Northeast Under/Grad Research Organization for Neuroscience

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (N.E.U.R.O.N.) is committed to enhancing research training, education, and professional development of neuroscience trainees and educators through an annual conference. Previous funding established N.E.U.R.O.N. as a professional conference. To date, there have been nine annual conferences, with ~1600 participants. At each meeting, students and faculty engage in research b attending poster sessions, workshops, and a keynote address. Past keynote speakers have included Drs. Bruce McEwen (Rockefeller University), Pat Goldman-Rakic (Yale University School of Med.), Robert Sapolsky (Stanford University), Sandra Witelson (McMaster University), Ed Kravitz (Harvard Med. School), Donald Pfaff (Rockefeller University), Eve Marder (Brandeis University), Huda Akil (U Michigan), and Dr. Joseph LeDoux (New York University). Drs. Mark Bear (M.I.T.), Sarah Leibowitz (Rockefeller University), Michael Meaney (McGill University), and Carla Schatz (Harvard Med. School), have provisionally agreed to give keynote addresses at future meetings. Because N.E.U.R.O.N. is already an established meeting, the focus is now on increasing diversity (racial, ethnic, economic, academic) of its participants. More speakers and mentors from under- represented racial and ethnic groups have been enlisted. Persons from all academic backgrounds (small colleges, large institutions, and industry) are included on The Steering Committee. We will continue to hold a large, annual, conference in New York City (CUNY Hunter) aimed at attracting students to Neuroscience. We also propose to hold a smaller conference in Boston (Northeastern/Simmons) aimed at retaining students already interested in Neuroscience. At both conferences, academic outreach activities will be discussed through workshops aimed at organizing activities in celebration of Brain Awareness Week. N.E.U.R.O.N. is recognized for excellence in neuroscience, and the focus now will be to enhance racial-, ethnic-, economic-, and academic diversity of participants. In addition, we hope to use both meetings (New York City and Boston) to both attract and retain students in Neuroscience. Both of these outcomes are congruous with the Public Health Service's mission to ensure that there is a resource of well-trained scientists and health-care providers in the United States.