CTS M.D./Ph.D. student Ashley Guest took home second place honors in the 2021 Grad Slam competition, earning a $2000 prize. The Grad Slam competition is a campus-wide competition for the best 3-minute graduate student presentation of a research or creative project, staged annually by the Graduate Center, a part of the UArizona Graduate College. Ms. Guest’s presentation about her ongoing dissertation research was entitled “How deep brain stimulation changes the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease." She presented her research in three rounds of competition, ultimately placing second among the six finalists.
Ms. Guest shared the following comments regarding her experience in Grad Slam: “Grad Slam was a really fun competition that helped me work on my presentation skills to a general audience! It can be a challenge to explain your research to people outside of your field, and it comes up all the time with family, friends, and even potential funding sources or other researchers. Grad Slam is a fun way to practice your elevator speech, and lots of my family members said they understood what I do better after watching my 3 minute presentation. It was a great experience.”
Several CTS students have competed in Grad Slam in past years as well. Jonathan Credo (CTS Ph.D. student) earned second place in the 2019 Grad Slam competition.