UCLA Samueli Students Earn Second and Third Place at 2025 Grad Slam

Shreeram Athreya and Parnian Hemmati — two graduate student researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering — placed second and third, respectively, at the annual campuswide UCLA Grad Slam.

The 2025 competition marked the 10th anniversary of UCLA’s Grad Slam hosted by the UCLA Graduate Division, where graduate students compete to deliver a three-minute talk that best encapsulates their research. Athreya and Hemmati, along with fellow UCLA Samueli student Ophelie Herve, earned a spot in the top 10, emerging from a pool of more than 100 entrants from across UCLA’s graduate schools. In doing so, they advanced to the semi-final and ultimately to the final round, held March 12 at the Grand Horizon Ballroom in Covel Commons. There, a judging panel composed of faculty, staff, alumni and other UCLA affiliates scored the presentations based on clarity, intellectual significance and delivery, among other criteria. The second- and third-place winners received prizes of $4,000 and $3,000, respectively, while top 10 finalists received an $800 award. 

Each of the University of California’s 10 campuses sends its top Grad Slam finalist to the pan-UC Grad Slam. UCLA’s winner, molecular biology doctoral candidate Pablo Alvarez, claimed the $6,000 grand prize and will face off against the other UC contestants today in Sacramento.

Electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidate Shreeram Athreya earned second place for his talk on an AI-powered model designed to detect thyroid cancer in indeterminate biopsies. When doctors are unable to determine whether a thyroid growth is cancerous or benign, patients often undergo partial or full thyroid removal, which can require lifelong hormone replacement therapy. By simultaneously analyzing ultrasound images and genetic test data, Athreya’s model achieved greater accuracy in classifying indeterminate biopsy results than diagnostics performed by clinicians alone. Athreya conducts his research with the UCLA Biomedical Artificial Intelligence Research Lab, co-advised by assistant professor William Speier of bioengineering and professor Vwani Roychowdhury of electrical and computer engineering. 

In her talk, “Brainwashing,” mechanical engineering doctoral candidate Parnian Hemmati used fluid dynamics simulations to explain how the brain removes waste. Through her models, Hemmati can simulate how efficiently the brain’s waste-clearing system functions under different conditions — such as aging or injury — something traditional imaging methods cannot fully capture. Her research could lead to new approaches for improving the brain’s waste-removal processes, with potential implications for preventing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Hemmati works in the Complex Fluids and Interfacial Physics Laboratory, led by professor Pirouz Kavehpour of mechanical and aerospace engineering and bioengineering.

Ophelie Herve, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate, received an $800 award for her talk on modeling the motion of the knee’s ACL using a combination of robotics and real human leg bones. Her system could be used to test injury-prevention devices in clinical settings and to better understand the gender disparities of ACL tears. Herve is part of the Anatomical Engineering Group, directed by assistant professor Tyler Clites of mechanical and aerospace engineering and bioengineering.