Chemical Engineering PhD candidate wins Ryerson GRADFlix competition
Reza Eslami, a Chemical Engineering PhD candidate, was named the first-place winner at the 2022 Ryerson GRADFlix digital narrative competition. Eslami, a health tech entrepreneur, is developing wearable health monitoring devices that are battery-free and non-invasive, under the supervision of Dr. Hadis Zarrin and Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar. In his video, he explains his innovative wristband that uses sweat to measure biomarkers non-invasively for monitoring diabetes patients鈥 blood glucose.
鈥淎t first, making a video to explain my four-year PhD project in two minutes was a big challenge for me, let alone describing it in an easy-to-understand way,鈥 said Eslami. 鈥淭o me, GRADFlix was an ample opportunity to explain the complexities of my research in a well-paced and visual format, while introducing audiences to a novel technology for diabetes self-care. It helped me elevate my understanding of pitching an idea and communicating with non-specialist audiences.鈥
Eslami received $1,000 for the win, with $750 second-place and $500 third-place prizes awarded to Swidda Rassy, a Journalism master鈥檚 student, and Mitchell Lee, a Biomedical Engineering MASc student, respectively. The $250 People鈥檚 Choice Award went to Kritika Vashishtha, an Aerospace Engineering PhD student.
GRADFlix is a digital narrative competition inviting master鈥檚 and doctoral students across disciplines to showcase their research to non-specialist audiences in a two-minute video. The competition is inspired by the University of Waterloo鈥檚 annual GRADflix competition.
First place
Reza Eslami, Chemical Engineering PhD student: 鈥淔rom Vision to Reality: Self-Powered Non-Invasive Wearable Health Monitoring Devices鈥
Second place
Swidda Rassy, Journalism master鈥檚 student: 鈥淒ocumenting the Impact of Quebec鈥檚 Bill 21鈥
Third place
Mitchell Lee, Biomedical Engineering MASc student: 鈥淚mproving Fetal Diagnostic Imaging with an Artificial Fetus鈥
People鈥檚 Choice Award
Kritika Vashishtha, Aerospace Engineering PhD student: 鈥淎dvanced Lighting System for Aircraft Cabins鈥