Elon University holds largest-ever undergraduate research forum in Alamance County

Five poster presentations from Walter M. Williams High School, mentored by Elon faculty, gave Elon University’s biggest undergraduate research forum a distinctly Alamance County footprint. A student panel on “A Periclean Journey: Rooted Locally, Reaching Globally Through Mutually Beneficial Partnerships and Community Engagement” added to the local focus as the campus filled with research that connected classrooms, community work and career preparation.

Elon said its Spring Undergraduate Research Forum featured 384 presentations on April 28, the largest SURF Day in the event’s 33-year history. The total included 229 poster presentations and 155 oral presentations and performances, spread across Alumni Gym and other campus locations. The university also said 83 presentations self-identified as diversity, equity and inclusion-related, 35 as sustainability projects and 143 as data-intensive projects, showing a forum that stretched well beyond one discipline.

That scale marked a clear jump from recent years. Elon reported more than 250 presentations in 2025 and 321 presentations in 2024, so this year’s total set a new high-water mark and pushed the forum far past the previous record. The day also began with a special College Coffee outside Koury Center and Alumni Gym at 8:15 a.m., underscoring how fully the university centered the event on campus life.

Justin Clar, Elon’s director of the undergraduate research program and associate professor of chemistry, called SURF the “flagship event” for undergraduate research on campus. That label fits the scope of the work on display, from student projects with local school ties to research aimed at the workplace. Emily Stuart ’26, a professional writing and rhetoric major from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, presented a capstone project on AI integration in digital marketing and communication, based on a literature review and a survey of Elon alumni who raised questions about productivity, the environment, job loss and data privacy.

Another presenter, Chris Guider ’29, a business analytics and economics double major from Holly Springs, North Carolina, examined the NFL’s new kickoff rules introduced in 2024, while the Williams High School posters showed Elon faculty extending research mentoring into the county’s public schools. Elon says undergraduate research is one of its five Elon Experiences, and the university also says the program is meant to prepare students for graduate school and careers.

The scale of this year’s forum also fit Elon’s standing in national rankings. The university said it placed No. 8 for Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Colleges rankings, giving the record-setting day both local reach and institutional weight.