2013 Guelph Brain Bee - We have winners!

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science (NACS) area was pleased to host the 5th Annual Guelph Brain Bee on April 26.

The event was a great success—despite an ice-storm postponement— with 17 students from 3 different local high schools competing for big prizes and the chance to move on to the CIHR National competition (hosted by McMaster University) and the International Brain Bee (held this year in Vienna, Austria).

The elimination-round performance of our finalists was intense, yielding highly-impressive students from three different schools as this year's winners:
         1st - Alina Otrin (John F. Ross CVI)
         2nd - Marisa Rankin (Norwell DSS)
         3rd - Lucy Shen (Centennial CVI)

Other highlights included:
    - Dr. Linda Parker's introduction telling students about the great opportunities at the University of Guelph within our BSc in Psychology: Brain and Cognition program and the Neuroscience minor across disciplines.
    -  Dr. Boyer Winters' excellent talk documenting his adventures discovering and pursuing his interests in the neurobiological basis of learning and memory .
    - NACS graduate students providing an EEG demo in which high-school students got to see and control electrical activity in their own brains
    - posters of cutting-edge research results presented by NACS graduate students.

Our sincere thanks to everyone involved!
 

Previous Guelph Brain Bees

Fun, prizes, and sheer brain power were on display February 17, 2009 during the 1st Annual Guelph Brain Bee, which included 19 contestants from local high schools. Six students advanced to the final elimination round, including (from right to left) the winner, Liwei Li (Centennial CVI), Kevin Yin (Centennial CVI) in 2nd place, and Tomas van Stee (Norwell DSS) in 3rd place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faculty from the Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science (NACS) Program served as judges for the event, which included opening remarks from Dr. Linda Parker and a special address from Dr. Elena Choleris. Contestants were also able to meet and interact with NACS graduate students and learn about exciting neuroscience research taking place within the department.

As the winner of the local Guelph competition, Li advanced to the Second Annual CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee held at McMaster University, May 29-30, 2009 where she won the 2nd place prize. Congratulations Liwei!

Thanks to all involved in making the day such a great success.

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Also see Guelph Mercury's coverage of the event .