EXPIRED Announcements - 2004
(an attempt at archiving our e-history!)

The announcements posted on this page are for archive purposes only.
To review current FUN announcements, please go to: http://funfaculty.org/announcements.html .

The 2003 Neurobiology of Epilepsy Workshop Lecture Series has been posted on the International Affairs Committee site of IAC-USNC, http://www.iacusnc.org/education.html . This site also features other web-based educational resources that might be of interest to many FUN members. This link also provides some background on the web-based educational resources page. http://www.ibro.info/Pub_News_Display.asp?News_Id=1381

National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) can repay up to $35,000 a year of qualified educational debt for health professionals pursuing careers in clinical, pediatric, contraception and infertility, or health disparities research. The programs also provide coverage for Federal and state tax liabilities.

Applicants must have a doctoral-level degree, devote 50% or more of their time (20 hours per week based on a 40 hour work week) to nonprofit- or government-funded research, and have educational debt equaling at least 20% of their institutional base salary. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or U.S. nationals may apply.

The NIH Loan Repayment Programs are a vital component of our nation's efforts to attract health professionals to research careers in areas of national need. The programs are the Clinical Research LRP, Pediatric Research LRP, Contraception and Infertility Research LRP, Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged backgrounds LRP, and Health Disparities Research LRP.

Please share this e-mail with the researchers and other individuals in your organization who may benefit from LRP participation.

All applications for 2005 awards must be submitted by December 15, 2004. Visit www.lrp.nih.gov for further information and to apply online.

Best regards,

Vote now for President-Elect, Treasurer, and Councilors. There is also a place on the ballot for you to send suggestions to the incoming officers on issues you feel are important to the future of FUN.

Polls will be open until 12 midnight on Monday, October 18.

Statements from the candidates and "voter eligibility information" is posted at http://funfaculty.org/election2004.html .

Dear FUN members,

Each year, we try to compile a list of all the poster and slide presentations contributed by FUN faculty and students at SFN. The only way we can get this information is from YOU. If you and your students are presenting at Neuroscience this year, please send to me the following information at jhardwick@ithaca.edu .

Authors:
Title:
Date/Time of presentation:
Abstract or slide presentation number:

This information will be presented in the FUN teaching poster at SFN (#27.16, Board #III-19) which is available for viewing all week long. Please send me your information NO LATER THAN October 19th!!

Sincerely,
Jean Hardwick
FUN President-Elect
--
Jean Hardwick, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biology Department
Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 274-3213; jhardwick@ithaca.edu

Greetings Colleagues,

As a member of the Society for Neuroscience Committee for Neuroscience Literacy, I'd like to ask for your help. We have nearly 200 High School students registered for a short course at the SfN meeting, but we're in need of guides who can take the students on a short tour of the exhibits and the posters. This is a wonderful educational experience for the students (and a potential recruiting opportunity for your college?).

Please see below for more information:

Guides Needed for Short Course for High School Students at Neuroscience 2004 <http://dev.sfn.org/AM2004Template.cfm?Section=Sessions_Events&amp;Template=
/am2004/workshops/workshops_detail.cfm&amp;eventID=33 >

Volunteer to be a guide for the Short Course for High School Students at Neuroscience 2004 on Monday, October 25. Guides are asked to lead 10 to 20 students, along with their teachers, through posters and exhibit booths at the meeting. Time commitment is minimal and flexible. Anyone who would like to serve as a guide for the high school students may contact Corinne Dreskin at corinne@sfn.org .

Thanks!
Keith
---------------------------
Keith A. Trujillo, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Associate Director, Office for Biomedical Research and Training
California State University San Marcos
San Marcos, CA 92096-0001
Phone: 760-750-4183, Fax: 760-750-3418
E-mail: keith@csusm.edu

Two announcements from Julio Ramirez. . .

1) SIGN LETTER TO UNITED NATIONS LEADERSHIP IN SUPPORT OF THERAPEUTIC CLONING.

