With electrodes placed on his skull, Giovanni Dennis listened to instructions given by Madeline C. Fields, MD. “Blink your eyes really fast. Close your eyes,” she said, as she pointed out how the different movements and activities appear on the EEG. Said Giovanni about the experience: “I got to see my brain waves. It was amazing and very cool.”
He was one of the more than 500 elementary, middle, and high school students who participated in the popular annual event. The activities were hosted by Mentoring in Neuroscience Discovery at Sinai (MiNDS), The Friedman Brain Institute (FBI), and the Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE). It takes place during the Dana Foundation’s International Brain Awareness Week, a campaign to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science.
“What an impressive group,” said Dr. Fields, Professor of Neurology and Co-Director of the Mount Sinai Epilepsy Center. “When asked, ‘Does anyone want to see their brain waves?’ nearly all hands went up. Every learner who passed by our EEG station wanted to either be connected, do the connecting, or interpret the waves. The students knew more about seizures than one might expect, some even having had one themselves, and speaking openly and courageously about their experience.”
Learning about EEGs and brain waves with Madeline C. Fields, MD, left.
Fedor (Ted) Panov, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Adult Epilepsy Surgery, demonstrated a 3D robotic platform that assists surgeons in planning and performing complex neurosurgical procedures. “The students had lots of poignant questions about the procedures and the preparations that we do to keep the surgeries safe and effective,” he said. “Some were fascinated with the robotics and asked detailed questions. It was great to see their eyes light up with interest.”
Elsa Rosario, who teaches sixth and seventh grade science at Rachel Carson I.S. 237 in Flushing, Queens, brought her students. Ms. Rosario gained hands-on research experience interning in the laboratory of Joel Blanchard, PhD, at Mount Sinai in 2024 as part of a Summer Research Program for Science Teachers. She will return to Mount Sinai this summer to complete the second year of her internship. (See related story.)
Teacher Elsa Rosario, front row, second from left, with her visiting students from Rachel Carson I.S. 237 and Andrea Perez Arevalo, PhD, left, a postdoctoral fellow who mentored Ms. Rosario at Mount Sinai.
“My students talked about the Brain Fair all week after attending. They appreciated the opportunity to talk to real experts about the brain in an interactive way,” said Ms. Rosario. “It was also a good opportunity for them to see how the science concepts and skills we learned about the brain in class can be applied to real life scenarios.”
Said student Alana Bhanji after the event, “I loved how it was so hands-on, and I learned many things about the brain, like how our noses assist our mouths in tasting. The jelly bean station was my absolute favorite one. Someone gave me a jelly bean to taste, and I learned that when I plugged my nose and then tasted a jelly bean I couldn't really taste it, but then I was able to identify it after unplugging my nose.” Student Janice Lin said, “I didn’t know a human brain weighs three pounds.”
Added Ms. Rosario: “I am also very thankful for the opportunity to have participated at Mount Sinai’s Summer Research Program for Science Teachers because that helped me learn a lot of the science skills my students have now gained and were able to observe at the fair.”Guggenheim Pavilion was filled with 34 interactive and resource booths. Students could see a neuron under a microscope, compare brain specimens from different animals, test their hand-eye coordination, and much more, including a “Meet the Experts” area where rotating faculty answered questions.
Muhammad Parvaz, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, and Neuroscience got this question: “What’s a typical day like for a neuroscientist?” Dr. Parvaz’s lab uses behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging techniques to study cognitive-affective interactions underlying deficits in motivation, reinforcement learning, and inhibitory control in mental health disorders, specifically in substance use disorders.
“I speak to trainees in my lab about their experiments, answer their questions, and learn more about their findings. I then go back to my office to read research papers, write papers on our research, and prepare research presentations,” he said. “Maybe you want to be a neuroscientist?” he asked them.
MiNDS team, from left: Neuroscience PhD students Rachel Fisher-Foye and Christabel Mclain; Natalia Biscola, PhD; Denise Croote, PhD; and Neuroscience PhD student Emma Hays.
CEYE team, front row, from left: Denise Croote, PhD; Alejandra Ramirez, MPH; Tasmiah Akhter; and Kenya Townsend; back row, from left: Alexander Joseph, MA; Jack Vincent, and Hossein Aleyasin, MD, PhD.
A robust team of 60 Mount Sinai volunteers hosted booths and interacted with the curious crowds.
Said CEYE Director Kenya Townsend: “The entire CEYE team is happy to have celebrated our 13th Annual Brain Fair along with our students, school partners, faculty, staff, and community members as we continue this tradition as an educational component of the existing CEYE programming portfolio.”
Denise Croote, PhD, is Director of MiNDS, an instructor at CEYE, and Assistant Professor of Neuroscience. "The Brain Fair is designed to cultivate meaningful connections between the biomedical research community and New York City public school students,” she said. “Our goal is for this event to provide scientists with a unique opportunity to refine their science communication skills while simultaneously inspiring young minds to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
Having fun learning about the different parts of the human brain.
Learning how Mount Sinai's neurosurgeons use a 3D virtual simulator to help them perform brain surgery.
Examining and comparing brain specimens from different animals.
Other popular activities during Brain Awareness included:
The Art of the Brain exhibition
Inspired by research at the FBI, this exhibition, created and curated by Veronica Szarejko, Director of the Art of the Brain, is a collection of photographs, illustrations, sculptures, and videos that celebrates the beauty of the brain as seen through the eyes of some of the Mount Sinai’s leading researchers.
A virtual, museum-style gallery of the Art of the Brain exhibition.
The exhibition is a unique platform through which researchers can display creative visual expressions of their work and connect complex scientific concepts to a wider audience. This year's exhibition, which was on display for the public for two weeks, included artwork by faculty, trainees, staff, and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai students representing 13 departments and institutes.
Also in March, high school students from the Academy for Health Careers were invited to Mount Sinaifor a guided tour of the in-person exhibition, given by MiNDS Co-Presidents Natalia Biscola, PhD, and Emma Hays, a Neuroscience PhD student, who led discussions about the complex brain disorders that the artwork depicted. The event also included presentations by Dr. Croote, Ms. Hays, and Neuroscience PhD student Aleta Murphy about their research and the role of art in science and medicine—and a discussion by medical illustrator Jill K. Gregory, MFA, who shared her work and spoke about careers in medical illustration.
Stories of the Brain and Beyond
This science-themed story-telling event, held at Caveat in New York City, was coordinated by the FBI and The Story Collider and hosted by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty Aya Osman, PhD; Abha Rajbhandari, PhD; and Paula Croxson, PhD.
Mount Sinai attendees at the "Stories of the Brain and Beyond" event at Caveat.
Taking the stage were Mount Sinai storytellers Abby Fogarty, a clinical research coordinator for a psychosis risk lab; Pablo Knobel, PhD, an environmental epidemiologist, data scientist, and postdoctoral fellow; Akhil Kumar, a computational biologist and associate researcher; and Darielle Lewis-Sanders, MS, a second-year PhD neuroscience student at Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Performing before a live audience after completing a six-week workshop, they shared compelling and true personal stories.
For those who attended the Brain Fair, the experience endures, and perhaps Zahava Kahn, a student at the High School for Math, Science and Engineering, expressed the sentiment of many. She had stopped by the Neuropathology Brain Bank and Research CoRE booth, looking at three human brain specimens on display—a brain with Parkinson’s disease, a healthy brain, and one with Alzheimer’s disease, and seeing the differences. “It’s cool you guys set this up so you can teach students about the brain,” she said.