Graduate Division Hosts 10th Grad Slam Competition

By Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced

April 4, 2024

Graduate students from UC Merced’s three schools will take the stage to compete in the Graduate Division’s 10th Grad Slam finals on April 8.

Who will UC Merced’s Grad Slam champion be?

Cheer on the finalists on April 8 and find out.

Graduate students from UC Merced’s three schools will take the stage to compete in the Graduate Division’s 10th Grad Slam finals.

Grad Slam is an annual University of California competition that aims to make research accessible to all by providing emerging scientists and scholars with the skills to engage the public in their work. Forty graduate students competed in the qualifying round in March and the top 10 advanced to the campus’s final round.

Finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

Sarah Alnahari, seventh-year Ph.D. student in public health
Maged Elshatoury, second-year Ph.D. student in materials and biomaterials science engineering
Cayce Fylling, fifth-year Ph.D. student in applied mathematics
Tony Hua, fourth-year Ph.D. student in economics
Samuel Leventini, third-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
Daniel Miliate, second-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
Jose Morales, second-year master’s student in mechanical engineering
Pravien Rajaram, fourth-year Ph.D. student chemistry and biochemistry
Alejandra Santoyo, fourth-year Ph.D. student in cognitive and information sciences
Ambarish Vardan, sixth-year Ph.D. student in quantitative and systems biology

Each finalist receives a $250 award. The first-place winner of the campus’s Grad Slam final round will receive $5,000. The second-place winner will receive $2,000 and third place $1,000.

The finals start at 2 p.m. April 8 in the Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom inside the Conference Center and all are welcome. Doors open at 1:40 p.m. Those who can’t attend in person may watch via Zoom (Meeting ID: 896 7960 8213) the day of the event. There is no need to pre-register.

The campus champion will compete at the UC systemwide Grad Slam event Friday, May 3, at LinkedIn’s headquarters in San Francisco. View past winners, including 2021 champion Shayna Bennett and 2023 People’s Choice winner Aneelman Brar of UC Merced.

Good luck to all finalists!