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In this Issue:
The old calendar on the wall says that it's time to remit your dues for 2001, if you haven't already done so. We're now in our second year of spring, versus fall, dues collection. Now that the Society for Neuroscience abstract deadline has come and gone, you may be thinking about nominating deserving undergraduates for a FUN Travel Award. Remember, that your dues payments help support this worthy cause and that only current dues-paying members are eligible to sponsor nominees! So, take a moment today to support undergraduate neuroscience-- send your check for $15.00 (still only $15!) made out to “Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience” to:
Tim Cannon
If you'd like to make your check out for more than $15, don't forget that donations to FUN can also be tax-deductible! No doubt you’ll be getting a big fat tax cut this year; let some of your windfall trickle down to those less fortunate. A total of six travel awards were handed out at the SFN meeting in San Diego. This year, two awards were co-sponsored by graduate institutions including the University of New Orleans and UCLA. In addition, all applicants were given a free textbook courtesy of several of the publishers visiting the meeting. The judges indicated that this years group was incredibly strong, making the final decisions very difficult. Keep up the good work faculty mentors! Don't forget that your dues are used to help fund these travel awards!!
Jeremiah Boles
(Mentor: Rick Meeker) Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina.
Sara Hebbeler
(Mentor: Dale Sengelaub) Program in Neural Science, Indiana University.
Matthew Kayser
(Mentor: Mark Bear) Department of Neuroscience, Brown University.
Jennifer Lewey
(Mentor: John Lisman) Department of Biology and Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University.
Timothy Monahan
(Mentor: Theresa Jones) Department of Psychology, University of Washington.
Melanie Powers
(Mentor: Jean Hardwick) Biology Dept, Ithaca College. Do you have an undergraduate who is presenting a poster at the upcoming Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego? Encourage your student to apply for a Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Travel Award to attend the meeting! The criteria and application for the award consist of the following: Candidates must submit five (5) copies of all materials, including: 1) The submitted abstract. 2) A 3-page (maximum) statement by the candidate, indicating the importance of the project, the candidate's contribution to the project (including an estimation of the amount of time spent on it), and the relevance of this 3) A resume that includes any other research-related activities. 4) A 3-page (maximum) letter of reference from the student's advisor, indicating the student's intellectual contribution to the project; if there is more than one coauthor on the abstract, the contribution of the others; 5) A statement of sponsorship from a dues-paying member of FUN, stating simply that the member supports the nomination (members may support more than one entry, and the sponsor can be the student's advisor). The Student Travel Award Committee will make its selection on the basis of the following criteria: 40% = The student's contribution to the project (e.g., Was the student first author? To what extent did the student contribute to the completion of the project? Was the student aware of the significance of the project? Did the student work independently?) 30% = The quality of the project (e.g., Did the project appear to address an important question? Did the methods appear appropriate? Did the project appear particularly easy or difficult to conduct?) 20% = The quality of the candidate's statement 10% = The candidate's potential in science Each member of the Student Travel Award Committee will use the above criteria to judge the applicants. Please send your application materials to: Any questions? email: wiertelak@macalester.edu
At the last business meeting, the FUN Executive Council approved plans to reorganize the FUN web site. The purpose of this reorganization was to try to centralize our information and resources. Deborah Colbern of BEEMNET agreed to set up and maintain the new site. Our new web address is: http://www.undergraduateneuroscience.org Most importantly though, FUN would like to give a big
THANK YOU
to
Jeff Wilson
. Jeff has served as our “webmaster” for some time now – on a completely volunteer basis and he has done an absolutely outstanding job! FUN owes a great deal of thanks for the time and effort Jeff has put in to updating and maintaining this web site.
A Project Kaleidoscope Workshop In Partnership with Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
UNDERGRADUATE NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION:
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
Project Kaleidoscope, in partnership with Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, has sponsored two previous workshops focused on helping faculty develop and sustain neuroscience programs at undergraduate colleges and universities. At the Davidson College workshop 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. Using these blueprints as a foundation, participants at the Oberlin College workshop in 1998 explored cutting-edge laboratory exercises designed to serve as the basis for the development of investigative, discovery-based laboratory experiences - a pedagogical approach central to Project Kaleidoscope. As we bid farewell to the "Decade of the Brain" and greet the new century with great anticipation because of the discoveries that lie ahead, we continue our efforts to enhance the educational experiences of the neuroscience students who will contribute to those future discoveries. The goal of the Trinity College workshop is to capitalize on the gains that our community has made in establishing neuroscience as a legitimate component of an undergraduate science curriculum. The workshops will cover a broad range of topics from innovative laboratory exercises emphasizing investigation and discovery of neural principles to the use of several new computer and web-based technologies designed for neuroscience instruction. The foundation course in neuroscience as presented within a biology and a psychology department will also be examined. In addition, the workshop will focus on issues relevant to establishing a curriculum in neuroscience, the status of undergraduate neuroscience programs as preparation for graduate study, the creation of an animal-care facility and oversight committee, and securing the funding to support faculty teaching and research. Finally, strategies ensuring that neuroscience education is available to the full breadth of our students with diverse backgrounds and career aspirations will be addressed. FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: http://www.pkal.org/curricul/neuro/trinity/flier.html
Recent topics of discussion on the FUN listserve have focussed on suggestions for low cost options for laboratory equipment in undergraduate neuroscience labs. Some of these suggestions are summarized below. The newsletter could be an excellent forum for exchange of these ideas. If you have a "tip" or idea that you have found to be particularly appropriate for undergraduate labs, send to to me (jhardwick@ithaca.edu) to be included in this section! Low Cost Faraday Cages From James Murray at University of Central Arkansas: I'm setting up a Crawdad-style lab now and found relatively cheap and easy way to make Faraday cages. Shopping list:From Dottie Hanck at University of Chicago:
From Bruce Johnson at Cornell University: We are developing low cost, but high grade equipment that can be homemade to make neurophysiology exercises within reach of more faculty teaching undergraduate lab courses. Last spring I solicited suggestions from FUN members for journals to publish a description of a homemade, high performance extracellular amplifier. We received a number of excellent suggestions and decided on J. Neurosci. Methods. The paper was published recently in that journal (Land, B.R., Wyttenbach, R.A. and B.R. Johnson. 2001. Tools for physiology labs: An inexpensive high-performance amplifier and electrode for extracellular recording. J. Neurosci. Meth. 106: 47-55). For those interested, a preprint can be downloaded from our Web site: www.crawdad.cornell.edu , or directly from the journal's Web site through Elsevier Press. Thank you all for the excellent suggestions which were very helpful in getting our technical paper published.From W.J. Heitler at University of St. Andrews: FUN members may be interested that the PC program DataView can now convert digital data files into Macromedia Flash (swf) movies as well as Microsoft video (avi) files. The resulting movie shows a scrolling oscilloscope-like display. An example is at http://www-sbms.st-and.ac.uk/sites/dataview/bullet2.htmlBack to Top The Education Committee would like to remind you about a wonderful offer that Sage Science Press has made to members of Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience. Sage Science Press has agreed to charge members of FUN $70 for their personal subscriptions to "The Neuroscientist." The standard personal subscription price is $125, so we get a savings of $55. When you pay your FUN membership dues, you are not only helping us provide our talented undergraduate students with Travel Awards to the SFN Annual Meeting, but you are also getting yourself this terrific subscription discount. When you subscribe just subscribe at the student rate (i.e. $70) and mention that you are a member of "Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience." Sage Science Press (with Dr. Stephen Waxman's encouragement) has offered this discount to us as a contribution to FUN's educational mission. I've subscribed to the journal for several years and I think it is just terrific. Their website is http://www.sagepub.com/ . I've copied a blurb from the site and pasted it below. The Neuroscientist : A Review Journal at the Interface of the Basic and Clinical Neurosciences Edited by Stephen G. Waxman of Yale University School of Medicine with help from a renowned international editorial board that includes Nobel Prize winners and chairs of top university neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry departments from around the world, The Neuroscientist reviews and evaluates the noteworthy advances and key trends in molecular, cellular, developmental, behavioral/systems, and cognitive neuroscience in a unique disease relevant format. Subscription - Individual: $125.00
Seeking Masters of Science students to study neuroethology Our lab is interested in neuroethology: the neural basis of behavior studied in an ecological and evolutionary context. Neuroethology is a broadly interdisciplinary approach to understanding how an animal's nervous system accounts for its behavior. This approach employs molecular, cellular, physiological, morphological, biomechanical, ecological, and evolutionary methods. Our current research emphasis is on the mechanisms of water-flow sensitivity in the nudibranch sea slug Tritonia diomedea, the integration of sensory information, and motor control of crawling and turning. I am seeking motivated students interested in a masters degree in the neural basis of behavior. Training in brain cell recording, computer analysis of video, microscopy, and underwater animal observation is available. Financial support is available during the academic year and the summer. Applications will be accepted from biology and cross-disciplinary students (physics, chemistry). The Biology Department contains faculty including two neurobiologists, a sensory biologist, and another electrophysiologist with advanced courses in animal physiology, and neurobiology. Please send a curriculum vitae, unofficial transcript, a 1 page statement of research interest, and the name and contact information of 2 references to:
James A. Murray, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology 156 Lewis Science
Link to my homepage at which one can read about potential student projects, and download pictures and proposals related to our research. http://www.uca.edu/divisions/academic/biology/faculty/jmurray.htm
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