Grad Slam winner battles for systemwide title

Two weeks out from her campus victory, Annette Hilton, winner of UC Santa Barbara’s 2023 Grad Slam, will vie for the systemwide title with her presentation Turning on the Tap about her hydrology research on using historical measurements to inform decisions on managing groundwater.

“I’m super excited and really grateful to have this opportunity and get to present again,” said Hilton, a Ph.D. student in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

Hilton will join other campus champions Friday, May 5, for the championship event hosted by UC President Michael V. Drake at the LinkedIn headquarters in San Francisco and live-streamed from the UC Grad Slam website. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges representing industry, media, government and higher education. Viewers will also get a chance to vote to win the audience choice award.

“The systemwide Grad Slam is an opportunity to show the public how important graduate education is to the state of California,” said Leila J. Rupp, Interim Graduate Division Dean. “The research, teaching, and community involvement of graduate students touch the lives of people throughout the state, and the Grad Slam finalists make that real.”

Launched in 2013, Grad Slam is an annual event that spotlights research being done by graduate students through three-minute talks. Students present the central points of their projects in a clear, direct and engaging manner for a diverse audience. Each of the 10 UC campuses hold local competitions between their graduate students, with the winners moving on to the UC-wide competition.