Ms. Karina Bao (center), a senior from Little Rock Central High School won first place in the competition, followed by Ms. Harinee Arun (left) and Mr. Sojas Wagle (right). Ms. Bao competed in the 2016 U.S. National Brain Bee held in Baltimore, MD on March 18-20, 2015 as part of National Brain Awareness Week (March 16-22). A record 56 Chapters from 35 states competed this year. Karina won first place in the U.S. National Brain Bee and will represent the United States at the Seventeenth World Brain Bee Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark in July.

Congratulations to LRCH's Karina Bao - 2016 National Brain Bee Champion (lrsd.org):

March 21, 2016 - After three days of intense competition, the 2016 USA Brain Bee Champion is Little Rock Central High junior Karina Bao.

The Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for teenagers.  A record fifty-six Chapter winners from 35 states around the country competed at the University of Maryland in Baltimore on March 18th, 19th and 20th.

Bao, who also represents the Arkansas Brain Bee Chapter, will receive a summer internship at a neuroscience lab, trophies for her school and herself, and the right to represent the United States at the Seventeenth World Brain Bee Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark in July.

The Brain Bee tests a student’s knowledge of the human brain, including such topics as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensations, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, autism, schizophrenia, addictions, brain research and many others. The USA Championship competition involves a neuroanatomy laboratory practical exam with real human brains, patient diagnosis involving face-to-face interactions with patient actors, MRI brain imaging analysis, brain histology, and a final question and answer component.

Bao will now advance to the World Championship hosted this year by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies, where she will compete against about 25 other champions from such countries as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and others.

The International Brain Bee was found 17 years ago by Dr. Norbert Myslinski, and has now  expanded to 160 chapters in 40 regions in 6 continents. Its purpose is “to motivate young men and women to learn about the brain, and inspire them to consider careers in basic and clinical neurosciences.” He says “We build better brains to fight brain disorders.”

USA Brain Bee Group Photo 2016
National Brain Bee Competitor Ranking 2016
USA Brain Bee Coordinators, Sponsors and Chaperones 2016
History of the International Brain Bee 2016

The Brain Bee is a live question and answer competition testing the neuroscience knowledge of high school students (grades 9-12). This year 7 students from three high schools competed. Drs. John Bowyer and Tucker Patterson conducted the testing of the contestants. Mr. Chen-Bo Fang, a senior from Little Rock Central High School won the competition and will compete in the 2015 U.S. National Brain Bee held in Baltimore, MD on March 20-22, 2015 as part of National Brain Awareness Week (March 16-22).

Chen-Bo will compete against winners from 48 regional competitions representing 25 states. The winner of U.S. National Brain Bee is invited to the 2015 International Brain Bee Championship. The 2015 contestants received participation awards and prize money. Chen-Bo and his sponsor Michelle (Yueh Wen) Chiu, a math teacher at Little Rock Central High School, will receive prize money to help defray the costs of attending the 2015 U.S. National Brain Bee.

Two pictures of the event are shown on the right side. Best wishes and good luck to Chen-Bo at the U.S. National Brain Bee!

The Arkansas Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (ACSfN) hosted and conducted the Central Arkansas Brain Bee on February 13, 2014.

The competition was held in the Darragh Center Auditorium at the Little Rock Main Library of the Central Arkansas Library System.

Students from Little Rock Central High School and Conway High School participated in the event. All students competing in the bee received a certificate and monetary participation award.

The winner of the bee, Mr. Zen Tang, a junior from Little Rock Central High School, represented the state of Arkansas at the 2014 U.S. National Brain Bee in Baltimore on March 14-15, 2014. Zen competed against winners from 48 regional competitions representing 25 states.

The co-coordinators and judges of the Central Arkansas Brain Bee, Drs. John Bowyer and Tucker Patterson of the National Center for Toxicological Research, are both members and past-presidents of the ACSfN.

The Central Arkansas Brain Bee was supported in part by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.

Winner: Avinash Arul
(Little Rock Central High School)

Brain Bee Contestants

Winner: Nathanael Ji

National Brain Bee Contestants

Yazan Al-Fanek