We are excited to announce the continuation of the SBC 2025 Student Paper Competition at the PhD, MS, and BS levels. This competition has become a summer bioengineering conference tradition, a "conference within the conference", and one of the yearly highlights for our community.
Competition Format:
The SBC 2025 Student Paper Competition (referred henceforth as SPC) is divided into three educational levels (BS, MS, PhD levels) and accepts abstracts from the following technical areas including but not limited to: Biotransport; Design, Dynamics, & Rehabilitation; Education; Fluid Mechanics; Education; Growth, Remodeling, and Morphogenesis; Tissue & Cellular Engineering; and Solid Mechanics. Presentations from the BS and MS level finalists will follow the poster presentation formats of the conference, and PhD level SPC finalists will deliver podium talks.
Submission Deadlines:
The SBC 2025 Student Paper Competition deadlines for abstract submission are:
- PhD-level: January 17, 2025
- MS-level: January 24, 2025 (general submission deadline)
- BS-level: February 21, 2025
Finalist Selection Criteria
The authors of the top-scoring 36 abstracts from the PhD-level entries will be invited to speak as SPC finalists in one of 6 podium sessions dedicated specifically for the SPC. Likewise, the authors of the top 30 MS- and top 30 BS-level entries will be accepted as SPC finalists for poster presentations in their respective competitions.
Abstracts are peer-reviewed and scored according to a standardized rubric. Reviewer scores are normalized to individual reviewer means to account for skewed distributions in scores. To ensure fairness and to foster diversity of research topics, abstracts will be ranked based on their review scores independent of technical area. SPC abstracts not selected as finalists will be moved to the general abstract pool and considered for acceptance and presentation in non-SPC scientific podium or poster sessions.
New This Year:
Finalists may have their registration waived. This will be processed following selection using a special registration code. We ask that all candidates wait to register until after finalists for BS, MS, and PhD levels are selected. You will be notified at that time whether your registration will be waived.
SPC Presentations
At the SBC 2025 meeting, teams of anonymous judges will evaluate SPC finalists' performances delivering their presentations. Final scores in the competition are based on both the score of the original abstract and on the judges' scores of each student’s presentation at the conference. The first, second, and third place awardees for each SPC group will be announced at the conference banquet. Certificates will be awarded at the banquet. Prizes will be distributed after the conference.
Eligibility Criteria and Competition Rules
The eligibility criteria and rules are as follows:
- Eligible PhD-level students include those pursuing an MD, PhD, or an equivalent terminal degree.
- Eligible students for the SPC include those pursuing a degree relevant to the competition level that they are applying for (BS, MS, or PhD). Students who have graduated in academic year 2024-25 with the corresponding degree are eligible to participate (i.e. those who graduate in Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025 are eligible, but not Summer 2024).
- First place winners of BS, MS, and PhD-level competitions in previous SB3C meetings are not eligible to participate for the same competition level, i.e. a former PhD-level 1st place winner cannot enter the PhD-competition again at SBC2025.
- The student must be listed as both the first and presenting author. As such, the abstract content must be composed by work primarily completed by the student. Shared first co-authorship is not acceptable.
- At least one co-author, generally the student's research advisor, must be included in the author list. The advisor must also consent to the submission of the abstract for the competition and the student’s participation in the competition.
- Only one entry per student (as first and presenting author) will be considered for the SPC. The same work cannot be submitted for consideration in any other session at SBC 2025. It is possible for a student to be listed as a co-author on a separate submission. If they are listed on an additional submission as secondary author, both abstracts must be clearly distinct.
- Only the student listed as the first and presenting author is eligible to present as the SPC finalist at the meeting. It is required that a submission to the SPC is in the spirit that, if accepted, the advisor, the research institution, and/or the student will make every effort to encourage and support the student’s attendance at the conference.
- Important: PhD-level SPC are in-person podium presentations; whereas BS- and MS-level posters are in-person poster presentations. In the rare event where the SPC finalist is unable to participate, the finalist should contact the appropriate chair for their competition level (PhD, MS, or BS) as soon as possible.
- The research project must have been conducted while the student was enrolled at the competition level (i.e. BS, MS, or PhD-levels). The content presented must include only work that was completed prior to graduation for the prescribed competition.
- The work must be original (not previously published as a peer-review publication) prior to the submission deadline. A correspondence higher than 50% with a previously published paper will warrant disqualification (e.g. methods may be similar to previous work, but the results must be original and unpublished).
- Students eligible to compete in the SPC at all levels are required to acknowledge all rules during the abstract submission process.
- Students eligible to compete in the BS and MS levels are required to complete an attestation (template linked below) confirming that: (a) the majority of the work was completed by the eligible student, who is also the first and presenting authors; (b) the eligible student conducted the work as a student at the corresponding competition level; and (c) that the eligible student will (during the SPC) answer questions about their work without assistance from others, including their advisor(s) or peers. Abstracts submitted without this attestation may be withdrawn from the competition. Attestations require PI confirmation. The attestation will be uploaded in the abstract submission website.
- The abstract template must be strictly followed. Not complying with the abstract formatting guidelines may result in disqualification from the competition. For example, you cannot change font size, margins, or the starting location of the text on the first page.
PI Attestation Template (BS, MS)
Submit Now
Questions about the 2025 Student Paper Competition eligibility criteria may be submitted to the SPC Committee Chair, Mariana Kersh, PhD., sb3c.asme.spc@gmail.com.