The United Nations will debate two resolutions on cloning in October when Belgium and South Korea will introduce a resolution that would ban reproductive cloning, but allow therapeutic cloning. The Bush administration supports a resolution by Costa Rica that would ban all forms of human cloning, including any research using embryonic stem cells.

The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) is seeking organizational endorsements for a letter in support of the Belgium/South Korea resolution and therapeutic cloning. The letter will be sent to the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary General, the Chairman of Sixth Committee (where the resolutions will be debated) and the U.N. Missions.

As a member of CAMR, Research!America has signed the letter and we encourage your organization to do the same. The deadline to sign the letter is Friday, October 8. To receive a copy of the letter and the endorsement form, please reply to this e-mail. If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to ethompson@researchamerica.org

2) URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SPONSOR STEM CELL RESEARCH

Bipartisan stem cell legislation has been introduced by Reps. Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO). The bill H.R. 4682, the "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2004," would expand the federal stem cell research policy. The bill currently has 170 bipartisan co-sponsors. Reps. Castle and DeGette are striving to secure 200 co-sponsors before Congress leaves Washington on October 8.

Please call, fax or e-mail your representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R.4682. If your representative has already co-sponsored the bill, please thank him or her for supporting research.

The link below will take you to a page that lists the members of the House of Representatives by state and their co-sponsor status for H.R. 4682. Please note that Reps. Bob Etheridge (NC 2nd) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH 11th) have recently become co-sponsors for the bill and the list does not yet reflect this information.

Find out whether or not your representative is a co-sponsor of H.R. 4682 and clickon his or her name to get phone and fax numbers. <http://capwiz.com/ram/utr/1/OVYRDVZQIR/EZDQDWAJXS/ > If you click on the envelope icon next to his or her name, you can compose and send an e-mail.

October is rapidly approaching, which means it's time to start thinking seriously about preparing for San Diego. I am looking for faculty volunteers to help staff the FUN booth in the exhibit area at SFN. This booth is our major fundraising effort - through the sales of t-shirts and buttons - and I need some faculty who are willing to help the student workers.

The booth will be open Sunday - Wednesday. Typically, we ask individuals to agree to either a morning (9-1pm) or an afternoon shift (1-5pm). If you are able to lend a hand, and try out a second career in sales, please send me an email with the days and times you would be available to:

jhardwick@ithaca.edu

Don't forget to reserve the date for the Poster/Social - Monday, October 25th at 5:30 pm (Convention Center, Room 17 A&B).

Sincerely,

Jean Hardwick
President-Elect, FUN

The FUN Educator Award, which is awarded annually, recognizes a FUN member (regular or fellow) for an accomplishment that REALLY reflects the mission of FUN- having aided the promotion of neuroscience education and research at the undergraduate level. Examples of such accomplishment might include: efforts in classroom instruction techniques; work at the local level or national level; the development of laboratories; authorship or other activities.

Remember, only dues-paying members of FUN can sponsor nominations for this award; self-nominations aren't allowed.

How to nominate: It's simple! Write a short letter of nomination, stating why the individual FUN member should be chosen for the award. Make sure that your letter provides detail on the accomplishment that you feel reflects the mission of FUN.

Send your nominations electronically no later than Monday, Sept. 20, 2004, to:
Karen Parfitt, Ph.D.
Chair, FUN Faculty Awards Committee
kparfitt@pomona.edu

All awards are presented at the FUN Social during the annual SFN meeting. Additional questions? Direct them toward: Karen Parfitt or Eric Wiertelak wiertelak@macalester.edu

The FUN Lifetime/Career Achievement Award, FUN's highest honor, is not an annual award; it is awarded upon appropriate nomination and vote of the Awards committee to those individuals who have either compiled a lifetime (Lifetime Achievement Award; 10+ years) record of effort OR A SINGULAR contribution (Career Achievement Award) that substantively aids the greater neuroscience community, in a way (or ways) that reflects the mission of FUN-promoting neuroscience education and research at the undergraduate level.

