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.
Who Should Apply?
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
Friday, FEBRUARY 8: UCI Grad Slam Semi-Finals at the GRC Friday, MARCH 8: UCI Grad Slam Campus Finals (location TBD) Friday, MAY 10: UC Grad Slam Systemwide Finals at LinkedIn San Francisco Campus
Previous Competitions
Below are links to livestreams that were recorded at the 2018 UCI campus finals competition and the systemwide competition in San Francisco:
