SARA has made its decisions.
Here are the winners of the SARA 2017 Abstract Contest

Nearly 30 high-quality scientific abstracts were submitted this year, making the contest a great success once again. This contest, which has existed since 2014, is supported by the ÉTS library. The grand prize winner of this year’s contest is Prabin Pradhan. Here are all five winners of the contest.

First place ($500)

Prabin Pradhan is a PhD student at ÉTS in the Department of Electrical Engineering

Prabin Pradhan wins first place for his abstract titled “Characterization of cylindrical vector beams in a few-mode fibers for next generation telecommunication and remote sensing applications”. The Jury, composed of 16 professors from ÉTS, noted the clarity of the presentation of the methodology related to photonics research.

Prabin told us that “Initiatives like the SARA Abstract Competition are very important because they give researchers the opportunity to focus on writing quality texts that present their research to a large audience.”

Second place ($250)

Atma Adoungotchodo is a PhD student at ÉTS in health technology engineering

The second place winner in the 2017 SARA Abstract Contest is Atma Adoungochodo for her text titled “Des hydrogels de chitosane injectables avec des meilleures propriétés mécaniques pour la régénération du disque intervertébral”. The presentation of her results particularly impressed the Jury. Atma found that the competition encouraged her to present her research in a format she wasn’t used to, which prompted her to practice her way of explaining her research. She has already participated in SARA support groups and particularly appreciated the feedback she received from other students.

Third place ($150)

Roseline Olory Agomma is a PhD student at ÉTS in Health Technology Engineering

Roseline Olory Agomma wins the third prize for her text “Détection automatique de régions anatomiques du membre inférieur dans les radiographies frontales basée sur un réseau de neurones convolutionnel”. The jury particularly appreciated the clear presentation of her research problem as well as the quality of her writing.

Roseline has participated in several SARA activities that take place directly within her lab at LIO. According to her, this competition represents the chance to practice submitting abstracts for a scientific conference.

Special Mentions ($50)

Due to the remarkable quality of certain texts, SARA also awarded two special prizes of $50:

Mohamed Zemzem is a PhD student at ÉTS in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mohamed Zemzem wins a special mention prize for his excellent text titled “Optimisation des propriétés barrières de matériaux nanocomposites en nitrile chargés avec des nanoargiles “. Mohamed is used to participating in competitions that take place at ÉTS, especially those related to scientific posters. He enjoys having the chance to practice writing and, following the competition, he decided to join the SARA review team. A great recruit!

Special Mentions ($50)

Caroline Lecours is a PhD student in mechanical engineering

Caroline Lecours also wins an honourable mention prize for her text “Analyse biomécanique du risque de traumatisme crânio-cérébral léger lors de la pratique du soccer“. This seasoned writer is already collaborating on several texts for Substance ÉTS. She believes”it’s essential to practice synthesizing your research project, as the SARA competition required, making it accessible to more people”.

SARA 2017 Abstract Contest

SARA, in its bid to encourage scientific communication, is proud to announce its Abstract Contest. Participants show off their scientific writing chops by writing a concise abstract that summarizes their research in a clear and succinct manner. Prizes worth a total of $1000 are up for grabs and the best authors will also get a chance to publish their writing in Substance ÉTS.

Rules

Imagine that you are aiming to present your research at a scientific contest, but you need to convince the selection committee that your research merits inclusion. You have 1000 words to do so. Your abstract has to present your research and its relevance in a clear and succinct manner.

• • Length: Abstracts have a 1000 word limit (not including the title, author list etc., and references);
  • Language: Abstracts must be written in English or French;
  • Content: Abstracts must contain the following elements:: Title, author names, institutional addresses of authors, body of abstract, references. Abstracts can include a maximum of 2 figures/tables. The layout is at the author’s discretion;
  • Format: Abstracts must be submitted as a PDF;
  • Submission Deadline: Friday, December 1st at noon;
  • Registration: Submit your abstract using our Open Journal System platform for peer review at  https://ojs.etsmtl.ca/index.php/SARA. You must register on the platform or login with an existing account. Once you are logged in, click on Author and follow the instructions to Start a New Submission in the Contest section.

Evaluating the abstracts

• Criteria for evaluating the abstracts
  • Objectives: Context, research problem, and hypothesis;
  • Methods: Experimental methods, approach in resolving problem, Enough information to allow the reader to understand what was done;
  • Results: List the research results until this point. If the project is still in progress, list preliminary results or hypothesis regarding expected results;
  • Conclusions: Statement about the theoretical and practical implications and contributions to the domain, Interestingness and usefulness of project;
• Prizes: Prizes total $1000 including a $500 First Place prize as well as many Participation Prizes. The best abstracts have a chance to be published in Substance ÉTS;
• Judges:  A jury of professors and researchers will evaluate the abstracts to decide on the winners.

Questions?

For all questions relating to the contest, write us at sara@etsmtl.ca

Good luck!