The balloon will inflate at the corner of Decatur St SE and Piedmont Rd SE, just ½ block from the Georgia State University MARTA station. A free shuttle from the Georgia World Congress Center will be available from 3:30-7:00 pm.

We need your help to spread the word about the Brain Balloon. We also need volunteers to help out on site! Contact Kyle Frantz (mailto:kfrantz@gsu.edu ) for more information or to volunteer.

See you at the balloon,
Kyle Frantz

Friday, October 13, 2006, 8:30am – 8:30 pm
Saturday, October 14, 2006, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm
Ballroom E, Omni Hotel at the CNN Center, Atlanta, GA

http://www.survival.pitt.edu/events/workshops_society.asp

One and a half-day workshop on issues of professional development and research ethics for undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and researchers in industry. Modular workshop schedules allow participants to customize the day.

Topics include:

- Job hunting skills
- Preparing CVs, résumés and cover letters
- Applying to graduate school
- Finding a postdoctoral position
- Grant writing
- Management skills
- Tips for attending professional meetings
- Discussing ethics cases

Keynote Speaker: Huda Akil, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan and Past President, Society for Neuroscience.

For the detailed workshop schedule and a registration form, see http://www.survival.pitt.edu/events/workshops_society.asp , or call 412-578-3716.

Registration:
Day 1—$35 in advance, $45 at the door
Day 2—$20 in advance, $30 at the door
Fee includes workshop materials and refreshments

Organizers: Survival Skills and Ethics Program, University of Pittsburgh

FUN faculty who will be attending the SfN meeting in Atlanta are encouraged to volunteer to help staff the FUN Booth. It is an excellent opportunity to become more involved in our organization and promote FUN's mission.

For students, FUN is very pleased to offer an additional program to supporting undergraduate student attendance at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting. Undergraduate students attending the meeting can apply to receive a $50 stipend for staffing our FUN booth at the meeting, for the duration of a morning or afternoon session. Students can get earn money to help offset the cost of attending the meeting by helping out FUN-- answering questions, distributing our brochures and selling FUN merchandise!

FUN faculty, if you have an undergraduate who is attending the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Atlanta GA, 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 only $35 . . . money well spent! We will also need faculty volunteers to help staff the booth. Do you have an afternoon or morning free to help out? Perhaps you'd like to volunteer during your student's shift? This is your chance to help FUN raise money and recruit new members. We need your help!

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (simple!):

Send an email to Mike Kerchner (mkerchner2@washcoll.edu ) ASAP with the
following information:

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 application, 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.

APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL ALL SESSIONS ARE STAFFED.

Any questions? E-mail Michael Kerchner at mkerchner2@washcoll.edu ,
President, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience

FACULTY-- Please advise your students about this opportunity!

Poster abstracts for the 2006 FUN Undergraduate Poster Session/Social, to be held during the SFN annual meeting on Monday evening, October 16, 6:30-8:30 pm, in room B206 in the Georgia World Congress Convention Center, must be submitted no later than Friday, September 29th.

As in the past, any undergraduates who will be presenting posters at the SFN poster sessions, and any undergraduates who will be attending the meeting and have a poster to present that is not included in the SFN meeting are welcome to present their work at this session. Due to space limitations, we are limiting the number of poster boards to one board per dues-paying member. If you have an individual membership as a faculty member , you can reserve one poster board for undergraduate posters from your lab or institution. If your college or university is an Organizational member , one additional poster board can be reserved by the organizational representative. All posters must be sponsored by a dues-paying faculty member and more than one poster can be displayed on one poster board if desired.

HINT: If you did not receive the link to the FUN ballot via e-mail, you probably are not eligible to reserve a poster board. Please check with Dr. Gayle Brosnan-Watters mailto:gayle.brosnanwatters@sru.edu , to confirm your dues status, and/or contact the FUN Webmaster, Dr. Deborah Colbern mailto:funfaculty@comcast.net , to confirm your e-mail information.

To present at the FUN Undergraduate Research Poster Session, students must email one copy of their abstract and a short letter of support from a sponsoring FUN faculty member or designated Organizational Representative no later than September 29th to Dr. Jean Hardwick at mailto:jhardwick@ithaca.edu or by regular mail to the address below. (Email submissions are preferred.)

See you in Atlanta!

