Current Ph.D. student and alum Daniel Raban (B.A. Mathematics, 2018) was a finalist at the 2025 UC Berkeley Grad Slam competition. Grad Slam is a UC-wide sponsored competition designed to showcase graduate student research in three-minute talks for a general audience. Students competed in preliminary rounds on their UC campus, with prizes awarded at each stage of the selection process. 

Raban’s talk titled “How Should We Average Ratings?” proposes a new way to average numerical ratings (Raban presents at 1:06). He also expanded his research for non-technical audiences on his website.

The Graduate Division has been coordinating Berkeley’s Grad Slam semifinals since 2015. Raban is the first Berkeley Statistics student to participate.

“Congratulations to Daniel! We always love it when our Statistics students share their work with the broader and vibrant intellectual community here on campus,” said Chair Haiyan Huang.

Raban’s research focuses on interests at the intersection of probability theory and theoretical statistics, encompassing areas such as ergodic theory, empirical processes, measure theory, and optimal transport. He is advised by Distinguished Professor Steve Evans. Raban received his Bachelor’s from the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department and his Master's from UCLA.

The 2025 Grad Slam Winner is Sophia Miliotis from UCSF.

-Alex Coughlin