/or art materials 

We hope that this interactive display option provides room to be creative as you plan how best to share your work at the showcase.

There will be one winning interactive display and one runner-up selected by a panel of judges at the showcase. Displays will be evaluated on their creativity, communication and interactivity. Winners will be announced during the showcase.

Share Your Team’s Work Through a Team Profile

In addition to the showcase, we invite all teams to submit a team profile using this online form by May 2. This is a great way for teams to reflect on and summarize their year of work, and it can be a useful output for students to share on their resume or in an application for graduate school. Teams that opt not to complete a team profile will be required to complete an outcome reporting form.

A team profile is a ~500-word narrative summarizing a team’s work and should include an overview of the team’s research question and team structure, key research findings, reflections on team successes and challenges, as well as team photos, posters and other outputs (e.g., website, digital exhibit, video, white papers), where applicable. Teams may opt to have their team profile linked to their web page on the Bass Connections website. Selected team profiles may also be featured in our Virtual Showcase. 

Team profile examples (these examples will open in Microsoft Word):

You can find additional team profile examples in our Virtual Showcase. If you have questions about team profiles, please contact Meghan O'Neil.