Jean C. Hardwick, Ph.D., Poster Session Chair
Past-President, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
Department of Biology
Ithaca College
953 Danby Road, Ithaca NY, 14850
Office: 607-274-3213, Fax: 607-274-1131
mailto:jhardwick@ithaca.edu

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, and 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.

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 complied 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, and 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. Additional letters or other materials in support of the nomination are welcome, but not a requirement for consideration.

Send your nominations electronically, no later than Sept. 8, 2006, to:

Jean Hardwick, Ph.D.
Chair, FUN Faculty Awards Committee
jhardwick@ithaca.edu

All awards are presented at the FUN Social during the annual SFN meeting. Additional questions? Direct them toward Jean Hardwick jhardwick@ithaca.edu or Mike Kerchner mkerchner2@washcoll.edu

Jean C. Hardwick Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Ithaca College
953 Danby Road Ithaca NY, 14850
Office: 607-274-3213, Fax: 607-274-1131

A special issue of "Cell Biology Education–Life Sciences Education" (CBE-LSE), entitled, "Issues in Neuroscience Education: Making Connections," has been published online as the Summer 2006 issue of the journal. This issue includes invited contributions from organizational stakeholders in neuroscience education, including the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience and the Society for Neuroscience. In addition, our regular feature writers have highlighted resources specific to neuroscience education in "WWW.Cell Biology Education" and "Video Views and Reviews," and we have book reviews that give insights into teaching neuroscience to elementary-age students, understanding the brain-based learning movement, and connecting neuroscience and how people learn. The op-ed "Points of View" feature tackles the unique role of neuroscience as a branch of biology that encompasses the study of brain mechanisms of learning by asking the question: "What are the current and future implications of neuroscience research, if any, for how to improve K-25+ science teaching and learning in schools and universities?" Finally, the seven research articles included present assessment evidence on innovations in the teaching of neuroscience that range from elementary school to graduate school and integrate online, literature-based, partnership, and laboratory research approaches.

I encourage you to visit the CBE-LSE website, http://www.lifescied.org , to view the special issue. We hope you enjoy this concentrated exploration of issues in neuroscience education, and we welcome your feedback and suggestions on future special issues of CBE-LSE.

Best regards,
Kimberly D. Tanner <kdtanner@sfsu.edu >
Issue Editor
cbe@ascb.org

Call for Papers & Reviewers: The Brain, Neurosciences, and Education Special Interest Group / American Educational Research Association (AERA) Meeting.

The Brain, Neurosciences, and Education Special Interest Group (SIG) is requesting proposals for papers to be presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Chicago, April 9th to 13th. Possible topics include brain imaging studies with implications for educational research and practice, reviews of neuroscience research, and position papers advocating or opposing the application of neuroscience in education. The submission deadline is August 2, 2006.

Proposals must be sponsored by an AERA member, but authors need not be members. All proposals are reviewed and if accepted can be presented as either a paper or poster. Guidelines, requirements, and submission instructions are available on the Annual Meeting page at the AERA website: http://www.aera.net/annualmeeting/?id=282

Additional information about the SIG and submission details can be found on our website: http://www.umn.edu/~athe0007/BNEsig

Please send questions or comments to:

Michael Atherton <athe0007@umn.edu >
President
Brain, Neurosciences, and Education SIG
American Educational Research Association

Do you know someone who would be a great leader for FUN? Are you looking for a way to get more involved in FUN's activities? Now is your opportunity to nominate yourself, or someone else, for a position on FUN's executive committee. We need nominations for the following positions:

- President-Elect (1 year term; take over as President the following year)
- Treasurer (2 year term)
- Councilors (3 openings, 2 year term)

To be eligible, you need to be full member of FUN (sorry, no student members). Upon your nomination, we will ask you for a short biosketch and a photo from which we can capture a "head shot" (e.g., see previous ballot .) Voting will take place prior to the SfN Meeting in Atlanta, GA.

JUNE (Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education) encourages submissions of articles, editorials, essays, and reviews. Manuscripts describing effective laboratory exercises are particularly encouraged. Pedagogical articles, editorials and reviews of books, equipment, or media are also welcomed.

