Outreach

Tuesday March 15, 2022 12:00 pm–12:30 pm

Connect with neuroscientist Dr. Manny Esguerra for this special Brain Awareness Week presentation. Live from a lab at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Esguerra will show us a real human brain and discuss what the brain does, how it can trick you, and what parts of a brain do important jobs.

https://www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/event/brains-live-2022/

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Brain Awareness Week Poetry and Art Competition, Mari Gades (Poetry), Jessica Valiarovski (Art), and Laurel Schuck(Art) Full details can be found here: https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/umnbrainawarenessweek/brain-challenges/winners?authuser=0 

Eleven students from the GPN and Neural Engineering department volunteered for the Eureka neuroscience event on 3/13th. Eureka is a collaboration of Girls Inc. and the YWCA which provides cohort-based science opportunities for girls in grades 8-12. Volunteers from the GPN planned the curriculum which consisted of brain trivia, brain region competition, lab tours (via flipgrid) and Q&A sessions.

Mysteries of Your Brain Planetarium release show: the Brain2Brain roster is full, but we're looking for in-person presenters still -- email [email protected] if you want to do an in-person presentation Oct 15, 16, 17 or 18 (between 11 and 3).

This week is Brain Awareness Week! Since we can't host any in person events we thought we would compile a list of virtual resources for you to try out.

Please share this with those in your communities.

Even with the Gophers defending their unbeaten status against Penn State on the other campus, the Bell Museum in St Paul was full of visitors who were curious about Neuroscience. THANK YOU to Scott Blain (PhD Candidate, Psychology), Maria Linn Evans (PhD Candidate, Neuroscience), Michael-Paul Schallmo (Assistant Professor, Psychiatry) and Nicola Grissom (Assistant Professor, Psychology) for providing brief presentations on personality, motor control, the interactions of mental health with vision, and autism. Each talk was wonderfully engaging and provoked many questions from the audiences. 

We had a strong showing of GPN Graduate Students + friends for showing off Brain Zoo, the Claw and Spiker Boxes: Mari G., Dan L., Joe E., Jessica F., Emily S., Kelly C., Sam K., Julianna G., Haleigh M., Bethany S., Sam M., Chloe C., and Melissa A. spent hours describing comparative anatomy and EMGs to countless little kids, grandparents, and everyone in between.

Meanwhile, Growing Brains, from the Institute of Child Development, showed off real human brains and taught families about brain plasticity. Representing MN Drive, Colum MacKinnon's lab showed people how to use TMS to measure how long signals take to get from your brain to your arm, and Tim Ebner's lab showed off SeeShell. 

Thank you, Bell Museum, for welcoming us all into your space, feeding us, and providing such a great venue for conversations about Neuroscience!

On Saturday, November 9, from 11am-3pm. If you want to help host a table with Spiker Boxes and Claws, give a presentation about your research, or show off our Brain Zoo in the Touch and Feel room, email caolman@ umn.edu Otherwise, come out with your family and friends to enjoy a day of Neuroscience fun hosted by MN Drive, Growing Brains and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience!