FUN Undergraduate Neuroscience Education Workshops

The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience holds biannual workshops centered around designing, implementing and assessing neuroscience programs in undergraduate settings. Our most recent meeting was held in 2008 at Macalester College (see below).  Stay tuned for information about our next workshop that will be held at Pomona College in 2011.

Background

• At the 1st FUN workshop, held at Davidson College in 1995, participants developed four blueprints to guide faculty in their efforts to enrich the undergraduate science curriculum of their institutions by developing courses and programs in an interdisciplinary and marvelously fertile young science: Neuroscience.
• At the 2nd FUN workshop, held at Oberlin College in 1998, participants used these blueprints as a foundation to explore cutting-edge laboratory exercises designed to serve as the basis for the development of investigative, discovery-based laboratory experiences and the steps involved in launching regional meetings emphasizing undergraduate neuroscience research.
• At the 3rd FUN workshop, held at Trinity College in 2001, participants again explored laboratory exercises as well as simulations of synaptic transmission, and further examined issues in developing regional meetings emphasizing undergraduate neuroscience research.
• At the 4th FUN workshop, held at Macalester College in 2005, in addition to exploring new laboratory experiences and development of leadership skills, the participants revisited the four original curricular blueprints that served as curricular models in neuroscience since 1995, and, to address the directions that neuroscience is headed in the coming decades, added a fifth curricular blueprint, neuroscience studies

2008 FUN Undergraduate Neuroscience Education Workshop

The Undergraduate Neuroscience Education: Interactions, Interdisciplines, and Curricular Best Practices
Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
July 18 - 20, 2008

A Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Workshop
In conjunction with Project Kaleidoscope

In July 2008, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) held its fifth workshop on designing, implementing and assessing neuroscience programs in undergraduate settings.  See the workshop website for more information about the meeting, the featured presenters, and to read the 2008 FUN Workshop Notebook.

Regional Undergraduate Neuroscience Meetings

The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience supports the development of regional conferences that promote undergraduate research.  These meetings provide opportunities for undergraduate neuroscientists to present their original research.  In addition these meetings help to build regional networks of faculty interested in undergraduate research and education.  Look for more regional meetings in the years to come.

NorthEast Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON)

The primary objectives of NEURON are to provide an open forum for neuroscience undergraduate and graduate students to present and discuss their work with students and faculty of similar interests, to provide faculty an opportunity to discuss curriculua and research issues in neuroscience, biopsychology and related areas, and to provide resources to enhance communication and collaboration among neuroscience researchers and educators.

SYNAPSE is a one-day regional undergraduate neuroscience conference that provides opportunities for students and faculty to present their research results and make connections with other neuroscientists in the southeast.  Attendees discuss important issues in neuroscience training via workshops and panel discussions and learn about cutting-edge research via a keynote speaker.

MIDBRAINS: The Undergraduate Neuroscience Conference of the Upper Midwest

The conference is a joint effort of the MidBrains Neuroscience Consortium-- a network of faculty from undergraduate neuroscience programs in the upper midwest. This annual event provides a forum for undergraduate students in the Midwest to present research findings, to attend research lectures and special panels, and to meet other undergraduate students interested in the neurosciences. Representatives from several major research universities are also present to discuss graduate school opportunities. Students are encouraged to submit abstracts in all fields of the neurosciences and related disciplines!

Midwest/Great Lakes Undergraduate Research Symposium in Neuroscience (mGluRs)

In the spirit of regional undergraduate neuroscience conferences such as SYNAPSE and Midbrains, the Neuroscience Program at Ohio Wesleyan University will host the first annual conference for States Touching Ohio (and Ohio, of course) in Delaware, OH.  The conference will also include oral and poster presentations by students, workshops, a graduate school panel, and not least, breakfast and lunch.