Student, Alice Dien, stand with J.P. Deplanque. Alice holds a grad slam award. They both hold a large check for the amount of $2,500. — Dien and J.P. Deplanque, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at UC Davis Grad Slam on April 6.

Alice Dien Hits it Out of the Park, Advances to UC Grad Slam Finals with Revolutionary Drying Research

by Noah Pflueger-Peters
May 03, 2022

"Biological Systems Engineering Ph.D. student Alice Dien won first place at UC Davis Grad Slam on April 6. Her winning research presentation “Cooling Down with the New Hot Air: The Future of Drying in Agriculture” earned her a $2,500 prize, and she will be competing for the top prize at the University of California Grad Slam Finals against winners from the other nine UC campuses on Friday, May 6.

Dien is the first engineer and first non-native English speaker to win UC Davis Grad Slam, which challenges M.S. and Ph.D. students to explain their research in an engaging way for a general audience. Though Dien competed for the first time this year, her University Writing Program teacher Janet Lane mentioned the idea to her nearly four years ago. It took time and practice to feel confident enough with English, but she says it felt natural once she was there.