Community Outreach
The Department of Neuroscience supports a number of programs that bring neuroscience into the community. Faculty, students and staff participate in these programs.
Brain Awareness Week is a national program in which neuroscience faculty and students bring their knowledge into 4th through 8th grade classrooms.
BrainU is a summer workshop for middle school teachers, who are given the latest information on neuroscience and learn how to bring that information into their classrooms.
The Minnesota Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition targeting high school students (grades 9th - 12th). Started by Dr. Norbert Myslinski at the University of Maryland in 1999, this competition fosters interest in Neuroscience among teenagers.
During U of M Week at the Minnesota State Fair, department faculty, students and staff bring neuroscience to the community. Neuroscience at the Minnesota State Fair includes presentations and demonstrations that include real brains and how they function. Stop by and learn some fun stuff and get a neuroscience souvenir pencil.
Additionally, faculty, students and staff volunteer many hours, by request, teaching neuroscience principles to K-12 students in the classroom, at after-school events, and other groups such as elderly hostels. Faculty and staff participate annually in outreach programs sponsored by the College of Biological Sciences.