On January 16 the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) hosted its second annual Brain Bee. The Brain Bee is a live Q&A competition that tests the neuroscience knowledge of high school students. Students compete for the chance to go to the National Brain Bee in Baltimore, Md. and possibly advance to the International Brain Bee in Copenhagen, Denmark.

NEOMED’s 2016 Brain Bee hosted 67 students from 34 different schools in Ohio, one school in New Jersey, and one school in Texas. NEOMED faculty members Jeff Wenstrup, Ph.D., Jeffery Mellott, Ph.D., Yong Lu, Ph.D., and Samuel Crish II, Ph.D., were judges at the competition. Faculty member Christine Crish, Ph.D., was the Brain Bee’s keynote speaker.

The NEOMED Brain Bee tested student’s neuroscience knowledge in multiple ways. Students had their lab skills tested and then went to on to take a written test. After breaking for lunch and listening to Dr. Crish’s presentation, the students participated in their final test, an oral competition.

Janvie Naik, a junior at Dublin High School in Dublin, Oh., was the winner of the competition and earned a spot in the Baltimore competition. Christopher Jones, a junior at the Bio-Med Science Academy, placed second, and his classmate Neha Shah, a sophomore, placed third in the event.