SJSU Grad Slam

SJSU Grad Slam logo

Grad Slam 2023 was a Success!

Congratulations to all our finalists and our 2023 Winners! First Place for SJSU & CSU: Jaedyn L. Rollins; Second Place: Hoang-Vi Vu; and Audience Choice Winner: Peace Lu!

And the 2023 winners are...

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First Place SJSU & CSU-wide Grad Slam

Jaedyn L. Rollins 

Biological Sciences, Systems Physiology, M.S.  

Title of Presentation: "The RhD Locus: A Safe Solution for Gene Editing"

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Second Place

Hoang-Vi Vu  

Biological Sciences, M.S.

Title of Presentation:"Assessing the Effects of a Molecule on Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy"

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Audience Choice Winner

Peace Lu                

Speech Language Pathology, M.S.  

Title of Presentation:"Rethinking Stuttering Diagnosis Criteria for Bilingual Children"

Meet the SJSU Grad Slam 2023 Finalists

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Amanbeer Singh Khanduja               Artificial Intelligence, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "The Future is Red"
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Ashly Joseph     Computer Engineering, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Li-Fi – Wi-Fi Heterogeneous Network: Implementation and Challenges"
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Chloë Angst       Applied Anthropology, M.A.

Title of Presentation: "Taphonomy and Homelessness in San José, California"
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David Poirier         Masters in Business Administration

Title of Presentation: "Fighting Student Poverty with Professional Mentorship"
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Diana Di Huang     Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership, (Ed.D.)

Title of Presentation: "A New and Empowering Asian American Parent’s Parenting Model"

 

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Hoang-Vi Vu     Biological Sciences, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Assessing the Effects of a Molecule on Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy"
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Jaedyn L. Rollins Biological Sciences, Systems Physiology, M.S.  

Title of Presentation: "The RhD Locus: A Safe Solution for Gene Editing"
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John Cooper     Statistics, M.S.  

Title of Presentation: "Few-Shot Learning for Fast-Acquisition, High-Resolution Microscopy"
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Padmaja Kota Iyer       Environmental Studies, M.S.  

Title of Presentation: "Who Should Decide Where Lithium Is Mined?"
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Peace Lu                 Speech Language Pathology, M.S.  

Title of Presentation: "Rethinking Stuttering Diagnosis Criteria for Bilingual Children"

Meet the 2023 Grad Slam Judges and Emcee

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Stefan Frazier             Judge

Stefan Frazier is Professor and Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Language Development at SJSU. An 18-year veteran of the university, he has promoted student success and celebration whenever possible, especially in his role as Chair of the SJSU Academic Senate (2017-2019). He is a long-time educator of English as a second language and a trainer of ESL teachers. Above all, he is interested in how people display their individuality and creativity, whether via language or through the arts, sciences, or education.

 

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Dr. David Kosmeyer       Judge

Dr. David Korsmeyer is the deputy center director for Research and Technology at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, and is responsible for the overall scope and direction of the center’s operations and facilities. He also manages the NASA Research Park – co-located at Moffett Field – which hosts academic, industry, and other government organizations. He is one of four senior center leaders guiding and managing NASA’s virtual institutes based at Ames, competitive internal research and development projects, and external research collaborations.

 

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Meenakshi Goel         Judge

Meenakshi Goel is a Principal Scientific Researcher in the Department of Small Molecule Pharmaceutical Sciences at Genentech, a member of Roche Pharmaceuticals, a leading international biotechnology company. As an analytical chemist, she supports research, development, and clinical manufacturing of best-in-class therapeutics using state-of-the-art analytical techniques like High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography, High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, Supercritical fluid chromatography, multi-dimensional liquid chromatography and more. 
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Kate Forrest             Judge

Kate Forrest is a current student at SJSU, studying for her Master’s degree in Meteorology and Climate Science.  She was our first place winner at last year’s Grad Slam competition, and represented SJSU at the Western Association of Graduate Schools Grad Slam a few weeks ago.  You may have seen her winning presentation today in the pre-show reel.  She is a graduate assistant at SJSU’s Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. Kate’s passion for fire weather was ignited after following California’s 2020 wildfire season and has since taken an interest in fire weather forecasting. In exciting news, she has just accepted a meteorologist position at the National Weather Service in Sacramento upon graduation this spring.  
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Holt Hanley                 Emcee  