Remember, as with other FUN awards, only dues-paying members of FUN can sponsor nominations; self-nominations aren't allowed. Nominees for the Lifetime/Career Achievement Award need not be members of FUN to be eligible.

How to nominate: It's still simple! Write a letter of nomination, stating the reasons why the individual should be considered for the Lifetime/Career Achievement Award. Make sure that your letter provides detail on the accomplishment that you feel reflects the mission of FUN.

Send your nominations electronically no later than September 20, 2004, to:

Karen Parfitt
Chair, FUN Faculty Awards Committee
kparfitt@pomona.edu

All awards are presented at the FUN Social during the annual SFN meeting. Additional questions? Direct them toward: Karen Parfitt or Eric Wiertelak <wiertelak@macalester.edu >

National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) can repay up to $35,000 a year of qualified educational debt for health professionals pursuing careers in clinical, pediatric, contraception and infertility, or health disparities research. The programs also provide coverage for Federal and state tax liabilities.

Applicants must have a doctoral-level degree, devote 50% or more of their time (20 hours per week based on a 40 hour work week) to nonprofit- or government-funded research, and have educational debt equaling at least 20% of their institutional base salary. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or U.S. nationals may apply.

The NIH Loan Repayment Programs are a vital component of our nation's efforts to attract health professionals to research careers in areas of national need. The programs are the Clinical Research LRP, Pediatric Research LRP, Contraception and Infertility Research LRP, Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged backgrounds LRP, and Health Disparities Research LRP.

Please share this e-mail with the researchers and other individuals in your organization who may benefit from LRP participation.

All applications for 2005 awards must be submitted by December 15, 2004.

Visit www.lrp.nih.gov for further information and to apply online.

Best regards,

FUN is very pleased to announce that this year (once again), undergraduate students attending the Society for Neuroscience meeting can apply to receive a $50 stipend for staffing our FUN booth for the duration of a morning or afternoon session. Your students can get help paying for the cost of attending the meeting by helping out FUN-- answering questions, distributing our brochures and selling FUN merchandise while meeting FUN faculty and students!

If you have an undergraduate who is attending the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, PLEASE encourage them to participate in the FUN student stipend program. This opportunity is limited to one stipend per morning or afternoon session. As with the travel award, only dues-paying members of FUN may sponsor nominees. If you're not a member, become one today! Regular Member Dues are still only $15. . . money well spent!

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (simple!):

FROM THE STUDENT: The student's name, email address, and which sessions (a.m. or p.m.) on which days of the meeting that they are available to staff the booth.

FROM THE FUN MEMBER: A statement of sponsorship from a dues-paying member of FUN, stating simply that: 1) the member supports the student's
application for the stipend, and 2) that the member has verified that the student will be attending the Neuroscience Meeting (members may support more than one entry, and the sponsor can be the student's advisor).

Students will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis, so apply early! Students will not be eligible for multiple stipends except in the event that sessions remain unstaffed after all applicants have been assigned to a session. Students can also elect to split a single stipend in order to "share" staffing for a session (allowing one student to attend presentations for part of the session, while their" partner" staffs the booth), or choose to donate their stipend to their school department, neuroscience club, etc.

SEND INFORMATION BY E-MAIL TO : Jean Hardwick at jhardwick@ithaca.edu

To be eligible, you need to be full member of FUN (sorry, no student members).

Please send your nominations to Mary Lou Caspers (casperml@udmercy.edu ) by SEPT. 1st. This is great opportunity to help determine the future of FUN!

What: This program is a weeklong workshop that includes individual consultation and group lectures/discussions on grantsmanship, writing, research design, and hypothesis generation. Participants will devote most of their time to developing their own proposals, assisted by senior NIH-funded mentors. With guided preparation before the conference, a completed NIH-competitive proposal is the goal for the week.

Who: Junior and mid-level faculty in any medical rehabilitation discipline who have either not submitted a grant application to or have not been successful in obtaining research funding from the NIH.

