/sent on behalf of Dr. Sari Hannila

Hello everyone,

Best wishes to all of you for a happy and productive 2018!  You will be hearing about our upcoming outreach events for Brain Awareness Week over the next several weeks, but today I am writing to ask for your help with an event that will be happening slightly later in the year.

Last year at the MNN meeting, I was approached by one of the leaders of Let's Talk Science - a student-run science outreach organization based at the U of M Fort Garry campus.  Every year they host a science career day for high school students that focuses on a particular field.  This year, they want to feature neuroscience and I'm excited to announced that we will be hosting "Neurotalks" at the U of M Bannatyne campus on Thursday, May 3rd!

As part of this event, we will be hosting hands-on workshops for the students, and I am looking for volunteers to lead 4 different neuroscience-themed workshops that afternoon.  The workshops can be led by individuals or by a group.  Grad students and postdocs, you can lead these workshops if you wish!  Just be sure to speak with your supervisor first - especially if you will be using your lab space, equipment, or materials.  Here are the details and guidelines:

1.  The workshops will be held from roughly 12-3 pm on May 3rd.  The students will rotate through each workshop over the course of the afternoon, so you will repeat your activity four times.

2.  Each workshop session should be approximately 30 minutes in length.

3.  We anticipate that there will be 20-25 students in each group (max).

4.  You are responsible for providing all of the materials required for your workshop.

5.  Regarding the content, it can be anything you want!  Just ensure that the content is appropriate for high school students.  Workshops focusing on clinical subjects are most welcome!

6.  A qualifier to the statement above:  no live animals and no blood.  If you want to use prepared tissues or cells, that's absolutely fine.  I'm sure the students would enjoy recording from patch-clamped neurons!

7.  Try to make the workshop as interactive and hands-on as possible.

I'm sending this message now because if you are thinking of developing a workshop, you can pilot it during the Winnipeg Brain Bee in March.  We would love to have some new activities for the Brain Bee this year!  For those of you who have done workshops for Health Sciences Discovery Day, you are very welcome to modify those workshops for Neurotalks.

Please send me the title and description of your workshop at your earliest convenience, along with a list of the members of your group (if applicable).  There is no firm deadline, but if you would like to hold a pilot workshop during the Brain Bee, your plans should be in place by mid-February.  Thank you all for your participation.  Let's make this a memorable day for these students!

Best wishes, Sari

Sari S. Hannila, PhD

Director of Outreach, Manitoba Neuroscience Network

Sari S. Hannila, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science

Associate Member, Spinal Cord Research Centre

Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Manitoba

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