Grad Slam 2023Tuesday, April 11, 2023 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Watch the live streamed event here. Cheer on our seven Grad Slam Semi-finalists as they present their three-minute research talks in our virtual Grad Slam championship! This year’s event will be live-streamed, and we want you to join in as part of our virtual audience. 2023 Grad SlamThree great reasons to attend this live-streamed event: Learn about interesting research projects: Berkeley is a top research university and these semi-finalists are up and coming in their fields. Discover potentially groundbreaking research that will make you more informed and maybe even spark ideas for your own research projects. Your vote will be counted: While a panel of distinguished judges select the top two winners, virtual audience members will have the opportunity to vote for a “People’s Choice” winner. This means you can help decide which talks are the best executed and capture the compelling research our campus has to offer! You could be the 2024 champion! Have you considered applying to Grad Slam yourself? There’s no better way to prepare yourself for next year’s competition than to see this year’s Semi-finalists in action! The campus winner will represent Berkeley and compete in the UC-wide Grad Slam hosted by UC President Michael Drake. Grad Slam is a UC-sponsored competitive speaking event designed to showcase graduate student research in three-minute talks pitched to a general audience. This is a unique opportunity for graduate students who are engaged in substantive, original research projects to develop skills in communicating their academic research — while making their work visible to academic, media, private sector, and public sector leaders from across the state. Congrats to the UC Berkeley Grad Slam semi-finalists. The following semi-finalists have been selected to participate in the April 11, 2023 campus Grad Slam competition:Mara Reed, Earth and Planetary ScienceThe Seismic Mystery at Steamboat GeyserMara is a fifth-year PhD candidate hailing from Minnesota. Her idea of a good time involves watching water boil in Yellowstone National Park, where geysers first captured her attention as a teenager. She has close ties with the “geyser gazing” hobbyist community and her research on geyser eruption mechanisms is often informed by observations from citizen scientists. Apart from geysers, Mara enjoys cave photography and serves as secretary for the Diablo Grotto, a local caving club. Andrea Anaya Sanchez, Plant and Microbial BiologyThe Role of Aldehydes during Bacterial InfectionA third-year PhD student from Mexico, Andrea is fascinated by bacteria and how sophisticated they can be. She is currently a joint student in the Stanley and Portnoy labs where she is interested in understanding how bacteria have adapted to their host in order to succeed in infection. In particular, she studies the role of aldehydes in host-pathogen infection dynamics. Claire Gasque, PhysicsWhat Can Volcanoes Teach Us about Space?Claire Gasque is a fourth-year student pursuing her PhD in physics. She conducts research at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, where she uses satellite data to probe plasma processes in various space environments. Claire is passionate about effective scientific communication, both for public outreach and within the scientific community, and so is delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this year’s Grad Slam! Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon, RhetoricThe Ethics of FormMaisie Wiltshire-Gordon is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Rhetoric department. Her research draws on philosophy of language, ethics, and literary theory to investigate the way that narrative techniques do ethical work. Focusing on modernist novels, Maisie tracks the way that literary structure offers a way of knowing and relating to one another. But she also believes that these discussions don’t only belong in seminar rooms: as an essayist and book critic, Maisie works to bring philosophical ideas to a broader audience. Madison Browne, PsychologyShedding Light on Alzheimer's DiseaseMadison is a 4th year PhD candidate from Alabama, currently using her training in animal behavior, immunology, and circadian biology to explore a non-invasive light therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease. She is passionate about developing diagnostic and therapeutic tools to improve quality of life for those suffering from brain disorders, and plans to devote her career to this cause. Taylor Waddell, Mechanical Engineering3D Printing in Space.Taylor is a second-year PhD student from Wisconsin. Taylor researches space-based applications of a new 3D printing process called Computed Axial Lithography. He is also currently a NASA Pathways Engineer at the Kennedy Space Center where he works with Lunar regolith. Taylor is a maker and nerd at heart. Monica Li, Mechanical EngineeringRobot Dexterity in the Real WorldMonica is a fifth-year PhD student studying robot design. Her research harnesses fluid mechanics to create dexterous grippers for real-world applications such as ocean exploration. She is excited to share her research through the Grad Slam.
