At the beginning of her UC Davis Grad Slam presentation, Sasha Neil Pimento posed a simple question to audience members. 

“Have you ever walked to a particular room in your house and then wondered: ‘Wait a minute, why did I come in here?’” Pimento asked. 

This occurrence, called the ‘doorway effect,’ is experienced inordinately by patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Leveraging this example, and using only one slide while talking for less than three minutes, Pimento then explained to a lay audience in an understandable and engaging way how her complex research could let individuals with Alzheimer’s disease manage challenges such as this to live independently for longer periods. 

In her presentation “Opening Doors for Alzheimer’s Disease Care,” Pimento shared why the intelligent applications and platforms she and her team have developed could aid memory for intentions, facilitate long-distance care-giving and better analyze disease progression. 

Currently, over 55 million people worldwide live with Alzheimer’s or other dementias and over 10 million new cases are diagnosed each year, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. That’s one new case every 3.2 seconds. Considered this way: Pimento’s Grad Slam presentation lasted three minutes, which translates to 56 new cases of that disease or other dementias during her presentation alone, making research breakthroughs like Pimento’s crucial to “opening doors,” as she put it.

For her efforts, Pimento won first place and a prize of $5,000 at the UC Davis Grad Slam Semi-Final round on Friday, April 12, 2024. She became only the second master’s student in the history of the UC Davis Grad Slam competition to win first place. She will now represent UC Davis at the UC Grad Slam competition on May 3. 

Resonating with a wider audience

Pimento was inspired to enter this year’s Grad Slam competition once she saw the presentation of the 2023 UC Davis Grad Slam winner, Julia Mouat, Ph.D. ’23. Julia went on to win 2^nd place in the 2023 UC Grad Slam competition.

“I found it [Julia’s presentation] fantastic and was inspired to try it myself since I have always enjoyed giving technical presentations. When I expressed my intention to enter the contest to my advisor, Dr. Alyssa Weakley, she was very supportive and encouraged me to go for it. We both saw Grad Slam as a valuable opportunity to not only raise awareness about our Alzheimer's disease research but also share our work with a wider community,” she said.

Pimento said she thought a lot about how to personally engage the audience with her presentation. Alzheimer’s research, like all research, is intricate and technical. It was imperative for Pimento to build a narrative that was not only concise – after all, she only had three minutes to present – but also easy to understand. Then, when she and her team were pilot testing their research and an Alzheimer’s patient shared their own anecdote, Pimento knew she’d discovered her “draw.”

“An Alzheimer's patient shared how by the time they walked from one room to another, they had already forgotten their initial intention or task. This anecdote inspired me to incorporate the concept of the ‘doorway effect’ into the hook,” she said. “Many innovations and research could directly benefit societies and individuals, but only if they are made aware of the work in a comprehensible manner.”

Prepping for and participating in Grad Slam

When it came to preparing for the UC Davis competition, Pimento studied Julia Mouat’s presentation. She analyzed what made it successful to incorporate some of those techniques. In addition, she leaned on the support, guidance and suggestions of her advisor, Dr. Weakley; the GradPathways Institute for Professional Development, a division of Graduate Studies; and the one-on-one coaching offered by Dr. Beth Tweedy, STEM Librarian. She then seized different opportunities to refine her delivery. She practiced at the inaugural Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Exhibition hosted jointly by Graduate Studies and the Graduate Alumni Network, as well as at the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) meetings. Even her mother got involved in the process: Pimento held multiple practice sessions with her.

“The road to the UC Davis Grad Slam competition was long but rewarding,” Pimento said.

She described the whole UC Grad Slam experience as “truly incredible” and was particularly excited by the opportunity to meet the other nine UC Davis Grad Slam finalists and get to know about their research. In such a high-stakes environment as a competition like Grad Slam, having that level of mutual support is crucial to excelling.

“We all connected really well with each other and also had a few laughs together, which helped us calm our nerves before presenting,” she said. “This experience is a testament to the power of collaboration and the incredible UC Davis community, and I am grateful to the entire Graduate Studies team for organizing this remarkable event.”

But the work isn’t over. Now, Pimento turns her sights on the May 3 UC Grad Slam competition. She’ll compete against the nine other campus finalists for a chance to win the grand prize, even if she sees the prize itself as secondary to the opportunity.

“I'm eager to meet and interact with the other finalists, and to learn about the fascinating research they are conducting across various disciplines. I’m also eager to network and make new connections as it will allow me to share details about our own work on technological innovations to aid Alzheimer's patients. Overall, I'm thrilled to have this platform to not only showcase our research but also to gain exposure to the remarkable projects my fellow peers are working on.”

Supporters from the Campus Community and Beyond

In its tenth year, the UC Davis Grad Slam competition continues to showcase the transformative research and scholarship driven by our graduate education community. We would like to acknowledge all of this year's Grad Slam award recipients:

• Sasha Neil Pimento, 1st Place
• Prabhash Ragbir (Ph.D. student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), 2nd Place
• Erin Hisey (Ph.D. student in the Integrative Pathobiology Graduate Group), 3rd Place
• Roshni Shetty (Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group), Public Impact Prize
• Roshni Shetty, People's Choice Award

Graduate Studies would also like to acknowledge that without the comprehensive support from people and organizations – both on- and off-campus – this event wouldn’t be possible. Each year, judges from the UC Davis, alumni and local community are invited by Graduate Studies to evaluate the students’ presentations. This year’s semi-final round judges were:

• Dr. Amy Hart, Program Manager for Public Scholarship and Engagement
• Dr. Denneal Jamison-McClung, Ph.D. ’03, Director of the UC Davis Biotechnology Program
• Lora Painter, Anchor/Reporter, ABC 10 Sacramento
• Rinki Sethi ’04, VP & CISO, Bill.com
• Dr. Gordon Walker, Ph.D. ’16, Social media star with over 2.5 million followers worldwide on his @FascinatedByFungi accounts

Lastly, Graduate Studies would like to thank the sponsors of the 2024 UC Davis Grad Slam event:

• GradPathways Institute for Professional Development
• UC Davis Office of Research
• UC Davis Public Scholarship and Engagement
• UC Davis Global Affairs
• Rinki Sethi