CCS Biologist Earns Top Prize at Undergraduate Research Slam

CCS students take home three of four top awards

The College of Creative Studies (CCS) is pleased to report that CCS students took home three of the top four spots at the 2018 UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Research Slam. CCS Biologist Mitchell Hee was awarded the grand prize of $2,5000 for his presentation titled “Advancing Therapies to Treat Blindness.” Sydney Hunt and Sharon Tamir, both CCS Biologists, placed third and fourth, respectively. College of Letters and Science Sociology major Zenzile Riddick earned second place and second-year pre-Biology major Ryan Sadjadi earned the Audience Choice award.   

“It’s impressive to see so many UCSB undergraduates communicating their projects to a broad audience,” noted Kathy Foltz, CCS Interim Dean. “The Slam is just one way to showcase the campus’ culture of undergraduate research across the disciplines.” At the awards presentation, the participants commented on how much they appreciated guidance from their faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student mentors. Foltz added: “CCS congratulates all of the participants and appreciates the efforts of the mentors.”   

The Undergraduate Research Slam offers students the chance to give dynamic, three-minute oral presentations of their research or creative activity to a panel of judges, according to the UCSB Office of Undergraduate Education. After the preliminary round with 50 participants, 15 finalists were selected to present at the final round on Tuesday, May 15. In addition to Hee, Hunt, and Tamir, CCS students Veronica Torres, Rachel Liu, David Low, and Ezra Kosviner also participated in the final round. Professor Anne Charity-Hudley, Director of Undergraduate Research at UCSB and whose office coordinated the Slam, noted that selecting the winners was very difficult given the high quality of the presentations, including the preliminary rounds.  

CCS congratulates all of the participants on a job well done! Start practicing for next year!