Grad Slam 2023Tuesday, April 11, 2023 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Watch the live streamed event here. Cheer on our seven Grad Slam Semi-finalists as they present their three-minute research talks in our virtual Grad Slam championship! This year’s event will be live-streamed, and we want you to join in as part of our virtual audience. 2023 Grad SlamThree great reasons to attend this live-streamed event: Learn about interesting research projects: Berkeley is a top research university and these semi-finalists are up and coming in their fields. Discover potentially groundbreaking research that will make you more informed and maybe even spark ideas for your own research projects. Your vote will be counted: While a panel of distinguished judges select the top two winners, virtual audience members will have the opportunity to vote for a “People’s Choice” winner. This means you can help decide which talks are the best executed and capture the compelling research our campus has to offer! You could be the 2024 champion! Have you considered applying to Grad Slam yourself? There’s no better way to prepare yourself for next year’s competition than to see this year’s Semi-finalists in action! The campus winner will represent Berkeley and compete in the UC-wide Grad Slam hosted by UC President Michael Drake. Grad Slam is a UC-sponsored competitive speaking event designed to showcase graduate student research in three-minute talks pitched to a general audience. This is a unique opportunity for graduate students who are engaged in substantive, original research projects to develop skills in communicating their academic research — while making their work visible to academic, media, private sector, and public sector leaders from across the state. Congrats to the UC Berkeley Grad Slam semi-finalists. The following semi-finalists have been selected to participate in the April 11, 2023 campus Grad Slam competition:Mara Reed, Earth and Planetary ScienceThe Seismic Mystery at Steamboat GeyserMara is a fifth-year PhD candidate hailing from Minnesota. Her idea of a good time involves watching water boil in Yellowstone National Park, where geysers first captured her attention as a teenager. She has close ties with the “geyser gazing” hobbyist community and her research on geyser eruption mechanisms is often informed by observations from citizen scientists. Apart from geysers, Mara enjoys cave photography and serves as secretary for the Diablo Grotto, a local caving club. Andrea Anaya Sanchez, Plant and Microbial BiologyThe Role of Aldehydes during Bacterial InfectionA third-year PhD student from Mexico, Andrea is fascinated by bacteria and how sophisticated they can be. She is currently a joint student in the Stanley and Portnoy labs where she is interested in understanding how bacteria have adapted to their host in order to succeed in infection. In particular, she studies the role of aldehydes in host-pathogen infection dynamics. Claire Gasque, PhysicsWhat Can Volcanoes Teach Us about Space?Claire Gasque is a fourth-year student pursuing her PhD in physics. She conducts research at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, where she uses satellite data to probe plasma processes in various space environments. Claire is passionate about effective scientific communication, both for public outreach and within the scientific community, and so is delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this year’s Grad Slam! Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon, RhetoricThe Ethics of FormMaisie Wiltshire-Gordon is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Rhetoric department. Her research draws on philosophy of language, ethics, and literary theory to investigate the way that narrative techniques do ethical work. Focusing on modernist novels, Maisie tracks the way that literary structure offers a way of knowing and relating to one another. But she also believes that these discussions don’t only belong in seminar rooms: as an essayist and book critic, Maisie works to bring philosophical ideas to a broader audience. Madison Browne, PsychologyShedding Light on Alzheimer's DiseaseMadison is a 4th year PhD candidate from Alabama, currently using her training in animal behavior, immunology, and circadian biology to explore a non-invasive light therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease. She is passionate about developing diagnostic and therapeutic tools to improve quality of life for those suffering from brain disorders, and plans to devote her career to this cause. Taylor Waddell, Mechanical Engineering3D Printing in Space.Taylor is a second-year PhD student from Wisconsin. Taylor researches space-based applications of a new 3D printing process called Computed Axial Lithography. He is also currently a NASA Pathways Engineer at the Kennedy Space Center where he works with Lunar regolith. Taylor is a maker and nerd at heart. Monica Li, Mechanical EngineeringRobot Dexterity in the Real WorldMonica is a fifth-year PhD student studying robot design. Her research harnesses fluid mechanics to create dexterous grippers for real-world applications such as ocean exploration. She is excited to share her research through the Grad Slam.