CHICAGO – The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present six neuroscientists with this year’s Science Education and Outreach Awards, comprising the Award for Education in Neuroscience, the Science Educator Award, and the Next Generation Awards. The awards will be presented during SfN’s annual meeting.
“The Society is honored to recognize these passionate neuroscientists who are helping to inspire the next generation,” SfN President Marina Picciotto, said. “Through everything from podcasts and radio shows to textbooks and children’s books, they are breaking down barriers for underrepresented communities, educating the public, and inspiring a love and understanding of science from childhood and beyond.”
Award for Education in Neuroscience: Wei Ji Ma and George Mangun
The Award for Education in Neuroscience recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to neuroscience education and training, typically at the undergraduate and graduate level. Recipients receive complimentary registration, travel, and accommodations for the SfN annual meeting.
Wei Ji Ma, PhD, a professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University (NYU), understands that trainees need support beyond the lab and classroom. As such, he has initiated many efforts to fill gaps left by formal curriculum and foster dialogue around ways to increase access, diversity, and inclusion in neuroscience. He is a pioneer of gradeless teaching at NYU, an experiment that has been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback as students love being active participants and feel the method change allows for more autonomous learning. He also created the Growing Up in Science seminar series where faculty members tell their unvarnished life and career story, with an emphasis on detours, doubts, struggles, and failures. The series helps students see faculty as more relatable, that struggles are normal, and discusses topics such as imposter feelings, toxic advisors, and the impact of academic careers on personal relationships. He also works to break down the barriers of entry into a field like computational neuroscience through the Undergraduate Math and Coding Bootcamp. The bootcamp gives students who have not had access to math and coding classes an introduction and background into the skills needed for a future in computational neuroscience. Ma also led a group that established a lecture series called Race and Racism in the Sciences. The series discusses how scientists have been instrumental or complicit in racism in the past (such as through IQ research, genetic essentialism, and healthcare injustices) and how we can do better in the present. Finally, Ma is a founding member of the Scientist Action and Advocacy Network, an opportunity for neuroscience and psychology graduate students to donate their time and skills to organizations that are creating positive social change. He is an outstanding instructor, educational innovator, internationally influential leader in mentorship, and a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion. His creative approach and open environment have inspired generations of students to become not just excellent scientists but empowered them to make positive change in the world.
George (Ron) Mangun, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neurology at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), has shown a sincere dedication to neuroscience education at all levels throughout his career. He has trained many dozens of undergraduate, doctoral, medical, and postdoctoral trainees, and has served as the director of cognitive neuroscience doctoral programs at Dartmouth College and Duke University. He was the founding director of the Duke Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, which he continues to lead. Mangun also coauthored the first cognitive neuroscience textbook, Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind, which across five editions has sold over 150,000 copies and continues to be the most widely adopted textbook in cognitive neuroscience today. With colleagues nationwide he chaired the founding committee of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, which has hosted 30 annual meetings since its establishment, providing many thousands of trainees with opportunities to present their work and develop their careers. For a decade, Mangun also directed the Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, a program supported by NIMH, NIDA and the Kavli Foundation, training hundreds of doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from around the globe. Mangun is an outspoken advocate for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), doing so across his many activities, including as a founding member of the DEI committees of the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis.
Science Educator Award: Theanne Griffith and Emma Yhnell
The Science Educator Award is supported by the Dana Foundation and honors two neuroscientists who have made significant contributions to educating the public about neuroscience: one who conducts education activities fulltime and one who devotes his or her time primarily to research while conducting outreach, policy, and education activities. Recipients share a $5,000 honorarium, have an opportunity to write a feature commentary on science education in eNeuro, and receive complimentary registration, travel, and accommodations for SfN’s annual meeting.
Theanne Griffith, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of physiology and membrane biology at the University of California, Davis, investigates the mechanisms underlying somatosensation in health and disease, with a focus on proprioception and pain. Griffith is also an award-winning children’s book author and has written two series of science-themed books for children: The Magnificent Makers and Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files. The series are geared towards readers five to ten years old and cover a diverse array of topics, including neuroscience. Both series feature Black and brown children who love science, providing critical representation for young children from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in science. The Magnificent Makers follows two characters, Pablo and Violet, who are Puerto Rican and Black, as they complete science challenges in a magical laboratory. Two of the books, Brain Trouble and Riding Sound Waves, are neuroscience focused. The ends of the books include instructions for two hands-on activities, showing that science is not just about learning facts, but also hands-on discovery. Not only do her books promote science education, they also encourage inclusion, tolerance, kindness, and empathy featuring not just racial and ethnic diversity but also neurodivergent children and characters with disabilities as well. Griffith also co-writes Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files, which accompanies the Netflix show of the same name. The Ada Twist books have been recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their superior quality and manner in which they engage children with science. In addition, Griffith speaks with children throughout the country and world through many author presentations and works as a scientific advisor for National Public Radio’s kids’ series Terrestrials. Her work invites children from all communities to feel a sense of belonging in STEM and makes science exciting, adventurous, and fun for young audiences.
