Grad Slam 2024
UC Office of the President Grad Slam
Friday, May 3 | 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Watch the live stream and vote for the People’s Choice!
UC Grad Slam Watch Parties at UCSC
Attend a watch party of the UC Grad Slam on the main UCSC campus at one of these three locations:
- Graduate Student Commons Fireside Lounge
- Kerr Hall Lobby
- Biomedical Sciences Building Conference Room 300
What is Grad Slam?
Grad Slam is a communication contest hosted by the UC Santa Cruz Graduate Division that is open to all graduate students, except those who have won 1st place in a previous Grad Slam. (Currently enrolled graduate students who have won 2nd or the people’s choice in a prior Grad Slam may enter again.) Participants have a maximum of three minutes to explain their graduate research or artistic endeavor to a general audience.
Prizes are $3000 to the winner, $1500 to the runner-up, $750 to the people’s choice (the last decided by text message voting, one vote per audience member, both those in person and watching the live-stream).
Every UC holds a Grad Slam, and the ten UC Grad Slam champions compete in the UC Office of the President Grad Slam the first Friday of May in San Francisco. The 2024 UCOP Grad Slam will be held May 3, 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time, at LinkedIn, 222 2nd Street, San Francisco, and will be live streamed to the UCOP Grad Slam website.
Professional Skills: 
The UCSC Grad Slam took place Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Center Street in downtown Santa Cruz.
2024 Winners
Champion, Winning $3000
Natalie Pedicino
Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology Ph.D., 3rd year
From Mucus Factory to Virus Factory: A Novel Gut Virus’ Global Impact on Children
Hometown: Arcata, CA
What excites you most about your research? Being first to explore a novel virus and its impact on global health, collaborating with other scientists, and learning about building and testing a vaccine, especially in the post-pandemic world.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? UCSC’s a perfect combination of incredible science learning environment in a supportive and collaborative space and beautiful location that reminds me of home.
Tell us a bit more about yourself. I love meeting people through rock climbing, walking dogs, the outdoors, and new hobbies.
Runner-Up, Winning $1500
Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht
Anthropology Ph.D., 6th year
Colonized: Conquistadors, Cleanrooms, and the Evolution of Ancient Pathogens
Hometown: Pleasant Hill, CA
What excites you most about your research? Being able to use science in a way that gives back to the communities I work with and empowers them to influence the direction of research.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? UCSC is one of the few places worldwide with ancient DNA facilities! I’m honored to work with and learn from the amazing group of talented people in UCSC Paleogenomics.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’m President of Outreach for UCSC Women in Science and Engineering, dedicated to increasing DEI in the sciences. I also work at UC San Francisco, where I liaise with Indigenous communities to repatriate UCSF’s collections.
People’s Choice, Winning $750
Em Butler
Social Documentation M.F.A., 1st year
Coming Home to Mango Orchards
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
What excites you most about your research? I love being constantly reminded of the powerful magic of storytelling!
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The social documentation program engages in political inquiry, so I trusted I’d be in spaces with other like-minded people with big hearts and minds.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I have a tiny rabbit named Bloo who is a widely known and beloved creature.
Other Finalists
Elsie Cecilia Carrillo
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D., 5th year
A Bubble for Trouble: Backup-Air for Snakes in Despair What You Already Know
Hometown: San José, CA
What excites you most about your research? As a scuba diver, I love projects relating to the fascinating adaptations of animals for aquatic environments. As an aspiring professor, I love sharing research through mentorship in the lab and field.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? To study semi-aquatic snakes at the beautiful Coastal Science Campus under Dr. Rita Mehta, an expert in elongate, limbless vertebrates.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’m a dedicated educator with an affinity for artistic endeavors, including digital art and jazz flute!
MJ Johns
Computational Media Ph.D., 1st year
Gamification for Community Resilience
Hometown: Columbus Grove, OH
What excites you most about your research? Learning new things, collaborating with others, and making cool projects.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? It has the best Computational Media program!
Tell us a bit more about yourself! Before coming ‘back to school,’ I was a professional game developer working on Call of Duty, as well as some smaller mobile and VR games.
