As a faculty or staff member, you play a vital role in the success of the Thinking Matters symposium by serving as a mentor and technical guide for student researchers. Beyond mentoring individual projects, there are several ways you can contribute to this signature university event and support the culture of scholarship at USM.

Volunteer Form

  • Promote  Student Participation: Please encourage your students to submit abstract research, creative projects, and scholarly work for poster, oral, or written presentation sessions.
  • Join the Planning Committee: To help plan the events of the day, including the selection of keynote speakers and the overall schedule, please contact Jennifer Pratt at jennifer.l.pratt@maine.edu.
  • Volunteer as a Reviewer or Moderator: We are seeking volunteers to serve as reviewers for student abstracts or as moderators for oral panel discussions during the symposium. 

Instructions for Abstract Reviewers

  • Abstracts are submitted through a Google form, creating a Google Doc.
  • After the submission deadline (March 16, 2026 by 8:00am), reviewers will be assigned by general areas of expertise and given access to individual abstracts to review.
  • When the review is complete, the reviewer’s comments will be shared with the student and mentor via Google forms. 
  • The reviewer is expected to read the abstract, lightly edit (if necessary), and create a comment on each abstract assigned to them, using one of the following labels:
    • Accepted: Your abstract meets all professional standards and requires no further changes. It is ready for the official symposium program.
    • Accepted with Minor Edits: Your project is approved for presentation, but small adjustments are needed (such as correcting typos, clarifying a specific sentence, or adjusting formatting) before it is finalized.
    • Revise and Resubmit: Your abstract requires more significant changes to meet the symposium’s standards. This usually involves clarifying your methodology or results. Once you address the reviewer’s specific feedback in your Google Doc, your abstract will be re-evaluated for final approval.

If you wish to remain anonymous, please request an alternative method of reviewing.

  • The Google doc should be in “Suggesting Mode” (equivalent of MS Word’s Track Changes function).
  • Once you have completed your reviews, please let Thinking Matters staff know you are finished reviewing by sending an email to thinkingmatters@maine.edu.
  • Please feel free to contact the Thinking Matters Committee with any questions about the review process or individual abstracts.
  • Thank you for your time and attention!