USA Nationals of the World’s Largest Neuroscience Competition for Teenagers

USA Brain Bee Championship

The Eleventh USA National Brain Bee Championship was held in Baltimore on March 16 to 18, 2018. The Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for teenagers. Winners (Group photo is attached) from 54 Chapter competitions in 37 states came to compete at the University of Maryland in Baltimore to test their knowledge of the human brain including such topics as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensations, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, addictions and brain research. The competition involved a neuroanatomy laboratory practical exam with real human brains, patient diagnosis with patient actors, neurohistology, brain MRI imaging identification and orals. It is sponsored by the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

The winner is Akhil Kondepudi from St. Louis, Missouri. (An individual photo is attached). Akhil will represent the United States at the World Brain Bee Championship hosted by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies in July. Besides a monetary prize he was also given an 8-week internship in a neuroscience laboratory. A donation is also given to the Disabled American Veterans.

Second place went to Hemanth Asirvatham of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Third place went to Sehej Bindra of Piscataway, New Jersey. Colin Wood from Worcester, Massachusetts came in fourth; Sneha Shinde from Rootstown, Ohio came in fifth; Aayush Setty from Atlanta, Georgia came in sixth; Lasya Kambhampati from Kansas City, Kansas came in seventh; Veda Chanda from Hershey, Pennsylvania came in eighth; Sarah Shirley from Little Rock, Arkansas came in ninth; and Jessica Goldstein from Hempstead, New York came in tenth. 

Media can contact Patricia Fanning at pfanning@umaryland.edu (work: 410-706-7946; cell: 443-615-5811; twitter@UMBPatricia) OR Norbert Myslinski at nmyslinski@umaryland.edu (cell: 410-274-4998).

Dr. Norbert Myslinski with the winner Akhil Kondepudi.