STATEMENTS from nominees running for FUN Office are listed below. (Nominations for President-elect, Treasurer, and Councilor were closed on September 1, 2004.) Responsibilities for each office are described in the FUN Bylaws. Current officers are listed on the FUN Officers and Committees page. Many thanks to Ron Bayline, Mike Kerchner, and Carol Ann Paul who have completed their terms as FUN councilors.

VOTER ELIGIBILITY AND BALLOT INFORMATION:

• Ballots will be accepted from all Regular FUN members who have submitted the on-line FUN information form . Information submitted via this form is the official source of FUN membership data. If you have not received voting information, please complete and submit the on-line FUN information form, or contact FUN Webmaster, Dr. Deborah Colbern , to confirm your e-mail information. (Sorry, student members are not eligible to vote - FUN Bylaws: Article III-Membership .) Ballots will be authenticated by matching the e-mail address on the ballot with the e-mail address listed on the previously submitted FUN information form.

Michael Kerchner - Nominee for President-elect
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
Washington College, Chestertown MD.
http://michael.kerchner.washcoll.edu

B.S. American International College, Springfield MA.
Ph.D. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.

For the past several years I have served as a FUN councilor. My role as councilor has had given me the opportunity to work with the executive officers in their attempt to address the issues of concern to the membership of FUN. This past year I had responsibility for organizing the Undergraduate Travel Award process. This was an exciting and rewarding challenge particularly because it took place during a year when we experienced a dramatic increase in the number of applications for travel funds.

As president of FUN, I will do my very best to insure the continued growth and success of FUN. I believe FUN should actively support the development of regional events such as the North East Under/Graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) so undergraduates and their faculty mentors may participate in workshops and scientific presentations. Such regional forums can be a vital means for establishing productive collaborations and mentoring junior colleagues. Additionally, Alan Gittis has been working very hard to establish a Neuroscience Teaching Residency network. FUN should accept an active role in this effort to insure its successful implementation. The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE) is another valuable asset for FUN member. As the costs associated with JUNE increase FUN must find creative ways to finance this resource.

The success of any organization rests with its membership. So, whether you choose to offer me your vote or not, I hope that you will step forward to assist FUN in whatever way you feel will benefit our organization.

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Gayle Brosnan-Watters - Nominee for Treasurer
Slippery Rock University, PA

Gayle Brosnan-Watters is currently serving as treasurer, and will serve again if elected. She is an assistant professor of psychology at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, where she is starting her third year, after being in California (the state, not the college in PA!) for three years previously. She teaches biological psychology and experimental psychology, and does research using a murine model.

Gayle has put a lot of energy into serving as treasurer, including trying to set up a bookkeeping system in addition to the Excel files that had served so well for so long. As FUN grows, the job of treasurer becomes more labor intensive, but Brosnan-Watters states that she feels privileged to be able to make this contribution to the teaching of undergraduate neuroscience. Her accomplishments include an effort to be more proactive in collecting dues from all 400 plus members, and investigating and finding a way to invest the monies received from The Grass Foundation at a higher interest rate than could be found at local banks. She has also made a concerted effort to keep checks deposited as quickly after receiving them as possible (something that is not easy given how busy all your volunteer officers are!). Brosnan-Watters states that she hopes to have the opportunity to serve the faculty of FUN for another term.

Shubhik DebBurman - Nominee for Councilor
Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, Illinois)

I am an Assistant Professor of Biology at Lake Forest College (Illinois), where I teach neuroscience, cell biology, and non-majors courses. I am originally from India and received my BA from Wittenberg University (Ohio). While studying neuronal signaling during my PhD at Northwestern, protein shape regulation began fascinating me. My postdoc at the University of Chicago involved chaperone influences on misfolded proteins.

Since beginning my faculty career, I have engaged sixteen undergraduates in collaborative research funded by NIH and NSF. All lab graduates are pursuing PhD, MD, or MD/PhDs. I believe that students of diverse backgrounds, when engaged in undergraduate research, will be skillfully trained to succeed in diverse scientific careers. I am deeply committed to their rigorous scientific training, integrating research with teaching, outreach, and service. I disseminate innovations and undergraduate research at national meetings and have published in CBE. I am implementing NSF-supported curricular innovations and helping my institution strengthen neuroscience focus.

As officer with Chicago SFN chapter, I annually organize an undergraduate symposium and I have thoroughly enjoyed leading more than 90 undergraduates to local and national meetings. I would be honored to dedicate time, energy, and resourcefulness to FUNs diverse national advocacy efforts in undergraduate research and education.

Website: http://www.lfc.edu/~debburman/home.html

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William Grisham
Councilor

My Ph.D. training at Bryn Mawr College focused on comparative aspects of psychology and neuroscience, and my current research on the neural basis of birdsong is the outgrowth of this training. I have been a member of FUN since about 1996, when I began teaching undergraduates on a full-time basis at UCLA. Presently, I teach 15 sections of lab courses a year at UCLA, serving nearly 300 students. I am committed to undergraduate neuroscience education and have received two teaching awards since starting at UCLA: one from the department of Psychology and one from the interdepartmental major in Neuroscience.

I have also consistently published with undergraduates as coauthors. I feel deeply indebted to FUN for helping to provide workshops on the teaching of neuroscience, which have provided me with hands-on experience in teaching new and exciting laboratory modules. I have published in the Journal for Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE), and I am grateful for the valuable ideas that I have gleaned from it. I would like to repay my debt of gratitude by serving FUN in any way that I can. In particular, I would like to further expand avenues of faculty development and exchange of ideas.

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My research focuses on the involvement of the mesolimbic system in higher order learning. I teach Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology, Research Problems, and Introductory Psychology at Morehead State University. Through research and teaching I introduce students to various topics in neuroscience.

Morehead State is an undergraduate institution located in Eastern Kentucky. Other than the courses I teach, no neuroscience-related courses are offered on the campus. The past three years here have been interesting. There has been a huge growth in students interest in neuroscience. The brain is catching on in Morehead.

Undergraduate students in our region would be greatly benefited if they had the opportunity to further broaden their view of neuroscience. I am applying for a councilor position to learn more about effective ways to involve students in neuroscience and to enhance their awareness of it.

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