All PhD students who have advanced to candidacy are encouraged to participate in the annual Grad Slam competition! 

Students must declare their intent to enter by January 4, by filling out a very simple online form at http://tiny.ucsf.edu/entergradslam.

Please note, only PhD students who have advanced to candidacy are eligible to participate.

Judges for the final live competition on March 10 will include Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Dean of the School of Medicine Talmadge King, science journalists Gabriela Quiros and Indre Viskontas, and Kishore Hari, director of the annual Bay Area Science Festival. We also have a great team of nine "screening judges," who will choose the finalists based on video entries. These are UCSF faculty members Vincanne Adams, Kaveh Ashrafi (chair), Patsy Babbitt, and Barbara Panning; Graduate Division Alumni Association President Donna Barnes; UCSF science writer Claire Conway; Kevin Eisenmann, director of audience strategy in University Relations; Director of iBiology Sarah Goodwin; and Sarah Paris, director of communications for the School of Medicine.

The Graduate Division is awarding substantial cash prizes — $3,000 for the winner, $1,500 for the runner-up, and $750 for the "people's choice" winner, who will be chosen by the audience present on March 10.

Students can get all the details about the competition on the Graduate Division website: http://graduate.ucsf.edu/grad-slam. They may also attend one of these upcoming info sessions:

- Mission Bay Info Session, December 3, Noon, Byers Hall 215

- Parnassus Info Session, December 7, Noon, Med Sci S-157

Jeannine Cuevas, communications director for the Graduate Division, is managing this initiative and would be happy to answer any questions.