The campus’s 2025 Grad Slam finalists are (listed alphabetically by last name):
Adekunle Adewole
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Advisor: Professor Andrea Merg
Research: Kunle's research focuses on designing sequence-programmable peptide materials with predefined 3D geometries using peptide macrocycles that leverage the coiled-coil protein fold. By harnessing the biological nature of these materials, his work enables applications in medicine and biosensing, particularly in targeted drug delivery.
Michael Difrieri
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Professor Venkattraman Ayyaswamy
Research: MIchael Difrieri's research focuses on diagnosing plasma reactors with diverse configurations and investigating their potential for material modification. Specifically, their work aims to enhance the fire-resistant properties of materials used in housing construction, contributing to safer and more sustainable building practices. This innovative approach bridges plasma diagnostics and material science, offering practical applications for improving construction safety.
Alex Hartzler
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Professor Ashlie Martini
Research: I study how greases designed for combustion engines perform under electrified conditions similar to those in EVs. By understanding their behavior, we can develop better lubricants to extend EV longevity and contribute to cleaner air in the Central Valley and beyond.
Helia Hosseinpour
Cognitive and Information Sciences
Advisor: Professor Zenaida Aguirre-Munoz
Research: Helia’s research examines how people understand and use data visualizations when making decisions. She is particularly interested in how individual differences, such as differences in working memory capacity and goals, influence where people direct their attention and interpret visualizations. She also studies implicit cognition, exploring how goals we are unaware of can shape attention and affect how people make decisions based on visual data.
Dong Yoon Lee
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Advisor: Professor Shijia Pan
Research: Dong Yoon Lee's research focuses on making the world a safer place for senior people. For older adults that are aging in place, it is essential to provide nonintrusive monitoring for ease of mind for their caregiver. Dong turns homes into a smart sensor that can monitor senior people's activity without intruding on their privacy.
Laura Lopez
Quantitative and Systems Biology
Advisor: Professor Professor Kirk Jensen
Research: Laura's research explores how the immune system detects and responds to Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that lives inside host cells. She discovered that a protein called STING, typically known for sensing DNA in the cell, plays a key role in helping immune cells (CD8+ T cells) produce interferon-gamma (IFNγ), which is essential for fighting the infection. Surprisingly, STING carries out this function without its usual DNA-sensing partner, revealing a new pathway that could improve our understanding of immune defense against intracellular parasites.
Zachary Malone
Environmental Systems
Advisor: Professor Rebecca Ryals
Research: Zachary studies how we can use organic wastes (like food waste and yard scraps) as a resource by creating compost from them and applying it to urban soils. Zachary specifically looks at how compost impacts soil carbon, an important property for soil quality and climate change, as well as soil nitrogen, which is vital for plant growth.
Shubham Rohal
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Advisor: Professor Shijia Pan
Research: Shubham Rohal's research interest broadly lies in the area of Smart Health, Mobile and Wearable Systems and Ubiquitous Computing. He develops novel low-cost sensors with AI models to improve people's quality of life in an affordable and accessible way.
Demitrius Zulevic
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Advisor: Professor Venkattraman (Venkatt) Ayyaswamy
Research: He investigates advanced modeling techniques to accelerate plasma simulation times. By speeding up these simulations, we can more efficiently design and optimize plasma-based devices, such as plasma etching machines. Improved plasma etching leads to enhanced chip manufacturing, ultimately resulting in the better production of everyday electronics.
