The submissions portal for the AHA24 Undergraduate Lightning Rounds will be open from August 15 through November 15.

The American Historical Associations organizes two Undergraduate Research Lightning Rounds, with three-minute presentations by undergraduate historians describing their research for fellow historians. One lightning round features the breadth of research being done by undergraduate history majors and students, while the other brings together undergraduates studying a similar thematic, period, or topic. We encourage AHA members to support young historians and catch a glimpse of the future of the discipline. The submission form for the Undergraduate Research Lightning Round will be open from August 15 through and submissions will be November 15, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Each lightning round is a moderated, 90-minute session with 12 presentations and a question-and-answer period. The moderator will bring the session to order, and provide some opening remarks. The moderator will then introduce the first presenter, who makes their presentation (the AHA has prepared some suggestions for crafting an effective Lightning Round presentation) with an optional PowerPoint. After all of the presentations, there should be about 40 minutes for Q&A, with the moderator or audience members asking questions for the presenters to give them the opportunity to elaborate on some parts of their research, or how they’re thinking about a topic. At the end, the moderator will wrap things up, and thank everyone for attending. If you are presenting, you should expect to stay for the whole session.

As an example, you can see the titles of last year's Undergraduate Research Lightning Round presentations in the AHA23 program: Research Across the Fields and Research Focus: Vietnam and the Global 1970s.

Please note, an undergraduate student may participate in both the poster session and lightning round only if the research submitted to each session is unique.

Please contact annualmeeting@historians.org with any questions.