Ania Mah Gricuk
History Ph.D., 2nd year
How Chinese Herbal Tea Challenged Colonialism in Malaysia
Hometown: Vancouver, BC, Canada, and Warsaw, Poland
What excites you most about your research? Learning the stories of and paying homage to immigrants and folks with mixed identities.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? To work with my current advisor, Dr. Shelly Chan, whom I met through a former colleague and mentor.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! My multilingual and multicultural upbringing has taken me all around the world. By age twenty-five, I had lived in Poland, the UK, China, Canada, and the US. No matter where I live, I can find a place that serves good dumplings.
Aaron Samuel Mulenga
Visual Studies Ph.D., 5th year
Tenga Tenga: Can I Help You Carry Your Load?
Hometown: Lusaka, Zambia
What excites you most about your research? The travel to conduct research, as I get to see new spaces and meet new people. I love learning while traveling, as I’m a visual learner.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? I connected most with my advisor, Dr. Elisabeth Cameron, who has been an exceptional mentor during this journey.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I love adrenaline. I have been skydiving, white water rafting on the Zambezi River (Batoka Gorge Rapids are Class V difficulty), paragliding, and bungee jumping. I would like to learn how to fly a plane or skydive unassisted.
Brook M Thompson
Environmental Studies Ph.D., 2nd year
Integration of Indigenous Knowledge into California Water Policy
Hometown: Klamath (Yurok Reservation), CA
What excites you most about your research? Paving the way for other Indigenous scholars and improving the quality of water science in California!
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? It’s in the same state as my tribe, has redwoods and the Pacific Ocean, and the high quality faculty who truly care about me and my success.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’m a member of the Yurok and Karuk tribe, a salmon fisherwoman, have a B.S. in civil engineering (minor in political science) and an M.S. in environmental engineering (focus in water resources) from Stanford.
Firouz Vafadari
Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D., 2nd year
Connect to the Internet with Light!
Hometown: Tehran, Persia/Iran
What excites you most about your research? Changing the way people connect to the world and experience the future internet, fast and free—like light—with light!
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? To study under Dr. J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves, the third scientist in the world in Internet research.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! Playing Chopin on a Steinway grand piano in a hall with wide windows open to the Pacific Ocean and hung with silk curtains dancing in the wind is the ultimate I desire from this illusion, the world.
Maya Wax Cavallaro
Linguistics Ph.D., 5th year
Syllables in Our Minds: Evidence from a Learning Experiment
Hometown: Ipswich, MA
What excites you most about your research? Exploring the human capacity for communication via diverse languages and language communities.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The fantastic Linguistics Department with excellent faculty, opportunities and guidance for fieldwork, public programs like Nido de Lenguas, and the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I love music and play flute and upright bass. Through my fieldwork on Santiago Laxopa Zapotec, I have gotten to play with and learn from communities of musicians in Santa Cruz (Senderos) and Oaxaca, Mexico.
Divisional Preliminary Rounds
The Graduate Division held in cooperation with the academic divisions (Arts, Baskin Engineering, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, and Social Sciences) five on-campus preliminary rounds to determine the top two presenters from each round to be the finalists of Grad Slam on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. The top two presenters in each preliminary round won $500 each. The first ten graduate students to register to participate in their preliminary round and who actually participated received a $50 e-gift certificate to a UCSC-participating vendor.
The 2024 academic division preliminary rounds were held February 5-9 on campus at the Graduate Student Commons Fireside Lounge. Zoom was not an option for participation in a divisional preliminary round or the final round at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on March 2, nor will it be an option at the UC system-wide Grad Slam on May 3, 2024, in San Francisco.
Arts Division
Digital Arts and New Media, Environmental Art and Social Practice, Film and Digital Media, History of Art and Visual Culture, Music, Social Documentation, Theater Arts, Visual Studies
Monday, February 5
Arts Division preliminary round winners:
- Em Butler, Social Documentation, Coming Home to Mango Orchards
- Aaron Samuel Mulenga, Visual Studies, Tenga Tenga: Can I Help You Carry Your Load?
