About Us
ASCEND
(Advancing STEM: Community Engagement through Neuroscience Discovery) is a four-year program, designed to showcase the promise and progress of brain science.
- Taps the energy and intellect of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral neuroscience trainees associated with FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute labs, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute, and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience to excite and inspire future neuroscientists currently in middle or high school
- Incorporates classroom and lab visits, hands-on and virtual reality demonstrations and the development of digital and web-based educational content
OUTCOMES
- Establishes long-term interactions among middle- and high-school students and practicing neuroscientists
- Cultivates students' fascination for scientific inquiry and raises their awareness of the remarkable approaches and discoveries driving modern neuroscience discovery
- Recruits pre-professional neuroscience trainees as they develop the skills needed both to lead independent careers and to reinforce their passions for STEM engagement activities
- Improves FAU's and its affiliates' ability to recruit and retain top young neuroscience trainees while enhancing exposure of youth to the questions, methods, and discoveries of brain research