University of California graduate students will vie for the championship this week at UC Grad Slam, a systemwide competition that gives up-and-coming researchers the opportunity to tell the story of their research – in plain, compelling language – to a wider audience.
Across UC campuses, grad students have been pacing the halls, practicing their pitches and consulting their stopwatches in preparation for the contest. Each campus has crowned a winner – the student who is best able to boil down years of study and explain it in three minutes, TED-style.
Those 10 finalists – listed below – are preparing to square off April 22 at the UC Grad Slam finale, hosted at the LinkedIn offices in San Francisco. The winners will share in $10,000 in prize money and get to take home the UC Grad Slam trophy – or “Slammy,” as it is affectionately known.
Now in its second year, UC Grad Slam is about more than prizes and bragging rights: It helps grad students build valuable skills in explaining the what and why of their research.
UC President Janet Napolitano will emcee the competition, which is the culminating event of the California Workforce of the Future Summit, presented by LinkedIn, the Bay Area Council, and the University of California. The judges’ panel will include:
- Aimée Dorr, Provost, University of California
- Katie Ferrick, Senior Manager of Community Relations, LinkedIn
- Russell Gould, Regent, University of California
- Frank Somerville, Anchor, KTVU Fox 2 News
- Mike Liu, Associate at San Francisco-based venture firm SV Angel
The summit takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, April 22 at LinkedIn – 222 Second St. at Howard in San Francisco, and it includes a lunch reception. There will be a short press availability window with contestants after the event.
Members of the news media who wish to attend are encouraged to RSVP by calling (510) 987-9200 or emailing kate.moser@ucop.edu.
The Grad Slam finalists are:
Kelsey Sakimoto, UC Berkeley, chemistry
"Rewriting evolutionary history: cyborg bacteria for high efficiency photosynthesis"
Matthew Savoca, UC Davis, ecology
"What the nose knows: smell helps explain why marine animals eat plastic"
Mallory Hinks, UC Irvine, chemistry
"The puzzling colors of climate change"
Gary Li, UCLA, aerospace engineering
"Traveling to Mars with immortal plasma rockets"
Arturo Durazo, UC Merced, health psychology
"Long-term cancer survival: cancer beliefs, fears of recurrence, and lifestyle habits"
Peter Byrley, UC Riverside, chemical and environmental engineering
"Renewable nanopower: the new age of earth abundant electronics"
Tiffany Taylor, UC San Diego, biomedical sciences
"Using 'central intelligence' to fight and conquer brain tumors"
Shannon Smith-Bernardin, UC San Francisco, nursing health policy
"The sobering cost of alcohol intoxication"
Nicole Leung, UC Santa Barbara, biomolecular science and engineering
"Lighting the path from the eye to the brain"
Michael Nayak, UC Santa Cruz, earth and planetary sciences
"Planetary dynamics around cramped exoplanet star systems"
For more details about UC Grad Slam and participating contestants: https://gradslam.universityofcalifornia.edu/. A livestream of the event will also be available on the site.