Selection: Thirty participants will be selected through a competitive application process. Applications accepted online at http://erris.med.virginia.edu/ beginning July 1, 2004.

Cost: The selection committee will award partial scholarships to all 30 participants who meet criteria. The scholarship will apply to hotel costs, all meals, training materials, and logistical support. Each participant will be charged a nominal fee of $500. Transportation costs and incidentals are the responsibility of the participant.

For additional information visit the ERRIS website at http://erris.med.virginia.edu/ or contact:

Workshop Flyer: http://erris.med.virginia.edu/news/pdf/2005WorkshopFlyer.pdf

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recognized Julio Ramirez, founding President of FUN, as one of eight persons to receive the Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars (DTS), the foundation's highest honor for teaching and research excellence.

"These scholars have a special distinction in that they influence entire academic cultures. They make students major participants in the process of discovery. They also promote activities that expand the education process beyond the boundaries of the university into local schools and communities," said NSF's acting director, Arden L. Bement, Jr. "They are true leaders in both the scientific and academic realms. Their pioneering research, already well recognized, is equaled, and sometimes surpassed, by a rare talent and commitment to communicate and teach knowledge."

To read more about this wonderful acknowledgement of Julio's many contributions, please go to the NSF website:
NSF Press Release (NSF PR 04-072) Awards Ceremony Program

It's still FUN to pay FUN dues!

Dear FUN Colleagues,

Some of you may have seen the IMPULSE poster at the Neuroscience meeting, or learned about the emerging journal from the undergraduate editorial team that was at the meeting talking about it. But for those who have not, here is why IMPULSE may be the right place to submit for you and your students:

If you have undergraduates doing research projects that would not otherwise be published, either because the results are negative (though the study was good), or because it is slightly too small a piece for a main stream journal, then IMPULSE is the place for those students to publish their work. Students have the chance to write up their work for submission and peer review, to receive comments from the international Review Board team (eight schools are represented, three countries), to go through the revision process, and then to see their work published online.

The journal is primarily intended for original research reports, but high quality literature reviews will also be considered. The journal is halfway there to having enough articles for a first posting, but the team is soliciting more submissions so that the journal can kick off with a bang.

Please visit the website for further information and submission guidelines:

http://impulse.schc.sc.edu

or contact the Editor, Matt Wilkinson (impulse@schc.sc.edu ) or myself if you have questions. Also, if you have students who might be interested in serving as Reviewers, please have them contact the Editor as well.

Thank you for considering making this online, international & inter-institutional journal, a truly peer reviewed journal, part of your undergraduates' research experience.

Your Fellow FUN Member and Undergraduate Research Booster,

Graduate Student / Post Doc Teaching Residency Survey - Please participate!

Please ask all graduate students and post-docs to complete this important survey!

The on-line survey is located at the following URL:

http://www.psych.westminster.edu/fun_survey/gradsurvey.html

The results of the Teaching Residency Survey have been compiled by Alan Gittis and are available for your review.

Travel fellowships available! Sponsored by National Institutes of Health

This conference provides faculty and administrators with the background and materials needed to establish or improve instruction in research ethics and in a broad range of professional skills, such effective communication, finding employment and funding, teaching and mentoring.

This year's keynote speaker is Kenneth Olden, (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences). Additional members of the faculty include Kathy Barker (author of At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator), Christine Brown (Director Science Outreach, Research!America), David Jensen (professional career counselor and contributor to Science Next Wave), Jeffrey Kahn (Director, University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics), Julio Ramirez (professor at Davidson College, an undergraduate institution), Darryl Stevens (University of California Riverside Career Center), and Craig Wilcox (Professor and former Chair of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh).

Details on the conference, as well as an application form, is available on our website at www.survival.pitt.edu/teach.html.Conference participants will receive an extensive set of lecture outlines, ethics cases, student handouts, readings, slides, and a comprehensive bibliography.