GEORGIA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE 36TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ATLANTA, GA
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NR-16-06 (10/11/06) For more information, please call Sara Harris at (202) 962-4000 or sharris@sfn.org.
GEORGIA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE 36TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ATLANTA, GA
WASHINGTON, DC, October 11 - Two local educators -- a neuroscientist and a teacher -- are one of 10 pairs of international award recipients recognized for their commitment and innovative approach to bringing neuroscience into the classroom.
Eva Van de Water, a science teacher at Bermark Middle School in Gwinnett County, and Dr. Ananda Weerasuriya of Mercer University Medical School, received a Neuroscientist-Teacher Partner Travel Award to attend Neuroscience 2006, the 36th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, to be held in Atlanta, Ga., October 14-18.
"Weerasuriya and I have worked together since 1998," Van de Water explains. After working in his lab as a guest researcher, they formed a partnership to work with Van de Water's students in an effort to "educate them about the wide array of possibilities in scientific research."
Later, Van de Water spent class time explaining her research experience on "how one plans, designs, carries out, and analyzes the data of a research project."
Weerasuriya says of her efforts, "She was able to discuss with the students her first hand experience with the scientific method with data she had collected. Naturally this made such a good impression on them that several of them wanted to visit our laboratory after school." It is his opinion that the experience has assisted in encouraging some of them to pursue careers in science.
Van de Water has a particular interest in this year's poster sessions where she plans to "observe scientists discuss and debate their results and experiments." She intends to take these insights back to her classroom.
Roughly 30,000 scientists from around the world will attend Neuroscience 2006 to present and discuss the latest advances in neuroscience research. The meeting will feature more than 14,000 presentations covering topics ranging from stem cell research to basic human behavior.
In addition to receiving unlimited access to the meeting's thousands of sessions and forums, the awardees have been invited to attend a number of special events. Van de Water, Weerasuriya, and the other award recipients will also be honored at a gathering of the Society's Public Education and Communication Committee, which represents educational advocates from among the Society's membership.
The goal of the award program is to further partnerships between research and educational communities by bringing them together at a premier scientific meeting. "The travel award program is an example of the Society's commitment to explaining basic scientific processes -- how research leads to discovery and how discovery leads to treatments, cures and healthy choices at all stages in life," says Society for Neuroscience Public Education Director Colleen McNerney. "This program provides encouragement and visibility to the Society's members to embrace and contribute to this work, demonstrating the value of scientist and teachers working in partnership."
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 37,500 members, is the largest organization of researchers and clinicians studying the brain and nervous system.
