The Stiles-Nicholson Foundation recently gifted $85,000 to Florida Atlantic University’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute (SNBI), providing essential funding to sustain and expand the ASCEND (Advancing STEM-community Engagement through Neuroscience Discovery) initiative – an innovative neuroscience education program focused on engaging middle school students across South Florida.
Launched to ignite interest about the brain and promote STEM career pathways, ASCEND delivers immersive, hands-on neuroscience learning experiences during a critical time in a student’s development. Through classroom visits, field trips to the SNBI, traveling neuroscience vans, and interactive lessons led by FAU scientists, ASCEND makes cutting-edge brain research accessible, exciting and relevant for early adolescents especially those in underresourced schools.
With philanthropic backing, ASCEND has grown rapidly – expanding from a local pilot program into a county-wide initiative that has reached more than 10,000 students to date. The Foundation’s most recent gift will help support the critical personnel and educational tools that drive ASCEND’s programming year-round. This includes classroom visits, field trips to SNBI, neuroscience summer camps, and a suite of multimedia educational content – all designed and delivered by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty to show how basic brain research connects to the real world.
“The continued support of the Stiles- Nicholson Foundation helps ensure that we can keep ASCEND moving forward — reaching new students, expanding to additional schools and deepening our impact in communities across the region,” said Nicole Baganz, Ph.D., director of ASCEND and community engagement and programming at the SNBI. “Together, we’re shaping the next generation of brain scientists.”