BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK CAMPAIGN
Brain Awareness Week is an international campaign dedicated to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and its sister organization, the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, the Campaign is celebrating, in 2010, its fifteenth year as a catalyst for public understanding of brain science. The Dana Alliances are joined in the campaign by partners from around the world, including universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, professional associations, and more. 

New York City Regional Brain Bee Competition
The 2010 New York City Regional Brain Bee will take place on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at New York University’s Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life in Manhattan, the site of last year's competition. The competition is open to students in grades 9-12 in all five boroughs of New York City and in Westchester County. Download the registration form, or contact bawinfo@dana.org for more information.

The 2009 NYC Regional Brain Bee took place on February 12, 2009 at New York University. Thirty-eight students competed, representing twenty-three schools throughout all five boroughs of New York City and Westchester County. Dana Alliance member Joseph E. LeDoux, PhD, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at New York University moderated and judged the competition, along with Linnaea E. Ostroff, PhD, and Daniela Schiller, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellows at New York University’s Center for Neural Science and Psychology Department.

The winners were Rebecca Ehrhardt of the Institute for Collaborative Education in Manhattan, first place; Koryalys Edwards of Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School, second place; Kashyap Rajagopal of Stuyvesant High School, third place. Ms. Ehrhardt received an all expenses paid trip to the United States National Brain Bee Championship during Brain Awareness Week 2009,  a $250 cash award from NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community, as well as study materials to prepare her for the National Championship. Ms. Edwards received a $150 cash award from NRTA, and Mr. Rajagopal received $100 from NRTA. Congratulations to all of the competitors!  News release: Students Compete in New York City Regional Brain Bee Dana Press Blog: Kash Money

Judge Dr. Joseph LeDoux, Rebecca Ehrhardt, judges Dr. Daniela Schiller and Dr. Linnaea Ostroff. Photo: Ken Levinson.

Washington DC Regional Brain Bee Competition
Twenty-three students from fourteen schools participated in the 2009 DC Brain Bee held at The Dana Center on Wednesday, February 18.

Winners Tarun Kakumanu, Farrell Sheehan, and Julia Chartove; Judge Dr. Emmeline Edwards. Photo: Ken Levinson.

Dr. Emmeline Edwards from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke acted as judge and arbitrator as Round 6 left only two students remaining for the three cash prizes for first, second, and third place. The two left standing went into triple elimination for first and second place and a third place winner was determined in a special elimination runoff. The winners were Julia Chartove from Richard Montgomery High School, first place; Tarun Kakumanu from Rockville High School, second place; and Farrell Sheehan from St. Anselm’s Abby School, third place. Cash prizes, courtesy of NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community, were $250 for first place; $150 for second place; and $100 for third place winners. Ms. Chartove won an all-expenses paid trip to the National Brain Bee as well as the study materials for the National Championship. **Update: Congratulations to Julia Chartove for taking first place in the United States National Brain Bee Championship and winning the International Brain Bee!**

DC Brain Bee Winners Take the International Brain Bee Championship Two Years in a Row
The winner of the 2008 Washington DC Regional Brain Bee, Elena Perry, went on to win the United States National and International Brain Bees. Ms. Perry came to the 2009 DC Regional Brain Bee to tell the students competing about her experiences in winning the National and International competitions. Julia Chartove, a classmate of Ms. Perry’s from Richard Montgomery High School, was one of twenty-three students in the 2009 DC regional competition. Ms. Chartove did not miss any of the questions asked throughout the DC Brain Bee, taking first place and winning the opportunity to go to the United States National competition, held March 20–21 at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. 

At the National Competition, thirty-two students competed from 20 states, each the winner of their regional Brain Bee. The two-day competition involved separate oral and written question sessions, a neuroanatomy laboratory exam, and a patient diagnosis exercise. Ms. Chartove won the competition and went on to become the 2009 International Brain Bee Champion, continuing the winning streak of the Washington DC Brain Bee winners in the international competition!

News story: Top D.C. Region Students Battle at Brain Bee
Read Elena Perry's account of her 2008 Brain Bee experience in Imagine magazine, from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth. 

Sponsors
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. An additional sponsor of the Washington, DC Bee was the American Association for the Advancement of Science.