The Delaware Brain Bee was held on Saturday, February 8, at Delaware State University. After a breakfast of croissants and juice, the competitors divided into groups to tackle the written questions.
Written questions covered four areas of neuroscience: anatomy; physiology; systems neuroscience, and clinical neuroscience, and the competition finished with an oral competition in a traditional “bee” format. In the anatomy section the competitors had to name structures pointed out on a real human brain and identify the function of each structure they identified. In the physiology section they answered basic questions about the nerve cell, the action potential and synaptic transmission. In the systems neuroscience section the competitors answered questions about our sensory and motor systems, while in the clinical neuroscience section they were given case studies and had to diagnose the disorder of an imaginary patient based on the information provided in the case study. In the oral section, competitors stood up one at a time and answered a question about neuroscience that was read to them. Competitors were eliminated on their 3rd incorrect answer.
To determine the winners, the percent correct scores for the five competition areas (anatomy, physiology, systems, clinical and oral questions) were averaged and the competitor with the highest combined average was the winner. The winner of the Delaware Brain Bee won an expense-paid trip to represent Delaware at the National Brain Bee that will take place March 14 and 15 in Baltimore, Maryland, courtesy of the Neuroscience Program at Delaware State University.
Eshan Agarwal | 11th grade | Charter School of Wilmington |
Anoop Reddi | 12th grade | Charter School of Wilmington |
Rohith Venkataraman | 11th grade | Charter School of Wilmington |
Harshita Kandarpa | 12th grade | Charter School of Wilmington |
1st Place Eshan Agarwal Pictured with Leonard Davis, President of the Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, and Melissa Harrington, Director of the Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research |
2nd Place Anoop Reddi Pictured with Leonard Davis, President of the Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, and Melissa Harrington, Director of the Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research |
3rd Place Rohith Venkataraman Pictured with Leonard Davis, President of the Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, and Melissa Harrington, Director of the Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research |
4th Place Harshita Kandarpa Pictured with Leonard Davis, President of the Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, and Melissa Harrington, Director of the Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research |
All competitors with teachers . . . from right Eshan Agarwal, Rohith Venkataraman, Anoop Reddi, Harshita Kandarpa, Lesia Liao, Courtney Betschner, and Kelli Trice is between two teachers from Sussez Central High School, with Melissa Harrington on the left. |
All winners - from left Melissa Harrington, Director of the Delaware Center for Neuroscience; 1st place Ethan Agarwal; 2nd place Anoop Reddi; 3rd place Rohith Venkataraman; and 4th place Harshita Kandarpa |
Competitors with DSU faculty, from left Melissa Harrington, Harb Dhillon (DSU faculty), Kelly Trice, Hwan Kim (DSU faculty), Courtney Betschner, Lesia Liao, Harshita Kandarpa, Anoop Reddi, Leonard Davis (DSU faculty), Rohith Venkataraman, Michael Gitcho (DSU faculty), Eshan Agarwal, Murali Temburni (DSU faculty), and Hakeem Lawal (DSU faculty) |
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