Grad Slam
The 2025 UC Santa Cruz Grad Slam took place on
Saturday, March 1
7:00–9:00 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Kuumbwa Jazz Center
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
- First Place, Grad Slam Champion: $3000
- Second Place: $1500
- People’s Choice: $750 (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’s Grad Slam. The UC system-wide Grad Slam will take place on Tuesday, April 29, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, at the UC Center Sacramento.
2025 UC Santa Cruz Grad Slam Winners
Champion, Winning $3000
Jenna Myers
Biochemistry Ph.D., 4th year
A Sticky Situation: The Age-Related Influx of Clot-Producing Platelets
Hometown: Lake Geneva, WI
What excites you most about your graduate work? While biochemistry tends to focus on cellular mechanisms far beyond what the eye can see, I love being able to apply it to a larger system (blood) that is translatable and allows us to consider the big picture! Plus, stem cell research is a super innovative field.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? I mean, the ocean/redwood combo is pretty hard to beat.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! As a kid, I had two pet donkeys!
Runner-Up, Winning $1500
Eva Edelson
Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Ph.D., 3rd year
If It Ain’t Folded, Let’s Fix It: Hidden Structures in Human Health
Hometown: Los Altos, CA
What excites you most about your graduate work? That my research contributes to ongoing efforts to support patients with rare diseases and unmet medical needs. I hope to use my skills as a scientist and science communicator for patient advocacy and to bridge the gap between basic science and the people it serves.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The beautiful location, cutting edge molecular biology research, and proximity to my family.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’m a big fan of marine biology and a certified scuba divemaster.
People’s Choice, Winning $750
Piyush Gandhi
Economics Ph.D., 4th year
Extinguishing the Blaze: Reducing Air Pollution in India
Hometown: New Delhi, India
What excites you most about your graduate work? Its tangible impact—cleaner air, reduced pollution, lower healthcare costs, and improved livelihoods; conducting fieldwork in the vibrant Indian countryside while engaging with farmers to understand challenges and contribute to solutions that benefit communities and the environment.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? Its strong research community at the intersection of development and environmental economics.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I love playing cricket and tennis and am learning poker. In poker, beginner’s luck has been on my side :’)
All Finalists
Finalists (Piyush Gandhi, Inês Pedrosa e Melo, Juanita Gomez, Amy Reid, Riley Collins, Prajna Hebbar, Eva Edelson, Haley Taylor, Em Padilla, and Jenna Myers) at UC Santa Cruz Grad Slam, Saturday, March 1, 2025
2025 Preliminary Divisional Rounds
Preliminary divisional rounds took place February 3–7 to determine the finalists. The top two presenters (as determined by volunteer judges invited by the academic divisions) won $250 each and will compete in the final round on March 1 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
Social Sciences Division Finalists
Left to right: Piyush Gandhi, Riley Collins, and Social Sciences Division Dean Katharyne Mitchell
Riley Collins
Education Ph.D., 6th year
Teachers Strike Back: Teacher Organizing in Times of Crisis
Hometown: Washington, DC
Piyush Gandhi
Economics Ph.D., 4th year
Extinguishing the Blaze: Reducing Air Pollution in India
Hometown: New Delhi, India
What excites you most about your graduate work? Its tangible impact—cleaner air, reduced pollution, lower healthcare costs, and improved livelihoods; conducting fieldwork in the vibrant Indian countryside while engaging with farmers to understand challenges and contribute to solutions that benefit communities and the environment.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? Its strong research community at the intersection of development and environmental economics.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I love playing cricket and tennis and am learning poker. In poker, beginner’s luck has been on my side :’)
Physical and Biological Sciences Division Finalists
Left to right: Jenna Myers, Eva Edelson, and Physical and Biological Sciences Division Dean Bryan Gaensler
Eva Edelson
Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Ph.D., 3rd year
If It Ain’t Folded, Let’s Fix It: Hidden Structures in Human Health
Hometown: Los Altos, CA
What excites you most about your graduate work? That my research contributes to ongoing efforts to support patients with rare diseases and unmet medical needs. I hope to use my skills as a scientist and science communicator for patient advocacy and to bridge the gap between basic science and the people it serves.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The beautiful location, cutting edge molecular biology research, and proximity to my family.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’m a big fan of marine biology and a certified scuba divemaster.
Jenna Myers
Biochemistry Ph.D., 4th year
A Sticky Situation: The Age-Related Influx of Clot-Producing Platelets
Hometown: Lake Geneva, WI
What excites you most about your graduate work? While biochemistry tends to focus on cellular mechanisms far beyond what the eye can see, I love being able to apply it to a larger system (blood) that is translatable and allows us to consider the big picture! Plus, stem cell research is a super innovative field.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? I mean, the ocean/redwood combo is pretty hard to beat.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! As a kid, I had two pet donkeys!
Humanities Division Finalists
Haley Taylor
Em Padilla
Feminist Studies Ph.D., 6th year
Analyzing the Discursivity of Transgender Military Inclusive and Exclusive Policy
Hometown: Boyle Heights, CA
What excites you most about your graduate work? My research calls attention to the importance of staying aware of and engaged with policies and legislation that adversely affect the Trans and Queer communities. This work and research is needed now, more than ever.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The rich history of Feminist Studies and its faculty and Santa Cruz’s natural beauty.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I love to cook and spend copious amounts of time tinkering with kitchen gadgets and recipes.