The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) is very interested in assessing the interests of our university faculties in advancing neurochemistry (i.e., molecular and cellular biochemistry of the nervous system) education at the undergraduate level. In addition, if there is such an interest in undergraduate neurochemistry education, we wish to learn (a) what programs are available, (b) what texts are currently being used, (c) whether a need for an appropriate neurochemistry text exists, and (d) what you would like to see covered in a neurochemistry text suitable for your existing or desired undergraduate program or course.

For these purposes, we are surveying the membership of Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) and other undergraduate neuroscience-related faculties that we can identify.

We know your time is valuable. We hope the information provided will be quite useful and greatly appreciated by other neuroscience educators. The data obtained will be collated and available to you through FUN.

Please click the URL below or paste it into your browser to proceed to the on-line questionnaire.

http://remark.washcoll.edu/cgi-bin/rws3.pl?FORM=FUN_Survey

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Sincerely,

George J. Siegel, MD
Emeritus Professor, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

For the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience:

President: Michael Kerchner, PhD
Department of Psychology, Washington College

Secretary: Mary Lou Caspers, PhD
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Detroit Mercy

The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) has been developing a formal proposal for the establishment of a national honor society in neuroscience, Nu Rho Psi. This work has resulted in a set of documents (Constitution , Chapter Bylaws , Chapter Application Procedure , and Induction Ritual ), that have been posted for review and comment since late last year (see FUN announcements and FUN Blog ).

The FUN Executive Committee is now seeking approval for the establishment of Nu Rho Psi, according to the Constitution & Bylaws as currently proposed. Furthermore, we are seeking approval for one of two designs proposed for the Nu Rho Psi insignia.

• CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS (.pdf version ) (Word version )
• CHOICE OF INSIGNIAS (.pdf version ) (Word version )

ORGANIZERS: Robert W. Williams (past-president IBANGS), and Elissa Chesler (Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Labs)

REGISTRATION: Enrollment is limited to a total of 30 participants. http://www.ibangs.org/portal/index.php?option=com_artforms&formid=2

For those of you coming to either the IBANGS meeting (International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society) in Vancouver, British Columbia <http://www.ibangs.org/ > and/or the IBNS (International Behavioral Neuroscience Society) meeting in Whistler <http://www.ibnshomepage.org/ >, we are offering an inexpensive, full day, SHORT COURSE ON THE GENETIC ANALYSIS AND GENE MAPPING OF BEHAVIORAL AND NEUROANATOMICAL DATA IN MICE. This computer-intense, hands-on, web-based, short course will be held on the University of British Columbia campus on May 23, from 8:30AM to 5:00PM. Since IBANGS ends on May 22 and IBNS begins on May 24, this course is intended to be available to anyone with one day of wiggle in their schedules.

SPONSORED BY: The Human Brain Project & IBANGS

INTENDED AUDIENCE : Members of IBANGS and IBNS, graduates, postdocs, advanced undergraduates interested in neurogenetics and the genetics of behavior; graduate students in genetics, molecular biology, and neuroscience.

SUMMARY: This course will introduce you to novel web resources and analysis tools that can be exploited to study complex biological systems from the level of single molecules to large scale traits such as behavior. There will be extensive use by each participant of internet resources. Computers will be provided to all participants.

COST: $100 Canadian; $90 US dollars (for the entire day). Cost covers breakfast, break snacks, and beverages.

COURSE SCHEDULE:

08:30AM - 10:00AM Introduction to systems genetics
10:15AM - 11:30AM Novel web resources for systems and behavioral analysis
11:30AM - 12:15PM Lunch
12:20PM - 02:20PM Tools for the analysis of complex behavioral traits and multiscale systems
02:40PM - 04:00PM Worked examples of network analysis using http://www.genenetwork.org and other resources
04:00PM - 04:30PM Future directions; question-and-answer session

CONTACT: Pam Franklin (pfranklin@utmem.edu ) for enrollment information and Rob Williams (rwilliam@nb.utmem.edu ) for other questions

Robert W. Williams, Ph.D.
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Dunavant Chair: Developmental Genetics, Department of Pediatrics
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
855 Monroe Avenue,Memphis TN 38163

*Sponsored by Bowdoin College, NSF DUE-0231019 and Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience

WHEN: July 28-30 2006
WHERE: Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME

FOR: Neuroscience Faculty who would like to bring electrophysiology into the classroom (limit 12 participants)

SESSIONS:
Introduction to electrophysiology equipment
Extracellular recording (crayfish and maggots)
Intracellular recording (crayfish, snails)
Where to purchase equipment and costs

FACULTY:
Patsy Dickinson (Bowdoin College)
Steve Hauptman (Bowdoin College)
Bruce Johnson (Cornell University)
Carol Ann Paul (Wellesley College)

REGISTRATION FEE: $350/person (which includes housing, meals and workshop materials. Participants or their institutions pay the cost of travel and lodging.)

