Following campus and UC-wide victories, Bassil represents Berkeley at the June 10 Ivy Plus Three-Minute Thesis
Carla Bassil, a graduate student researcher in BSAC Co-Director Ali Javey’s group, has earned top honors in the 2026 Grad Slam competitions for her work on integrated sensor technology. After winning first place at the UC Berkeley campus competition, Bassil represented the university at the UC-wide Grad Slam on April 22, where she placed second among champions from all ten UC campuses.
Research: Machine Learning Assisted Gas Sensors
Bassil’s presentation, "Machine Learning Assisted Gas Sensor Chip for Food Safety Applications," detailed her development of multiplexed gas sensing platforms. By pairing hardware innovation with machine learning, her research aims to address critical gaps in:
- Food Safety: Detecting spoilage and allergen contaminants in every-day settings.
- Human Health: Potential applications in non-invasive breath/skin volatile organic compound analysis and diagnostics.
Carla is a 3rd-year EECS Ph.D. student in Professor Ali Javey's lab, where she works on multi-modal gas sensing technology. With a background that includes an M.S. in Business, she is focused on translational research and intends to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors following her degree. Her work aims to implement these sensing platforms across food safety, human health, and environmental monitoring sectors.
Upcoming: Ivy Plus Three-Minute Thesis (3MT)
The Grad Slam competition is a UC-wide initiative designed to train graduate students to communicate complex research to broad audiences in a three-minute format. This skill is vital for securing cross-disciplinary collaboration and industrial partnerships.
Following her success at the UC level, Bassil will move on to the Ivy Plus Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Hosted virtually by Princeton University on June 10, 2026, the event features top-tier researchers from the Ivy League and select peer institutions, including Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT.
The BSAC community congratulates Carla on her campus and UC-wide achievements and looks forward to her upcoming presentation at the Ivy Plus 3MT.
