Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) 2024 postdoctoral team of Nicholas Cross, Caspar Donnison and Jillian McCool competed against their Bay Area colleagues at the fourth annual Bay Area Research SLAM (BARS) on Oct. 3.
LLNL was the biggest winner of the evening: Donnison's third-place finish for "Agriculture and Solar Power: An Unlikely Alliance" and Cross's first-place win for "Looking Inside Batteries to Predict Failure" contributed to the team trophy's triumphant return to LLNL's Academic Engagement Office. Sandia's Michael Leveille took home the People's Choice Award for his "Repurposing Natural Gas Infrastructure for Green Hydrogen Transport" talk, and LBNL's Yumary Vasquez was awarded second place for her "Going Viral... Literally: The Giant Virus Edition" presentation.
Individual awards and a trophy for the highest-scoring team among the four national labs were granted by a panel of esteemed judges. LLNL Deputy Director for Science and Technology Pat Falcone, SLAC Director John Sarrao, LBNL Director Michael Witherell, and Sandia/California Associate Labs Director Andrew McIlroy evaluated the 12 participants on their comprehension, content, engagement and communication. "BARS is a wonderful, high-energy event that shows the enthusiasm DOE laboratory staff have for their research. The competition among the Bay Area laboratories is always friendly, and illustrates the fact that our labs collaborate, cooperate and compete." said Falcone.
Sandia National Laboratories/California hosted BARS at the Garré Event Center, coincidentally the site of the inaugural LLNL Research SLAM in 2016. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Sandia, and LLNL each sent three postdocs to compete, using three-minute talks and a single slide to present their research.
Previous SLAM participants emceed the event, entertaining the audience with trivia questions while the judges deliberated. Friendly inter-laboratory rivalries were on full display, as spectators waved pompoms and noisemakers while cheering loudly for their participants. Many of the Livermore finalists from the local SLAM came out to BARS to support their colleagues.
"It's really interesting to see the breadth of national lab research that happens," said LLNL's Claire Doody.
"It's so encouraging to see the very forward-looking research that is going on in the Bay Area to make sure that our society is moving in the correct direction for both the climate and the human environment," said LLNL's Nicholas Cross.
LBNL's Lisa Schlueter was pleased to meet other local postdocs. "We have all these national labs in the Bay Area, and I've never, ever met anyone from the other labs, so this is a great way to expand our networks."
Oscar Davalos, a postdoc at LLNL, had competing rooting interests: his wife, Yumary Vasquez, had taken first place at LBNL's local SLAM! and was competing in her first BARS. "My wife, my better half, is very extroverted, and I think she'll be one of the top competitors, although her competition is pretty steep. The judges have a really hard, hard task in front of them," Davalos said.
SLAM reactions
Spectators were impressed at the caliber of the talks.
"The overall quality of everyone's presentations just keeps going up, said Carol Burns, deputy director for research and chief research officer at LBNL. "We feel very strongly that the Bay Area is a creative place for innovation, but what I find equally important is that all of our scientists understand the importance of being able to explain the impact of their research. They all take it very seriously, and it's raising the bar higher ever year," said Burns.
Tracie Durbin, head of Sandia's postdoc program, was equally impressed. "We can see the maturity in the presentations over time, and this event is such a great partnership among the four labs. I also have to say that the walk-up music was amazing this year - I want a playlist of everyone's song choices!" said Durbin.
Organizing and next steps
Each of the four participating laboratories rotate hosting duties, and Sandia's Josh Martinez was especially grateful for the participation of LLNL's audio-visual team's stepping in to handle the complex event after an outside vendor fell through.
"Having to coordinate everything across multiple states is challenging, but Livermore's A/V team really saved our bacon. Having a team that you can rely on makes a big difference from the organizing point of view," noted Martinez.
The Bay Area Research SLAM also gave top finalists another chance to brush up on their material ahead of the second annual National Lab Research SLAM in spring 2025. Nicholas Cross will represent LLNL, bringing "Looking Inside Batteries to Predict Failure" to Washington, D.C. "I'm just excited that I was able to generate enough enthusiasm for electrochemistry and batteries in the general community, because I know they're going to be a very significant portion of the energy economy going forward," said Cross.
Visit the National Lab Research SLAM! website