Haley Taylor
Literature M.A., 2nd year
Love: A Disrupting Force in Medieval Literature
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
What excites you most about your graduate work? Exploring how literature from 800 years ago still resonates, how love’s social role changes over time, and similarities between the human experience in medieval European courtly and modern love.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? As a Bay Area native, Santa Cruz has always held a place in my heart. The faculty have been nothing but supportive.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I enjoy going to raves and outdoor camping festivals.
Baskin School of Engineering Finalists
Left to right: Juanita Gomez, Prajna Hebbar, and Baskin School of Engineering Associate Dean Roberto Manduchi
Juanita Gomez
Computer Science & Engineering Ph.D., 4th year
Fortifying Open Source: Securing the Code That Powers Research
Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia
What excites you most about your graduate work? Finding ways to make an impact in the open-source community.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? Its strong research in security and open-source software and the opportunity to collaborate with the Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and work with amazing advisers.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I sing and created a YouTube channel a few years ago, hoping to become famous!
Prajna Hebbar
Biomolecular Engineering & Bioinformatics Ph.D., 3rd year
Looking for Genes in Genomes
Hometown: Mangalore, Karnataka, India
What excites you most about your graduate work? The genomic data we’re generating and collaboration.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? To be part of the trailblazing community of UCSC genomics scientists!
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I help teach 1st and 2nd graders concepts like butterfly pollination and global warming by using block-based code-writing techniques to animate them.
Arts Division Finalists
Left to right: Inês Pedrosa e Melo, Arts Division Assistant Dean Esthela Bañuelos, and Amy Reid
Inês Pedrosa e Melo
Film and Digital Media Ph.D., 2nd year
Reimagining (Invisible) Histories of Abortion Travel
Hometown: Lisbon, Portugal
What excites you most about your graduate work? Excavating archives for forgotten, invisible histories and bringing them to life through film.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? The FDM Ph.D. program is such a generative space for the intersection of artist practice and forms of critical inquiry into documentary and archival film. I am so inspired by the work of current and past students!
Tell us a bit more about yourself! I’ve loved to swim since childhood and want to take up open water swimming in SF Bay. Maybe this year!
Amy Reid
Film and Digital Media Ph.D., 6th year
Grandmother’s Garden: Creative Expression in Quilting and US History
Hometown(s): West Palm Beach, FL, and Brooklyn, NY
What excites you most about your graduate work? I have traveled extensively around the US, talked with quilters, and built relationships with them throughout the years of this project. These conversations have ranged from talking about the craft of quilting to grappling with this country’s complex racial and economic histories. Additionally, I have never gotten sick of the hundreds of quilts I have been privileged to film, touch, and study—both in institutional collections and from the contemporary quilters I’ve been meeting.
Why did you choose to attend UC Santa Cruz for graduate study? It’s one of the few institutions that nurtures a theory and practice Ph.D. in film and media and strongly emphasizes non-fiction film practices. I also admire the legacy of radical thinkers coming out of UCSC, who push me to examine systems of power and oppression and the ability to harness filmmaking as an act of resistance and community-building with the participants in my films.
Tell us a bit more about yourself! Before this project, I made another feature film with female truckers, riding and filming around the United States with them.
System-wide Grad Slam Rules from the UC Office of the President
Eligibility
All graduate students currently enrolled in UCSC master’s or doctorate graduate programs are eligible to compete. Prior first-place winners of Grad Slam may not compete. In cases of collaborative research, the presenter’s contribution to the project must be salient and clearly specified.
Visuals
Slides
- A maximum of one static Microsoft Office PowerPoint slide, exclusive of the title slide to be generated by the UCSC Graduate Division, is allowed but is optional. No Prezi or other slide presentation formats are allowed.
- The slide must be static. Media, sound, transitions, and animations are not allowed.
- Students must create their PowerPoint slides themselves; they cannot ask someone else to design the slides.
- The use of PowerPoint templates is allowed but discouraged. Check out this page of Slide Design Principles.
- The slide can include visual elements (charts, maps, photos, clip art, etc.) created by someone other than the student, as long as the slide credits the original creator.
- Submissions may not contain any copyrighted material, such as licensed graphics.
Props are allowed but need to be cleared by the Graduate Division Grad Slam organizer, require minimal set-up, and produce no mess.
Scoring
Judging focuses on the presentation and the ability to communicate graduate research or artistic endeavors to a non-specialist audience. Judges rate presenters with a score of 1 to 5 in each of four categories (see below):
- 1=Poor
- 2=Fair
- 3=Good
- 4=Very Good
- 5=Excellent
Judges may give scores with half-points above 1 and below 5 (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5). Judges give scores in the following four categories:
- Accessibility: The presenter translated their graduate study focus, their contribution to this work, and its disciplinary significance (why is this work important?) 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 graduate work and captured and maintained the audience’s attention.
Timing commences when the student engages with the audience. (If engagement starts with a hand clap, a gesture, 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 that the speaker continues beyond 3:03.
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