Graduate students from across the Midwest will present their research at The University of Toledo this weekend.

The Midwest Graduate Research Symposium will take place 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20 in the Memorial Field House. Students at the graduate and postdoctoral levels from multiple disciplines and universities will give oral and poster presentations of their research.

“One of the reasons this event is unique is because it’s multidisciplinary and multi-university,” said Aaron Shaw, secretary of the Graduate Student Association on UT’s Health Science Campus.

Last year, 24 schools were invited to send students to the event, which yielded 185 presentations. This year 62 schools were invited and students from Ohio State University, Purdue University, the University of Michigan and many others have submitted abstracts for presentations.

The symposium is run by UT’s Graduate Student Association, which has expanded the event every year since taking the helm in 2009. It originally was known as the Toledo Graduate Forum, which was limited to UT students.

This year, the conference will feature free breakfast, lunch and semi-formal dinner for all who register. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Alan Shaw, chief executive officer and president of Vedantra Pharmaceuticals Inc., who will receive an award at the event.

Awards also are given to two students in each area of interest — one oral presentation and one poster presentation. Presentations are judged by faculty from various universities.