Emma Yhnell, PhD, reader in Neuroscience and associate dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Cardiff University, is an award-winning educator and science communicator committed to making neuroscience more accessible and inclusive for people across the United Kingdom and around the world. She volunteers as a STEM ambassador and has undertaken over 250 different outreach activities, impacting more than 100,000 young people. Her work includes dispelling brain myths, providing hands-on opportunities and widening participation in neuroscience, working tirelessly to raise awareness of the neurosciences with both school children and adult audiences. She accomplishes this through both traditional media (books, radio, and television) and newer approaches (including podcasts and YouTube presentations such as the prestigious TEDx talks). Motivated by personal experience, Yhnell created and hosted a BBC radio series “Dementia: Hope for the Future” which brought neuroscience to new audiences and effectively communicated the challenges faced by individuals living with dementia and their caregivers, while also highlighting the importance of research, community support, and policy initiatives in addressing those challenges. As a result of listening to the series, listeners sought referrals to memory clinics, revealing the impact the series had. She also regularly appears as the resident neuroscientist on the podcast Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe. Through her wide variety of innovative activities, Yhnell educates the public about neuroscience with refreshing enthusiasm and engagement, increasing awareness and understanding of brain-related topics throughout the world.
Next Generation Award: Nicolás Martorell and George Vidal
The Next Generation Award recognizes SfN chapter members who have made outstanding contributions to public communication, outreach, and education about neuroscience through activities such as classroom engagement and social media campaigns, typically at the high school level or below. One award is made at the pre/postdoctoral level and one award is made at the junior faculty level. The recipients each receive a $300 honorarium and a $750 travel award to help defray the costs of attending the meeting, and their respective chapters receive a $2,000 chapter grant to be used to continue the chapter’s outreach efforts in the following year. SfN’s 160-plus chapters in over 20 countries worldwide and in 49 U.S. states connect to the community and the public while advancing understanding of the neuroscience field.
Pre/Postdoctoral: Nicolás Martorell
Nicolás Martorell is a graduate student in computational neuroscience at the University of Buenos Aires, member of the SfN Buenos Aires, Argentina chapter, and lead member of the Board of Communication and Outreach of Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias (SAN). He created A Todo Neuro, a podcast series produced by SAN with the goal to highlight neuroscience research in Argentina and explore neuroscience topics from an entertaining and human perspective, focusing on transmitting key concepts in non-academic language to a wide audience. As host, Martorell engages in casual conversation with local neuroscientists addressing questions of public interest within their area of expertise. The podcast team is conscious of inclusion and diversity when choosing interviewees, focusing on presenting a sample of neuroscience research that is balanced in terms of gender, region, experimental models, and subject matter. A Todo Neuro currently has seventeen episodes, covering topics from time perception and sleep homeostasis to brain-computer interfaces. Episodes have attracted thousands of listeners from Argentina and other Spanish-speaking countries such as Chile, Spain, and Uruguay. Martorell is also the creator and coordinator for the science communication channel “Xplora” which has worked with major Argentinian television stations, such as Encuentro and C5N, producing weekly science education videos for social networks, a science education animated miniseries, and garnering hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views.
Junior Faculty: George Vidal
George Vidal, PhD, an associate professor at James Madison University (JMU) and a member of the SfN Central Virginia chapter, demonstrates tremendous intentionality and passion for providing a transformative neuroscience experience for high school students in Virginia and the surrounding region. Having personally experienced the positive impact of research and neuroscience while he was a high school student, he has made it his mission to pay it forward and inspire a new generation of students to become neuroscientists. Vidal founded and organized an annual neuroscience outreach event centered around the International Brain Bee competition. This outreach event includes a highly interactive set of non-competitive and impactful activities including demonstrations using microscopes, human brains, and EMGs; campus tours and dining hall experiences; and conversations with undergraduates. The event also links students to a mentorship network that allows them to seek research experiences in neuroscience labs as high school students. Over the last six years, the outreach event has positively affected hundreds of high school students, teachers, parents, undergraduates, and faculty colleagues. Additionally, Vidal heads JMU’s neuroscience concentration, an interdisciplinary program spanning three departments. He has designed most of his undergraduate courses from scratch and integrates his students into the neuroscience activities that he leads.
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