In the National Brain Bee Championship held on March 17-19 in Baltimore, Maryland, Indian-American teenagers have won the top three spots . The first place went to Arkansas teen Sojas Wagle while Aarthi Vijayakumar of Minneapolis, Minn., and Amit Kannan of Indianapolis, Ind., were at the second and third places, respectively.
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Winners from 51 chapter competitions from 30 states were tested on their knowledge of the human brain including in the topics such as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensations, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, addictions and brain research.
The competition has involved a neuroanatomy laboratory practical exam with real human brains, patient diagnosis with patient actors, neurohistology, brain MRI imaging identification and orals. It was sponsored by the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences of the University of Maryland Dental School.
Wagle, a 15-year-old sophomore at Springdale’s Har-Ber High School will be participatingin the International Brain Bee Championship that will be held in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3-6, in conjunction with the American Psychological Association conference.
Besides a monetary prize Wagle has received an eight-week internship in a neuroscience laboratory. A donation is also given to the brain disorder charity of the winner’s choice, which is the Alzheimer’s Association.
Wagle said that his interest in the contest was prompted by his independent study of an Advanced Placement psychology course last year. Wagle, does debate and plays violin and is considering a career in medicine, possibly neurology, but has not yet selected an university. He is the son of of Sameer Wagle, a neonatologist, and Aparna Wagle, a computer laboratory manager for the Springdale School District.
Aarthi Vijayakumar, 15, is a sophomore at Mounds View High School in Minnesota. Her parents are engineers.
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Dr. Norbert Myslinski has founded the International Brain Bee 18 years ago and said, “Its purpose is to motivate young students to learn about the human brain and inspire them to seek careers in the basic and clinical neurosciences to help treat and find cures for brain disorders. We build better brains to fight brain disorders.”
By Premji
