The CRRES Research Symposium brings together students across campus who are conducing and have interests in research on race and ethnicity. Mainstays of the event include a keynote address from a visiting scholar, a workshop with the keynote speaker, and graduate student panels. In 2019, CRRES integrated its Undergraduate Research Program (URP) poster sessions into the Symposium, bringing a wider audience to both events.

Topics covered by symposium presenters have covered a wide scope, including research on education, health, identity, resistance, sound, and police encounters. The number of schools and departments represented each year have only grown and has encompassed African American and African Diaspora Studies, Comparative Literature, Criminal Justice, Education, English, Folklore and Musicology, History, Media, Political Science, Sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese.