BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK CAMPAIGN

The Dana Alliance created Brain Awareness Week in 1996 to focus worldwide attention on the benefits and progress of brain research.  Held in March, Brain Awareness Week unites the efforts of universities, hospitals, patient advocacy groups, government agencies, service organizations, professional groups, and K-12 schools around the world in an annual celebration of the brain.  Now entering its thirteenth year, the Brain Awareness Week campaign includes more than 2,100 partners in 75 countries and benefits from the participation of key stakeholders such as the Society for Neuroscience and Pilot International, whose broad reach and chapter base have helped expand this grassroots effort into a truly global initiative.

During Brain Awareness Week, campaign partners, as diverse as they are, share one thing in common: the desire to convey the wonders of the brain and nervous system and the far-reaching influences and outcomes of neuroscience research to the public through exciting and innovative events.  These include open houses at neuroscience laboratories, museum exhibits on the brain, lectures on an array of brain-related topics, and classroom workshops where students get a close-up view of real brain specimens.  The Dana Alliance also coordinates its own events in celebration of Brain Awareness Week.  The Alliance participates in the International Brain Bee, an academic competition that tests the neuroscience knowledge of high school students, by organizing regional Brain Bees in New York City and Washington, DC.

In celebration of Brain Awareness Week, the Dana Alliance coordinates two regional Brain Bee competitions in New York City and Washington, DC.  The Brain Bees are live, question-and-answer competitions that test the neuroscience knowledge of high school students.  Each year, regional competitions like the New York City and Washington, DC Brain Bees are held across the United States and internationally.  The winners are invited to compete in the United States National Brain Bee at the University of Maryland, a highlight event during Brain Awareness Week.  The US National Champion will compete in the International Brain Bee Championship in Montreal, Canada, and will receive a paid summer internship with an esteemed neuroscientist, among other prizes.  

2008 New York City Regional Brain Bee Competition
This year’s New York City Regional Brain Bee took place on February 13th at The Rockefeller University in Manhattan. Thirty-five students participated in the competition, representing 21 high schools from all five boroughs of New York City and, for the first time, Westchester County. Dana Alliance member A. James Hudspeth, MD, PhD, a professor at Rockefeller and Head of the University’s Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, judged the competition. The winners were Murrel Pereira of Townsend Harris High School in Queens, first place; Maryam Siddiqui of Staten Island Technical High School, second place; and Rebecca Ehrhardt of the Institute for Collaborative Education in Manhattan, third place. Ms. Pereira received an all expenses paid trip for two to the National Brain Bee Championship at the University of Maryland during Brain Awareness Week, as well as a neuroanatomy tutorial session with Dr. Hudspeth and Dr. Ann Maurine Packard, a pediatric neurologist; a Brain Atlas; and a copy of Neuroscience: Science of the Brain to help her prepare for the national competition.

**Congratulations to New York City Regional Brain Bee Winner Murrel Pereira for placing Third in the National Brain Bee competition!**

2008 Washington, DC Brain Bee
In Washington, DC, 20 students from 12 schools competed in the Washington, DC Brain Bee on February 6^th at The Dana Center. Benjamin Walker, PhD, from the Georgetown University Psychology Department, judged the competition. All three winners came from public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland – the winner is Elena Perry from Richard Montgomery High School.

**Congratulations to Washington, DC Brain Bee Winner Elena Perry for placing First at the International Brain Bee Championship (IBB) in Canada! After winning the Washington, DC Brain Bee, Ms. Perry won first prize at the US National Brain Bee Competition in March and went on to represent the United States at the IBB in Montreal, May 25th-26th, where she took top prize.**

Prizes
The winners of the New York City and Washington, DC competitions received cash prizes courtesy of event co-sponsor, NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community.  The first place winners received all-expense paid trips to compete in the United States National Brain Bee courtesy of the Dana Alliance. 

The New York City and Washington, DC Brain Bees are organized by the Dana Alliance and co-sponsored by NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community and the Society for Neuroscience. Additional sponsors of the Washington, DC Bee were the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences.