Brain Bee

About the Brain Bee

The Brain Bee is a competition that tests knowledge in neuroscience including such topics as intelligence, memory, emotion, stress, aging, sleep, and neurological diseases. It helps motivate our youth to learn about the brain, capture their imagination, and inspire them to pursue careers in biomedical brain research.
Every year more than fifty local brain bees are held throughout the US searching for the “best brain”. The winners of the locals are invited to participate in the US national . This competition has been so exciting that it has expanded to many other countries and the winner of each national will compete in the “(olive)International Brain Bee (IBB).”:http://www.internationalbrainbee.com/comp_overview.html

Why participate?

According to its founder, Dr. Myslinski, “The International Brain Bee motivates our youth to learn more about the brain… We need their energy and their passion to help find cures for Autism, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other brain disorders.”
There are many reasons to participate in the Brain Bee competition. Our students enjoy meeting teenagers from other schools, cities and countries while they learn more about the science of the brain. The BB competition is a great opportunity for these students to expose themselves to more difficult reading materials than they may find in their high schools, and thus helps prepare them for college.
Students that participate in the Bees are eligible to win prizes like cash, research internships, and trips to other Brain Bee competitions.

Who can participate?

Any high school/home student from grades 9 to 12 is eligible to compete in the Chicago Brain Bee. We encourage family, friends, teachers and other classmates to support participants and join them in the competition.

The Chicago Brain Bee

This year’s Chicago Brain Awareness Day in conjunction with the Chicagoland Brain Bee Competition will be held on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The competition is based on the “spelling bee” except that students are tested on neuroscience concepts. It consists of several Oral Question and Answer Elimination rounds. In every round, each student is asked a different question that requires a one word or phrase answer. Competitors are eliminated when they accumulate three wrong answers until only one is left standing. Students can prepare by studying Brain Facts, a resource published by the Society for Neuroscience.Also, Sourcebook of Brain Science available from Dana Foundation is a great introduction to neuroscience with ideas for classroom activities.
This year at the Chicago Brain Bee we will be taking students for tours of neuroscience laboratories to see how neuroscience research is conducted at UIC, including neuroanatomy labs, microscope facilities and electrophysiology labs. Students will also have the opportunity to interact with professors and graduate students over lunch to ask questions about science, graduate school, careers in and outside academia and more.

To register

It’s free to participate!!!!!
Just send to Yuka Atagi the following information by March 22nd, 2010.
Student’s name
Student’s grade
Student’s email address
Student’s school name
Student’s school address
Student’s school phone number
Teacher/Parent’s name
Teacher/Parent’s email address

Need help tutoring?

We are happy to help in any aspects of the preparation for the competition. We can go to your school, join your study sections, send additional study material, etc. Please let us know how we can help along with the registration!

Volunteers are always needed to help tutor students and encourage their participation in the Brain Bee. If you wish to help, contact Yuka Atagi

News 2009

We want to congratulate Anusha Kumar (IMSA), winner of the 2008 Chicago Brain Bee competition, for winning the second place at the National Brain Bee held in Maryland on March 2009. After two intense days of competition including written, oral, patient diagnosis and neuroanatomy exams she advanced to the final round from a group of 32 students. Thank you Anusha for representing Chicago in such a great way!


The Brain Bee took place on April 30th, 2009 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A total of 45 students from 5 high schools participated and more than 20 graduate students mentored this event.
CONGRATULATIONS! to the winners of the 2009 Brain Bee competition:
First Place
Mrinalini Prasanna, Carbondale Community High School
Second Place
Alana Weinstein, Highland Park HS
Third Place
Jeremy Becker, Stevensen HS
Mini Bee winners:
Ashley Czaplicki, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Sydnie Dobkin, Stevenson HS
Fan Wu, Stevenson HS
2009 Winners

We would like to thank the following students, faculty and administrative staff for providing their valuable time in making the 2009 Brain Bee such an exciting day! Without your help we wouldn’t be able to make this happen! :
Student Mentors:
Natalia Marangoni; Yuka Atagi; Elizabeth Menig; Evelyn Nwabuisi; Holden Brown; Kevin Laxton; Ramona Pufan; Christina Floreani; Yuyu Song; Sarah Pollema; Sarah Hatch Berth; Ludovico Castelvetri; Benjamin Smith; Nicole Jones; Adam White; Chang You; Jennifer Hu; Priscilla Viana; Adina Stanculescu; Rakesh Singh

Faculty:
Dr. Scott Brady; Dr. James Unnerstall; Dr. Tulika Sarma; Dr. Ernesto Bongarzone

Administration:
Linda Johnston; Mike Driscoll