Eve Marder and Richard Olivo Receive Award for Education in Neuroscience
WASHINGTON, DC — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present the Award for Education in Neuroscience to Eve Marder, PhD, of Brandeis University and Richard Olivo, PhD, of Smith College. The prize, which includes $5,000 that will be split between the two recipients, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to neuroscience education and training. The award will be presented at Neuroscience 2014, SfN’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
“Drs. Marder and Olivo collectively represent the diverse ways that scientists can educate and train other scientists over the course of their careers,” SfN President Carol Mason said. “It is our honor to recognize their extraordinary dedication to the future of neuroscience.”
Marder has advocated for training programs for scientists at all career levels. Her early efforts helped to establish one of the first undergraduate neuroscience training programs at Brandeis in 1990. She has since spent decades offering advice and support for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and young faculty at Brandeis — in person and in print. Additionally, she has influenced science education on the national level, advising and reviewing dozens of leading training programs across the nation.
In her lab, where she studies a network of neurons present in the gut of lobsters and crabs for clues about how neural circuits operate and produce behavior, Marder has trained more than 20 PhD students and 35 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom are women and underrepresented minorities. Marder earned her PhD from the University of California, San Diego, and served as the president of the Society for Neuroscience from 2007-2008.
Olivo’s research interests span from sensory neuroscience to the use of computers in neuroscience for data acquisition, imaging, and teaching. Olivo has dedicated his career to using technology to enhance neuroscience education, which has served to benefit students at Smith College as well as across the country.
Since 2005, Olivo has led workshops at SfN’s annual meeting on teaching neuroscience, including such topics as introductory courses taught in large and small institutions and resources for teaching. Olivo was critical in attaining a National Science Foundation grant that supports SfN’s Educational Resources in Neuroscience (ERIN), an easy-to-use, wide-ranging database of educational materials to enhance teaching and learning in neuroscience. As project director for the site, he has played a vital role in developing and managing its success. Olivo earned his PhD from Harvard University.
The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of nearly 40,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. More information about the brain can be found at BrainFacts.org, a public information initiative of The Kavli Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and SfN.
