It’s an April day and the Columbia Convention Center is buzzing with activity. Hundreds of undergraduate students, graduate students and medical and postdoctoral scholars at the University of South Carolina and Prisma Health eagerly present the research, scholarly, creative or leadership projects they’ve spent the year working on, and reviewers prepare to select winners from the group to honor their achievement.
This is Discover USC. And in 2026, the event celebrates its tenth year.
A decade ago, three legacy events took place at the university each spring: Discovery Day for undergraduate students, Graduate Student Day for graduate students, and Medical Scholarship Day of Focus for USC and Prisma Health (then Palmetto Health) medical students. With so many different celebrations of robust scholarship going on around campus, then-Vice President for Research Prakash Nagarkatti hoped to bring the events together to magnify their impact and attract more people to engage with the work of the campus community.
With thousands of students and scholars presenting their research and Graduation with Leadership Distinction projects over the past decade, the ripple effect has been strong. Claire Chabot, an Honors College alumna who majored in biochemistry and molecular biology, minored in French and earned her GLD in research, is among those impacted by the event.
It was the first time that I presented it in a research environment. I was so nervous. Getting to present helped kickstart my confidence in talking about science, and it was an interesting exercise in not just creating the work but considering how you’re explaining it. I was being held up to a standard, but in an environment that I knew.
Now a Ph.D. candidate in orthopedics, bioengineering and biomechanics between the A.O. Research Institute in Davos, Switzerland and KU Leuven in Belgium, Chabot met associate professor of drug discovery and biomedical sciences Douglas Pittman in her early pre-pharmacy days at the University of South Carolina.
Chabot was captivated by Pittman’s research on genetic factors behind ovarian and breast cancers. She spent all four years of her undergraduate degree in his lab, developing the research project that she would go on to present at Discover USC. While observing ovarian cancer cell interactions under a microscope, fluorescent proteins attached for visibility, she saw an unexpected beauty that she developed into an art project combining visual storytelling around women in science with genetics research through the Honors College’s Artist in Residence program.
Both her research work and art project received accolades at Discover USC in 2018, with her research earning second place in the poster presentations and her art project securing first prize. The value of the experience for students like Chabot, however, extends beyond the glow of victory.
“It was the first time that I presented it in a research environment,” says Chabot. “I was so nervous. Getting to present helped kickstart my confidence in talking about science, and it was an interesting exercise in not just creating the work but considering how you’re explaining it. I was being held up to a standard, but in an environment that I knew.”
From there, Chabot took her research and art projects to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research as well as Posters on the Hill, where she was chosen to represent the state of South Carolina in the nation’s capital.
Discover USC also has something to offer to reviewers, especially graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for whom it may be the first opportunity to approach a conference from the other side of the clipboard.
Titan Paul, professor of engineering at USC Aiken, has been a reviewer from the event’s inception, hoping to encourage his own students to present and get a sense of what their peers were working on. “I saw the growth of the program. It started from scratch and grew very rapidly, like an international conference,” Paul says.
He’s found the event personally and professionally rewarding, allowing him to connect with faculty throughout the USC system about cross disciplinary collaborations and secure use of facilities and equipment for himself and his mechanical engineering graduate students, who benefit from the lab infrastructure on the Columbia campus.
Behind the scenes: Making Discover USC happen
“When we launched Discover USC a decade ago, our vision was to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professional and postdoctoral trainees, from across USC’s campuses for a single day to share their research and celebrate discovery,” says Nagarkatti. “It is incredibly rewarding to see how this idea has grown into a vibrant university-wide tradition that highlights the remarkable talent, curiosity, and passion driving scholarship and innovation at our university.”
That growth takes a team.
When we launched Discover USC a decade ago, our vision was to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professional and postdoctoral trainees, from across USC’s campuses for a single day to share their research and celebrate discovery. It is incredibly rewarding to see how this idea has grown into a vibrant university-wide tradition that highlights the remarkable talent, curiosity, and passion driving scholarship and innovation at our university.
From the start, Lauren Clark, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, has taken the lead on organizing Discover USC, but she’s quick to recognize those who help make the event happen.
“Discover USC is successful because of collaboration. Everyone is invested in making sure that things run smoothly and that we meet the needs of each of the groups involved,” says Clark. “It’s truly a team effort.”
Hillary Dyer Brannon, executive director of Continuing Education and Conferences, and her team have been crucial to the logistics of Discover USC, from coordinating Convention Center logistics to ordering poster boards and nametags to running registration.
The Center for Integrative and Experiential Learning has also partnered with Discover USC since its early days as USC Connect, sending students to present their research, creative and leadership projects to earn Graduation with Leadership Distinction.
These students make up a large portion of undergraduate presenters, and over the years, the event has consistently drawn over 1,000 poster presenters from across research, GLD, and graduate and postdoctoral-level work. Numbers have stayed high every year except for 2020, when Discover USC was cancelled for safety during the pandemic, and dipped no lower than 800 years for the virtual conference hosted in 2021 – a testament to the value of an event so deeply interwoven in the fabric of the USC community.
“Discover USC is really special because it brings students, faculty and staff together from all our USC campuses and Prisma Health to share their work and learn from each other,” Clark says. “It’s both a celebration and a showcase of the innovation and ingenuity of our students, postdocs and medical scholars, as well as the faculty who serve as their mentors.”
On Friday, April 24, 2026, Discover USC will mark its tenth year, hosting more than 1,000 poster presentations throughout the day at the university’s premier showcase of student and postdoctoral research and scholarship. Join us and see for yourself.
Take a Look: Ten years of Discover USC in photos
