The communications course at UCI’s Graduate Resource Center (GRC) was instrumental in helping me win the inaugural Grad Slam competition, because it taught me about different aspects of speaking and engaging with the audience and I highly recommend the course for all graduate scholars."- Ashley Fong, UC System-Wide 2015 Grad Slam Winner
What is Grad Slam?
Grad Slam is a systemwide competition that showcases and awards the best three-minute research presentations by graduate scholars. This competition not only highlights the excellence, importance and relevance of UCI graduate scholars and their research, but it is also designed to increase graduate students' communication skills and their capacity to effectively present their work with poise and confidence. It is an opportunity to share accomplishments with the campus, friends of UCI, the local community, and the broader public.
Grad Slam is open to all graduate students. Presentations can discuss research of any discipline and methodology.
Why Apply?
Grad Slam contestants receive advanced communication skills training and a competitive CV/resume line. Additionally, winners receive cash prizes up to $5,000! The systemwide winner earns the coveted title of 2019 Grad Slam Champion and the coveted "Slammy".
Record a three-minute video of yourself explaining your research and its significance as if speaking to an audience of people without academic experience in your field. Consider the video a rough draft, letting the judges get a sense of your research and the impact you believe it may have. The video will not be judged on production value.
The video should be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo and available for judges to view January 18 – February 8, 2019. The video will only be shared with internal UCI judges and will not be shared beyond that without consent from the contestant.
At the beginning of your video, please state your full name, graduate program, and title of your video. The time it takes to do this will not be counted against the three minutes you may take to present your research.
Videos may be recorded on your cell phone/personal video device or using equipment from the Multimedia Resource Center at the library
Key Dates
Preparation Opportunties
Tuesday-Wednesday OCTOBER 30 & 31: Information Sessions Thursday, NOVEMBER 8: Introduction to Presentations Tuesday, NOVEMBER 27: Video Boot Camp #1 Thursday, NOVEMBER 29: Video Boot Camp #2 Friday, JANUARY 18: Application Submission Deadline
2019 Competition Schedule
Friday, FEBRUARY 8: UCI Grad Slam Semi-Finals Friday, MARCH 8: UCI Grad Slam Campus Finals Wednesday, MAY 8: UC Grad Slam Systemwide Finals at LinkedIn San Francisco Campus
2018 UCI Finalists
Our 2018 Campus Finalists showcased the excellence, importance and relevance of their research with poise and confidence during the UCI semifinals.
Sarah Cross, Ph.D., Anatomy and Neurobiology
Megan Curran, M.D./Ph.D., Anatomy and Neurobiology
Gianna Fote, M.D./Ph.D., Biological Chemistry
Laura McIntyre, Ph.D., Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Peter McPartlan, Ph.D., Education
Amanda McQuade, Ph.D., Neurobiology and Behavior
Christie-Lynn Mortales, Ph.D., Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Alana Ogata, Ph.D., Chemistry
Crystal Reynaga, Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Rachel Rosenzweig, Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering
Find out more about each of them and their research,here.
