Haddy Kreie answers a question from the audience while the other Round 6 contestants look on. Credit: Patricia Marroquin
Here’s what you missed on Wednesday afternoon’s Grad Slam Round 6 in the McCune conference room. Eight of UCSB’s best and brightest talked about hope, humanity, and greatness in the fields of education, psychology, anthropology, theatre and dance, engineering, and biology – and they did it in only three minutes each!
Round 6 presenters included, clockwise from top left: Lauren Smyth; Haddy Kreie; Ana Elisa Garcia-Vedrenne; and Mario Galicia. Credit: Patricia MarroquinThe presenters and their topics:
- Mario Galicia, Education: “'Pushed Out’ and ‘Pulled In’: Institutional Bridging for Marginalized Students”
- Ana Elisa Garcia-Vedrenne, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology: “Snail Parasites and Warrior Worms”
- Haddy Kreie, Theater and Dance: “Is Blackness Trauma?: Racial Discourse, Trauma Theory, and Vodun Aesthetics”
- Joshua Kuntzman, Education: “Do You See Why I Love This Subject?': Educational Dialog and the Importance of Real Human Teachers”
- Sabrina Liu, Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology: “The Power of Hope: First-Year Students' Adjustment to College Amidst Tragedy”
- Lakshmanan Nataraj, Electrical and Computer Engineering: “Photographing Computer Programs to Identify Malicious Software”
- Lauren Smyth, Anthropology: “Aspiring Towards Greatness: (Re)Presenting Muslim Identity in the American Urban Environment”
- Erik Spickard, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology: “Gonads to Guts: Reprogramming an Organ in the Nematode C. elegans”
And the Round 6 winners are ...
Judges’ Selections: Joshua Kuntzman and Erik Spickard
People’s Choice: Lakshamanan Nataraj and Sabrina Liu
Ryan’s Selections:
- Most Depressing Flow Chart in an Opening Slide: Mario Galicia
- Most Convincing Reason to Never, Ever, Ever Get in the Ocean Again: Ana Elisa Garcia-Vedrenne
- Best Breakdown and Explanation of a Theory: Haddy Kreie
- Most References to School of Rock: Joshua Kuntzman
- Best Use of “First World Problems” Meme: Sabrina Liu
- Most Pictures of the Statue of Liberty: Lakshmanan Nataraj
- Best Scarf: Lauren Smyth
- Best Pronunciation of "Transorganogenesis": Erik Spickard
Joshua, Erik, Lakshamanan, and Sabrina will advance to the Semifinals next week.
The winners of Grad Slam Round 6 are, from left, Erick Spickard (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology); Sabrina Liu (Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology); Lakshamanan Nataraj (Electrical and Computer Engineering); and Joshua Kuntzman (Education). Credit: Patricia Marroquin