UC Merced holds Grad Slam competition. Here’s what it is and who won
How do you boil down years of study and research into a three-minute in-person presentation?
That was the challenge for 10 UC Merced master’s and PhD students on Wednesday afternoon during the university’s Grad Slam 2026 competition.
The Grad Slam is a fast‑paced competition that challenges scholars to explain their research in an engaging presentation for a general audience. You can think of it as a higher-education “Shark Tank” pitch.
In February, participants submitted video presentations in hopes of qualifying for the final competition. Faculty and staff judges narrowed it down to these 10 finalists:
- Zahra Alitaneh, quantitative and systems biology
- Alberto Alves, mechanical engineering
- Alex Hartzler, mechanical engineering
- Harleen Kaur, chemistry and biochemistry
- Zoe Loh, management of complex systems
- Sarah Malone, applied mathematics
- Zachary Malone, environmental systems
- Emmanuel Rabago Moreno, mechanical engineering
- Andrew Silverstein, environmental systems
- Tahirah Williams, quantitative and systems biology
Williams won Wednesday’s in-person competition with her presentation about the fungal pathogen that causes valley fever and how it interacts with the mucosal immune system in the lungs.
So what was the biggest challenge for Williams, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, and a quantitative and systems biology scholar?
“The challenge is controlling your nerves,” she said. “Yes, it’s three minutes, but it’s also the anxiety and excitement that comes with it. So, the biggest challenge is controlling the nerves long enough to share what you want to share to the audience.”
For winning, Williams receives $5,000 and advances to compete at the UC systemwide Grad Slam event April 22 in Sacramento. She said she’ll use the time to improve her presentation.
“I will have more time to prepare and I’ll have a coach,” Williams said, “so I think I will take the experience from today and the nerves I felt and ... it will make it easier for me to adapt in Sacramento. Because I now have the experience from being a campus champion.
Zachary Malone — whose wife, Sarah, also presented during the event at the UC Merced — took second place for his presentation about his research on soil health and won $2,000.
Zahra Alitaneh presented her research about Griffithsin and placed third. She won $1,000. The remaining seven finalists were awarded $250 each.
UC Merced’s Shayna Bennett won the UC systemwide event in 2021.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 8:22 AM.
