Undergraduate Research Poster Session

The Committee on Undergraduate Middle East Studies (CUMES) is sponsoring our annual undergraduate research workshop on Saturday Nov. 22, 2025 in conjunction with the Middle East Studies Association of North America Annual Conference (Nov. 22-25). This workshop will be valuable for students planning graduate work in Middle East Studies.

Eligibility: Students pursuing a bachelor’s program or recent graduates who have not yet begun a graduate degree are eligible. All fields and disciplines are welcome. 

Format: The workshop has 3 components: 1) small panel presentation (15-20 minutes per student) and discussion;  2) professional development session; 3) poster sessions. 

The small panel presentation will require you submit a 10-12 page paper (or excerpt of a larger work) by no later than November 1.

1. Fill out this form with your personal information and your research information including: Topic, Methodology, Sourcebase, Conclusions, Contribution to Scholarship. This should not exceed 300 words total.
2. A letter of recommendation from a professor at the student’s home university commenting on the quality of the proposal and why the student would benefit from the workshop. This can be submitted by the recommender to CUMES@mesana.org.

Proposals will be selected based on the quality of the proposal, diversity of disciplinary areas, and with an eye towards maximizing the diversity of the colleges and universities represented. To provide personalized attention and mentorship, the workshop is limited to 20 student participants.