NEUROSCIENCE AWARD GOES TO ELIZABETH SMITH OF LOUISBURG HIGH SCHOOL
For immediate release.
NR-10-04 (sent 10/15/04 ) For more information, please call Elissa Petruzzi at (202) 462-6688.
NEUROSCIENCE AWARD GOES TO ELIZABETH SMITH OF LOUISBURG HIGH SCHOOL
WASHINGTON, DC October 15 – Elizabeth Smith of Louisburg High School, has been awarded a “Teacher Travel Award” to attend Neuroscience 2004, a scientific meeting in San Diego, October 23 – 27. Smith is one of five teachers nationwide to receive the award, given by the Society for Neuroscience.
“I am preparing possible future scientists,” says Smith, who teaches advanced placement biology and freshman science classes at Louisburg. “Being able to convey to them how the scientific community operates and what questions are being addressed will allow me to better prepare them for college and beyond.”
Smith, who has a dual degree in biology and sociology/anthropology, looks forward to bringing new subject matter back for her students. “Offering my students neuroscience lessons and class activities would help them see that academic success is not simply an uncontrollable hit-or-miss situation.”
Teachers receiving the award will have the opportunity to attend the wide variety of scientific sessions available. Lectures on spinal cord regeneration, human vision, and Alzheimer's disease are only a few of the many meeting highlights. In addition, there are several education-related workshops designed to help teacher awardees focus more on the needs of their classrooms at home.
“Exposing teachers to groundbreaking neuroscience and methods to convey this material to students allows teachers to bring the newest and best that science has to offer into their classrooms,” says Eric Chudler, chair of the Society's Committee on Neuroscience Literacy. “These discoveries can spark students' interest in science, and encourage students to pursue careers in neuroscience.”
More than 25,000 scientists from around the world will gather to present and discuss the latest developments in neuroscience research, at the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The meeting will feature more than 17,000 presentations on topics ranging from neuroethics to behavioral disorders.
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 35,000 members, is the world's largest organization of basic researchers and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.