Growing up as a surfer in Northern California, weather has always been a big part of Holt’s life. When he was 14, he decided it was his goal to become a broadcast meteorologist. He began working toward this goal by receiving a degree in Earth Science from Cal Poly. After the "Northern California firestorm" in 2017, he decided to fine-tune his focus toward the intersection of weather and wildfire, He saw that wildfire was becoming a huge problem in California, and hoped to one day be part of the solution. Holt earned his Master’s in Meteorology at San Jose State University, working in the Fire Weather Research Laboratory.  His thesis combined machine learning and wildfire prediction.

Meet the SJSU Grad Slam 2023 Semi-Finalists

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Abhishek Vaid   Computer Science, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Deep learning neural machine translation conversational agent"

 

 

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Aditi Agrawal   Computer Science, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Deep Learning Neural Machine Translation Conversational Agent"

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Afroz Shaukat Inamdar   Software Engineering, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "CodEval: Automated Grading Tool for Programming Assignment"

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Antonio Cervantes   Mechanical Engineering, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "First Steps Towards Physics-based Firebrand Shower Models"

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Ayush Wattal           Data Analytics, M.S.  

Title of Presenation: "Rooftop Solar Panel & Energy Estimation"

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David Benterou     Environmental Studies, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Home Wildfire Mitigation: Does Safety Impact California Plants?"

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Gabby Acevedo Munares         Biomedical Engineering, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "A Novel Method for Assessing Biomaterials Used in Open Heart Surgery"

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Orissa Smith-Goshen   Occupational Therapy, Ph.D.

Title of Presentation: "Habits, Perspectives, and Emotional Outlooks: An Exploration of how First-Year University Students in Occupational Therapy Navigate an Evolving Educational Landscape"

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Sachin Kumar Srinivasa Murthy                         Data Analytics, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Enhancing Job Seekers' Adaptability to Dynamic Skill Demand Shifts: A Novel Information System Design beyond Traditional Job Descriptions"

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Sarvesh Upadhye       Software Engineering, M.S.

Title of Presentation: "Custom Kubernetes Autoscaler"

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Tam Tran                   Urban Planning, MUP

Title of Presentation: "The Challenges When Buying Food Without Cars"

What is Grad Slam?

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Since its inception in 2019, Grad Slam at San José State University has become a well-known and recognized event. Grad Slam, a research communication competition or also known as a three-minute thesis competition, is an exciting and fast-paced event where graduate students present their research in three minutes with one slide to a non-specialist audience. Students compete in front of a live audience and a panel of judges, and are scored on their ability to communicate their work and its impact effectively in three minutes.

Watch to See What Grad Slam is All About

Past Grad Slam Participant Testimonials

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 Phuong Lan Pham, 2022 Finalist

How Did Grad Slam Enhance Your Thesis?

Watch Video

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 Simon Tan, 2022 Finalist

What Skills Did You Learn?

Watch Video

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 Jayme Renee Harms, 2022 Finalist

Did Grad Slam Help Your Research?

Watch Video

And the 2022 Winners are...

Kate Forrest

First Place

Kate Forrest

Meteorology, MS

Title of Presentation - "Fire Tornadoes: The Unicorns of Fire Weather"

Watch Kate's Presentation

Nathaniel Pergamit

Second Place

Nathaniel Pergamit

Music, MM

Title of Presentation - "Buried Treasure in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park"

Watch Nate's Presentation

Punithavathi Sundaramurthy

Audience Choice

Punithavathi Sundaramurthy

Bioinformatics, MS

Title of Presentation - "A Computational Approach to Identify Complex DNA Binding Sites to Study Gene Regulation"

Watch Punit's Presentation

Past Grad Slam Winners

Past Grad Slam Recordings