Register by May 15, 2006 via email to Carol Ann Paul mailto:cpaul@wellesley.edu

We are very pleased to announce that TRAVEL STIPENDS are available this year for FIVE students or postdoctoral fellows who will be attending the FASDSG meeting. Each stipend will be in the amount of $1240. Stipends will be distributed at the time of the meeting and should be used to reimburse meeting-related expenses.

Those who wish to apply for a travel stipend are also expected to submit an abstract for a FASt data presentation. To allow processing time, the FASt data abstract receipt deadline for stipend applicants is APRIL 28, 2006.

As in the past, at the meeting, we will also recognize one undergraduate student, medical student, graduate student or postdoctoral fellow for outstanding research in the field of alcohol-induced teratology. This individual will be selected by the FASDSG officers, and asked to present his or her work as a 12-minute talk. The recipient of this MERIT AWARD will be among the five receiving travel stipends.

To apply for a TRAVEL STIPEND, please submit a cover letter, the nominee's curriculum vitae, one letter of nomination (preferably from the nominee's mentor), and a FASt data abstract. To also be considered for the MERIT AWARD, indicate this in the cover letter and include one additional letter of nomination and available publication reprints.

If you wish to nominate a student or postdoctoral fellow for the merit award and/or a travel stipend, send nomination materials to Heather Carmichael Olson at the address below via email or conventional mail. All materials should be received by April 28, 2006. Awardees will be notified by May 10, 2006.

2006 FUN STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD APPLICATIONS ARE DUE MAY 17.

The WCBSUR Conference is affordable ($25 registration fee) and provides an excellent venue for undergraduate researchers in biology and biochemistry to enjoy an authentic, intercollegiate science conference experience. All necessary details regarding participation in the Conference can be obtained by accessing the Conference homepage below:

http://www.ptloma.edu/Biology/WCBSURC06/index.htm

Please contact Michael McConnell at mmcconne@ptloma.edu if you have further questions.

REGISTRATION is now open for the 8th Annual Meeting of the International
Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS), which will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 19-22, 2006. The conference will be held
on the beautiful campus of the University of British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Vancouver is a beautiful cosmopolitan city with an International Airport with direct flights from most centers in North America, Europe and the Far East. The conference will consist of three days of sessions, including symposia, posters and plenary lectures delivered by invited experts in the fields of genetics, neurobiology and behavioural research. IBANGS annual meetings provide an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest advances in the rapidly developing field of neurobehavioural genetics! In addition, the relaxed atmosphere of the meeting site and the social programs, including an opening reception at the University Centre and a closing banquet in the Sage Bistro, will provide ample opportunities for participants to interact with each other. The Plenary speakers for 2006 are:
Dr. Susumu Tonegawa, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA
Dr. Douglas Wahlsten, University of Windsor, CANADA
Dr. Andrew Holmes, NIAAA, NIH, USA

The Program Committee also invites IBANGS members and non-members to submit abstracts (due February 17, 2006) and proposals for symposia (due January 20, 2006!) to be presented at the meeting. For further information and details and links to registration, symposia proposals, abstract submission, and travel awards, please visit the website http://www.ibangs.org/ .

http://www.cofc.edu/synapse

Keynote Speaker: Ron Hoy (HHMI Professor, Cornell University)- " Hearing on the Fly: Basic to Translational Research in Auditory Neuroscience."

SYNAPSE is a one-day regional undergraduate neuroscience conference that was inspired by NEURON in the Northeast. A very successful first SYNAPSE meeting at James Madison University demonstrated interest and demand for this regional undergraduate neuroscience symposium. SYNAPSE provides opportunities for students to present their research results and obtain feedback from neuroscientists at other institutions via poster presentations, discuss important issues in neuroscience training via workshops and discussions, learn about cutting-edge research via a keynote speaker, and make connections with other neuroscientists in the region. Detailed information on registration, abstract submission, schedule, travel, etc. is available at www.cofc.edu/synapse .