2024 Grad Slam

As the Campus Grad Slam Champion, Victoria Chevee will now move on to compete against the winners from the nine other UC campuses on May 3, 2024 at the UC systemwide competition. Victoria is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular and Cell Biology program. She is interested in microbes and how they interact with their hosts, particularly when it comes to pathogens. Her work currently focuses on bacterial replication and dissemination during infections that affect the brain. Watch Victoria talk about her research.

Matangi is a 3rd-year Ph.D. candidate in the Vision Science Graduate Program, conducting research in the Gronert and Flanagan labs and focusing on the study of neuroinflammation in glaucoma. With a father diagnosed with glaucoma, she is interested in studying the mechanisms of this neurodegenerative disease and is passionate about researching novel neurotherapeutic treatments to improve vision loss. Watch Matangi’s Grad Slam talk.

Joel is a second-year MPH student with a concentration in Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health. As a first-generation, Spanish-speaking, Latine former foster youth, he aims to use his personal experiences to contribute to public health research, focusing on the critical issue of immigration enforcement and family separation. Having gone through this challenging experience himself, his research aims to understand the perception of immigration policies and how they impact the mental well-being of Latine adolescents. Learn more about Joel’s research.

A third-year Ph.D. candidate in Plant Biology, Anna got into plant research by doing extensive fieldwork in Illinois. She is passionate about improving food security by addressing current and future agricultural challenges. Currently, she is studying genetic mechanisms of root regeneration, which may create new avenues for crop improvement efforts. She is fascinated by plant adaptations and by natural diversity.

Jin Hyung is a second-year PhD student in the School Psychology Program at the Berkeley School of Education. As an international student from South Korea, he is passionate about promoting the mental health of Asian American students, teachers, and families. Guided by the social-ecological framework and resilience theory, he studies how school and community resources can function as promotive and protective factors for the psychological well-being of Asian Americans.

Kamyar, a 5th-year PhD student from Iran, specializes in developing new technologies for the next generation of biosensors, particularly focusing on optical biosensing. His research involves creating innovative methods for highly sensitive and multiplexed diagnostics, driven by his passion for providing universal access to regular health monitoring and early disease diagnosis.

Keyanna is a second year Masters in City Planning student at UC Berkeley from South Texas. She is a podcaster for the Goldman School’s Talk Policy to Me podcast and has a professional background in housing and economic development, human rights, and disaster recovery. Keyanna’s journey combating gentrification, racial justice, and housing policy started in the 4th grade. Witnessing the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Radha Mastandrea is a 3rd year PhD student in physics. Her research brings together the fields of particle physics and machine learning, specifically through developing search strategies to look for signs of new physics using data from particle colliders. Outside of research, Radha has helped to develop a curriculum for beginning scientists to develop their machine-learning toolkits.