Back row: Host VPDGS Peter Biehl, graduate student participants Marilia Kaisar (Film & Digital Media), Nina Barzegar (Music), Mike Van Zandt (Theater Arts), Em Butler (Social Documentation), Aaron Samuel Mulenga (Visual Studies), Azad Azizyan (Social Documentation), Shelly Horn (Theater Arts), judges
L. Esthela Bañelos (Assistant Dean for Student Success and Chief of Staff, Arts Division), Karolina Karlic (Associate Professor of Art), Wanda Kownacki (nonprofit board member, volunteer, and supporter of UCSC Arts), graduate student participant Saul Villegas (Digital Arts & New Media), judges Albert Narath (Associate Professor of History of Art & Visual Culture), Madalen Benson (graduate student, Visual Studies); Front: Timekeeper Logan Barsigian (Graduate Student Intern, Graduate Student Commons), Sonya Newlyn (Professional Development Coordinator, Graduate Division), graduate student participant Jamilli Pacheco-Urquiza (Social Documentation)
Baskin Engineering
Applied Mathematics, Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics, Computational Media, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Games and Playable Media, Human Computer Interaction, Natural Language Processing, Scientific Computation and Applied Mathematics, Serious Games, Statistical Science, Statistics and Applied Mathematics
Tuesday, February 6
Baskin Engineering preliminary round winners:
- MJ Johns, Computational Media, Gamification for Community Resilience
- Firouz Vafadari, Computer Science and Engineering, Connect to the Internet with Light!
Back row: Judges Leah Kahn (Director of Academic Planning, Baskin Engineering), Logan Barsigian (Graduate Student Intern, Graduate Student Commons), graduate student participants Navid Gougol (Electrical Engineering), Fahim Hasan Khan (Computer Science & Engineering), Richard Ho (Computer Science & Engineering), Priyanka Mondal (Computer Science), host Roberto Manduchi (Associate Dean for Graduate Experience, Baskin Engineering), Iman Nodozi (Electrical Engineering), Firouz Vafadari (Computer Science & Engineering), Daniel Paul Pena (Computer Science & Engineering), Nayan Sanjay Bhatia (Computer Science & Engineering), Dustin Palea (Computational Media), judge Giulia Pagallo (UCSC Comp Sci Ph.D. alumna, former Apple ML Lead), graduate student participant Abdelrahman EL Fikky (Electrical & Computer Engineering), judge Fan Lu (Applied Mathematics postdoctoral scholar); Front row: Judge John Felts (former Elec Eng graduate student, 2017 UCSC Grad Slam champion and 2nd-place in 2017 UCOP Grad Slam, CEO and founder of CruzFoam), graduate student participants Adam Slivinsky (Statistical Science), Harikrishna Kuttivelil (Computer Engineering), Luis Salazar (Computer Science), MJ Johns (Computational Media), and Samir Ghosh (Computational Media); Kneeling in front: Sonya Newlyn (Professional Development Coordinator, Graduate Division)
Humanities Division
Feminist Studies, History, History of Consciousness, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy
Wednesday, February 7
Humanities Division preliminary round winners:
- Ania Mah Gricuk, History, How Chinese Herbal Tea Challenged Colonial Dominance in Malaysia
- Maya Wax Cavallaro, Linguistics, Syllables in Our Minds: Evidence from a Learning Experiment
Back row: Host Jasmine Alinder (Dean of Humanities), graduate student participants Maya Wax Cavallaro (Linguistics), Ania Mah Gricuk (History), Chelsea Qu (Philosophy), Haley Taylor (Literature), and Philip Groth (Philosophy); Front row: Judges Elizabeth McKenzie (Editor, Writer, Shipbuilder, supporter of UCSC Humanities), Micah Perks (Professor of Literature), Alex Brondarbit (Director of Academic Human Resources, Humanities Division), Anju Reejhsinghani (Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Office of DEI), and Saskia Nauenberg Dunkell (Research Programs & Communications Manager, The Humanities Institute, Humanities Division)
Physical and Biological Sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Coastal Science and Policy, Earth and Planetary Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Mathematics, Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Ocean Sciences, Physics, Science Communication
February 8
Physical and Biological Sciences preliminary round winners:
- Elsie Cecilia Carrillo, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, A Bubble for Trouble: Backup-Air for Snakes in Despair
- Natalie Pedicino, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, From Mucus Factory to Virus Factory: A Novel Gut Virus’ Global Impact on Children
