News - February 22, 2016

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Jennifer Forbes                                                                                                  
Communications & Public Affairs
732-235-6356, jenn.forbes@rwjms.rutgers.edu

                              

                               

 

Three Students from Matawan Regional High School Take Top Spots in


Central New Jersey Brain Bee Competition at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

 

2016 Brain Bee Winners from Matawan Regional High School

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School hosted the Central New Jersey Brain Bee at which high school students showed off their knowledge of the brain and central nervous system. Pictured from l. to r. are: third-place winner, Abdullah Ramadan; first-place winner, Catherine Brown; and second-place winner Eric Kim, all from Matawan Regional High School.

PISCATAWAY, NJ – Catherine Brown, a tenth-grade student at Matawan Regional High School in Aberdeen, won the 2016 Central New Jersey Regional Brain Bee, defeating 53 other high school students who participated in the event held at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Catherine earned an expense-paid trip for two to compete in the National Brain Bee Competition at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, March 18-20, 2016.

Modeled after a traditional spelling bee, the Brain Bee is a live question and answer competition, during which students are quizzed about the human brain and central nervous system. During three rounds of competition, the contestants answer questions derived from the book Brain Facts, published by the Society for Neuroscience.  

Eric Kim and Abdullah Ramadan, also tenth-grade students from Matawan Regional High School placed second and third, respectively. Under the guidance of science teacher, Paul Servidio, MD, the high school has sent a team of students to compete in the event each year since it was first held at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2011. This year’s team included eight students, six of which made it to the final 10 contestants in the competition. Matawan Regional High School twelfth-grade student, Adam Elliot, who won the 2014 National Brain Bee and place fourth at that year’s international competition, also was in attendance in support of his classmates.  

Held for the sixth year in a row at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the event was hosted by the department of neuroscience and cell biology, and coordinated by Michael Matise, PhD, associate professor, with the support of Cheryl Dreyfus, PhD, professor and chair of the department. Faculty members, graduate and undergraduate
students who conduct research at the medical school served as the competition’s judges.

  

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