Ninth Annual Brain Bee at C.W. Post Seeks Sharp-Minded Long Island High School Students

Teen Competition to be held February 16

In what can be aptly described as putting the brainiest of brains to the test, Long Island high school students are invited to compete in a challenging academic contest that tests their knowledge of the human brain. The ninth annual Long Island University Brain Bee competition will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville.           

To help challengers prepare for the quiz-show-style competition, three free preparatory workshops will be offered on consecutive Saturdays, Jan. 26, and Feb. 2 and 7, 2008. At the workshops, C.W. Post Campus psychology professors will help familiarize competitors with the format and material.  A practice session will be held on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008.

Eligibility for the competition is straightforward, but not easy: it's open to all high school students who have read "Brain Facts," a 65-page primer on the brain and nervous system. All questions at the Brain Bee come from the book, published by the Society for Neuroscience and available for download on the Long Island University Brain Bee Web page at www.liu.edu/brainbee.

The winner of the Long Island University Brain Bee receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the International Brain Bee at the University of Maryland, Baltimore on March 14 and 15, 2008. The student who emerges triumphant from that event receives $3,000, an all-expense-paid trip to the Society for Neuroscience annual conference in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15-19, 2008 and a fellowship to work in the laboratory of a neuroscientist during the summer.

The top three contestants in the Long Island University Brain Bee will receive trophies. All participants are invited to a luncheon and tour of a C.W. Post neuroscience laboratory after the Bee.

The Long Island regional champions of the 2007 Long Island University Brain Bee were: first place: Varun Talanki of Ward Melville High School in Melville, NY; second place: Johanna Johnson from Kellenberg High School in Uniondale, NY; and third place: Sarah Lewis of Calhoun High School in Merrick, NY.

The International Brain Bee is part of Brain Awareness Week. Spearheaded by the Dana Alliance, a private philanthropic foundation, and the Society for Neuroscience, its 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.

For more information on the workshops and to sign up for the Long Island University Brain Bee, contact Dr. Paul Forestell at paul.forestell@liu.edu or visit www.liu.edu/brainbee.

Posted: December 11, 2007