Back row: Graduate student participants Amanda Carbajal (Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology), Diana Blanco (Astronomy & Astrophysics), Maya Zeff (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Jenna Contuchio (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), Xinzhe Xue (Chemistry & Biochemistry), Chloe Wohlenberg (Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology), Elsie Cecilia Carrillo (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), and Natalie Pedicino (Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology), host Bryan Gaensler (Dean of Physical & Biological Sciences); Front row: Judges Rachel Neuman (Director of Graduate Student Life, Graduate Division), Ian Walton (UCSC Mathematics Ph.D. Alumnus, Distinguished Graduate Student Alumnus from PBSci in 2021, Past Chair of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges), Julie Gentle (Development Assistant, Sciences Division), Nic Brody (Mathematics postdoctoral scholar), and Jaime Guevara (undergraduate student)
Social Sciences
Anthropology, Applied Economics and Finance, Economics, Education, Environmental Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, Politics, Psychology, Sociology
February 9
Social Sciences Division preliminary round winners:
- Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Anthropology, Colonized: Conquistadors, Cleanrooms, and the Evolution of Ancient Pathogens
- Brook Thompson, Environmental Studies, Integration of Indigenous Knowledge into California Water Policy
Judges of each preliminary round determined the top two presenters, who won $500 each and will advance as finalists to Grad Slam at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on March 2, 2024.
System-wide Grad Slam Rules from UC Office of the President
Eligibility
All graduate students currently enrolled in UC master’s or doctoral graduate programs. In cases of collaborative research, the presenter’s contribution to the project must be salient and clearly specified.
Technical
Judging will focus on the presentation and the ability to communicate research to a non-specialist audience. Use of additional electronic media (e.g., sound and video files) must be approved in advance (email Sonya Newlyn with questions and for approval). Submissions may not contain any copyrighted material, such as licensed graphics.
Visuals
A maximum of one PowerPoint slide (16:9 ratio), exclusive of title slide to be generated by UCSC Graduate Division, is allowed but is optional; no Prezi or other presentation formats. Students must create their PowerPoint slide themselves; they cannot ask someone else to design the slide. Use of PowerPoint templates is allowed. The slide can include visual elements (charts, visualizations, photos, clip art, etc.) created by someone other than the student, as long as the slide credits the original creator.
PowerPoint animation effects are allowed
Embedded audio and/or video clips (including but not limited to .gif, .avi, .mp4, .mp3, and .wmv file types) are not permitted unless they are deemed indispensable to the communication of the research topic. To request the inclusion of an audio or video clip, participants must send both the presentation with the embedded media and a short statement of justification to Sonya Newlyn for approval. Requests must be sent at least one week prior to the divisional preliminary round the requester will be participating in.
Props are allowed, but need to be cleared by Sonya Newlyn, require minimal set-up, and not produce a mess.
Timing commences when the student engages with the audience. (If engagement starts with a hand clap, a gesture, an audio or video clip or any other such engagement, prior to speaking, the clock begins at that time; if there is no such engagement the clock starts when the student begins speaking.) Timing will end after the last word is spoken.
Points will be deducted from the final score, beginning with one point at 3:03, and one point being taken off for every two seconds the speaker continues after that.
Scoring
Judges rate presenters with a score of 1 to 5 (1=Poor, 2=Fair, 3=Good, 4=Very Good, 5=Excellent, with half-points allowed above 1 and below 5) in the following four categories:
Accessibility
The presenter translated their research and its disciplinary significance into language that all of us can understand.
Organization
The presenter delivered a talk that followed a clear and logical sequence.
Delivery
The presenter delivered the talk with an effective performance style in terms of body language, eye contact, expression, volume, and pace.
Engagement
The presenter conveyed enthusiasm for their research or artistic endeavor and captured and maintained the audience’s attention.
