On Wednesday, April 4, 2018, Kelsae Adame took the the Grad Slam stage to present about latest research in designing a plasma-based neutron generator.

This generator will increase access to life-saving medical technology and curb negative environmental impact associated with current isotope production methods. Her speech, titled “An Overdue Change for Medical Radioisotope Production,” was based on her capstone project, High Flux Neutron Generator, supervised by Professor Karl van Bibber and Professor Lee Bernstein. Her capstone teammates, Grace Bailey, Alex Clithero, Morgan Fox, Han Lee, Joshua McCubmer, Josh Rothman, and Mitchell Sinclair were in the audience cheering her on. After the competition, when we asked how she felt, she said: “The things I’ve learned at the Fung Institute are paying off!”

Kelsae is the first MEng student to compete in the annual Grad Slam competition, a University of California-sponsored competitive speaking event designed to showcase graduate student research in three-minute talks pitched to a general audience. This year, Kelsae is the only UC Berkeley Master’s student who’s been chosen to participate in the semi-finals. View the other semi-finalists here. Congratulations Kelsae! A first-year Master’s student from Los Lunas, New Mexico, Kelsae plans to work for a clean energy startup, as a means of contributing to the move away from fossil fuels and addressing the threat of climate change.

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Kelsae Adame, MEng ’18 in Nuclear Engineering, takes bronze in Grad Slam Competition was originally published in Berkeley Master of Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.