C.W. Post Brain Bee Seeks Bright Long Island High School Students

It's the survival of the smartest. Long Island high school students are invited to compete in a challenging academic contest that tests their knowledge of the human brain at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, Feb. 10, 2007.

To help challengers prepare for the eighth annual regional Brain Bee -- a quiz-show-style competition -- three free preparatory workshops will be offered on consecutive Saturdays, Jan. 20 and 27 and Feb. 3, 2007. At the workshops, C.W. Post psychology professors will help familiarize competitors with the format and material.

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 C.W. Post Brain Bee Web page at www.liu.edu/brainbee.

The winner of the Long Island Brain Bee receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the International Brain Bee in Baltimore on March 16 and 17, 2007. The student who emerges triumphant from that event receives $3,000, an all-expense-paid trip to the Society for Neuroscience annual conference in San Diego next year, Nov. 3-7, 2007 and a fellowship to work in the laboratory of a neuroscientist during the summer.

The top three contestants in the Long Island Brain Bee will receive trophies. All participants are invited to a luncheon and tour of a C.W. Post neuroscience laboratory after the Bee. Last year's winner, Emily Weil, then a junior at Lynbrook High School, will give a short presentation on her experience at the 2006 Long Island and International Brain Bees.

Two Long Island regional champions of the C.W. Post Brain Bee have made the trip to Atlanta--Bhakti Nagalla of Farmington, Conn. in 2004 and Saroj Kunnakkat of Lynbrook, NY, in 2003. The 2002 Long Island Brain Bee winner, Vikas Gupta of Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station, NY, finished second in the international contest.

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 Brain Bee, contact Dr. Paul Forestell at paul.forestell@liu.edu or visit www.liu.edu/brainbee.

Posted: December 11, 2006