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Press Releases | |
December 21, 2001
Who Wants to Be a Neuroscientist? A "Brain Bee" Quiz ShowLong Island High School Students and Teachers Are Sought for Third-Annual Contest
Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081Southampton College of Long Island University will host its third annual regional "Brain Bee" on February 23. The neuroscience quiz-show style competition is the only one of its kind on Long Island, and winners of the Southampton College contest have gone on to place among the top finishers in the National Brain Bee, garnering scholarships and prizes. Long Island high school teachers and student contestants interested in neuroscience need to sign up as soon as possible by contacting Southampton College Professor John Neill at (631) 287-8202. Teachers can also earn continuing education credits in the Brain Bee prep classes, which will help them prepare their students for this exciting contest. Two widely published psychobiologists, Southampton College Professors Neill and Paul Forestell, will be teaching the Brain Bee preparation classes from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on Saturdays, February 2, 9 and 16 until the regional Brain Bee. The winner of the local contest will be invited to represent Long Island at the National Brain Bee in Baltimore. The local Brain Bee will be held in Southampton College's Duke Lecture Hall on Saturday, February 23 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.After the Brain Bee, contestants will hear about opportunities to conduct research at Southampton College. A luncheon and tour of the laboratories will follow the Brain Bee. The Brain Bee quizzes the best young brains in the country about the brain and how it relates to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, aging, sleep and neurological disorders, such as drug addiction, Alzheimer's Disease and stroke. The winner of each regional contest is then invited to the National Brain Bee in mid-March. All the questions for the local Brain Bee come from one book, "Brain Facts," published by the Society for Neuroscience. The book can be obtained from the Society for Neuroscience. The National Brain Bee awards $6000 in scholarship money to its top-three finalists. Last year's Southampton College Brain Bee winner, Vikas Gupta, a 10th grader from Comsewogue High School, went on to win 5th place in the national competition and a $12,000 scholarship to Southampton College. Internationally, the Brain Bee is part of Brain Awareness Week (March 11-17). Spearheaded by both the DANA Alliance and the Society for Neuroscience, the goal is to motivate youth to learn about the brain and pursue careers in biomedical brain research in the war against mental retardation, cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injury and other brain disorders. Brain Bee Facts: Eligibility to be a competitor: Long Island High School students who have read "Brain Facts." Participation in the Brain Bee preparatory course, and the summer Psychobiology workshop are recommended, but not required.
Regional Brain Bees Southampton College hosts the only Brain Bee on Long Island. The event is February 23rd at 9 a.m. In 2001, there were 47 local brain bees including several in other countries. They are normally conducted during January, February or early March.
Brain Facts Booklets All questions for the Southampton College Brain Bee competitions come from the book "Brain Facts: A primer on the brain and nervous system", published by the Society for Neuroscience. Information about the Society for Neuroscience is available at: http://www.sfn.org/BAW/bee/. (If the current booklet is not posted yet, contact Dr. Neill).
National Brain Bee The winner of the local brain bee will compete in the National Brain Bee, and will also be expected to answer questions from a booklet entitled, "Update 2001: Visions of the Brain". This is updated annually. The current version is available at: http://www.dana.org/books/press/progressreport/ More information about the Charles A. Dana Foundation can be found at their website: http://www.dana.org/
Inservice or Continuing Education Credits In cooperation with a teacher's school district in-service credit will be available for participating high school teachers through the Continuing Education Department of Southampton College.
Summer Psychobiology Workshop Students and teachers can also request information about the week-long Southampton College summer workshop on Psychobiology, which offers hands-on training in Neuroscience, Evolution, Behavioral Biology, Comparative Psychology, Sensation and Perception, Marine Mammal Cognition, and other topics.
Sample Brain Bee questions: What is the name of the cell in the brain that conducts information? How many neurons are in the human brain? Name the four lobes of the brain.