Graduate students planning to participate in the Graduate Research Exhibition March 23 and 24, should have their applications into 114 Kern by tomorrow.

The two-day exhibition gives graduate students a chance to showcase their thesis research and tell the public what they are doing intellectually and scholastically, said Harlan Berger, science editor of Research Penn State.

The 1990 fair is the fifth annual exhibition for graduate research.

Before providing graduates with a chance to exhibit their research, the public was generally unaware of the types of research graduates were doing at the University, said James Scaltz, associate director of the graduate commons.

Now, Scaltz said, the University is making its graduate research much more visible to the public.

Graduate students can enter five categories: arts and humanities, physical sciences, engineering, life and health, and social and behavioral science. Judges will select first, second and third place winners within each category.

Prize money totaling $10,000 will be awarded and go toward thesis research. Decisions are based on intellectual content and visual appeal of the exhibit as well as the verbal presentation by the student.

The University has more than 9,600 graduate students at University Park, Hershey, Erie-Behrend, Great Valley and Harrisburg campuses. It ranks among the top 20 in science and engineering graduate enrollment.

Last year's exhibit featured thesis studies on diamond films, health care costs, iron deficiency anemia, acid mountain streams, the origin of modern humans, computers in textual editing and the material nature of architecture to name just a few.

Winners of this year's exhibition will be announced at 4 p.m., March 24.