Brainy Days

Brainy Days celebrates neuroscience with events throughout the month of March to educate and engage the community about the benefits of brain research.

Every year, the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute hosts "Brainy Days" during the month of March. It is celebration of neuroscience that features free community lectures hosted by many of our researchers and community partners that are committed to promoting brain wellness and reducing the stigma associated with brain disorders.

“Brainy Days” exemplifies Florida Atlantic’s commitment to providing the community with the knowledge needed to maintain brain health and lower one’s risk for brain diseases. Our scientists are committed to conducting world-class research, developing cutting-edge technologies, and training the next generation of neuroscientists.

Dates	Event	Speaker/Host	Location
Dates Mon., March 3 Lectures 5-6:30 p.m. VIP Donor Reception 6:30-7:30	Event The Power of the Arts and Science for Resiliency in Aging	Speaker/Host Mind, Music, Movement Foundation	Location Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Florida Atlantic University
Dates Mon., March 10 Doors open 7 p.m. Lecture 7:30-8:30 p.m. reception 8:30-9 p.m.	Event Origins and Treatments of Alzheimer's Disease	Speaker/Host Professor Sir John Hardy, Ph.D., MD(Hons), DSc AEu FMedSci FRS, Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology Hosted by Corinne Lasmezas, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Location Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Florida Atlantic MacArthur Campus, Jupiter
Dates Wed., March 12 - Thursday March 13	Event MindFest 2025	Speaker/Host Florida Atlantic University Center for the Future Mind	Location Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Campus
Dates Sat., March 15 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.	Event BrainSparks!	Speaker/Host NeuroSquad In partnership with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute	Location Cox Science Center and Aquarium 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach
Dates Tue., March 18 Lecture 6-7 p.m. Reception 7-8 p.m.	Event Pain in the Brain: A Drink a Day Could Bring More than You Bargain	Speaker/Host Michael D. Burton, Ph.D., Eugene McDermott Distinguished Professor, Associate professor Department of Neuroscience University of Texas Dallas, Center for Advanced Pain Studies founding member Host Ning Quan, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Location Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Florida Atlantic MacArthur Campus, Jupiter
Dates Wed., March 26 Lecture 6-7 p.m. reception and book signing 7-8 p.m.	Event Your Brain on God: Insights from Functional Brain Imaging Studies	Speaker/Host Andrew B. Newberg, MD, R MRI Medical Director Division of Research Florida Atlantic University Host Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Location Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach, 411 Clematis St, West Palm Beach

Brainy Days 2024

Dates	Event	Speaker/Host	Zoom Recording
Dates Thursday, March 7	Event Gut Feelings - The Gut Microbiome as a Key Regulator of Brain Health Across the Lifespan	Speaker/Host John Cryan, Ph.D., Professor and Chair Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Ireland Hosted by Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Zoom Recording
Dates Tuesday, March 12	Event Well-being is a Skill	Speaker/Host Richard Davidson, Ph.D., William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Founder and Chief Visionary for Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. Hosted by Nicole Baganz, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Zoom Recording
Dates March 16, 1 – 5 p.m. March 18, 5 – 8 p.m. March 19, 5 – 8 p.m.	Event INSIGHTS at the Institute Creativity and the Bipolar Brain Art Exhibition	Speaker/Host Presented by the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation, Palm Health Foundation and the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Hosted by Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Zoom Recording
Dates Saturday, March 16	Event BrainSparks! Hands-on brain fun	Speaker/Host NeuroSquad In partnership with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute	Zoom Recording
Dates Thursday, March 21	Event Art, Architecture, and Human Well-being Cocktail hour, lecture and book signing/reception to follow	Speaker/Host Anjan Chatterjee, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics Hosted by Nicole Baganz, Ph.D., Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute	Zoom Recording
Dates Saturday, March 23	Event Rhythms of the Brain	Speaker/Host NeuroArts symposium presented by Mind, Music, Movement Foundation	Zoom Recording
Dates Friday, March 29	Event Neural Nexus: Fusing Science, Art, and Creativity	Speaker/Host Greg Dunn, Ph.D., Mixed Media Neuroscience Artist Suzanne Nalbantian, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Scholar and Author in Humanities and Neuroscience Hosted by Robert W. Stackman, Ph.D. and Bethany Stanhope, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University	Zoom Recording

Brainy Days 2023

FOR THE PUBLIC

Dates	Event	Speaker or Host	Zoom Recording
Dates March 2	Event Autism Research, Education and Service: Moving the Needle — Right Now, Right Here!	Speaker or Host Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Damon Page, Ph.D., Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology Erin Brooker Lozott, EdD, BCBA-D, CCC-SLP, Els for Autism Foundation® Kelley C. Bastien, MSW, Florida Atlantic Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD)	Zoom Recording
Dates March 5	Event Autism Speaks Walk	Speaker or Host NeuroSquad In partnership with Florida Atlantic Center for Autism and Related Disabilities	Zoom Recording
Dates March 17	Event Reality+: Virtual Reality and the Puzzling Nature of Existence	Speaker or Host David Chalmers, Ph.D., Departments of Philosophy and Neural Science, NYU Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness	Zoom Recording
Dates March 18	Event *The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Lecture, reception and book signing	Speaker or Host Sy Montgomery, Naturalist and Author	Zoom Recording
Dates March 25	Event BrainBlitz! Hands on Brain Fun	Speaker or Host NeuroSquad In partnership with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium	Zoom Recording
Dates March 27	Event When Science Links with the Arts: Research and Alternative Therapies for Parkinson’s and other Neurodegenerative Diseases	Speaker or Host Beth Elgort, CSW, Mind, Music and Movement Foundation Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Julie Pilitsis, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, Florida Atlantic College of Medicine Henriette van Praag, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Voices of Parkinson's Chorus, Movement, Dance and Meditation	Zoom Recording

Note: All programs free and open to the public except for the March 17 lecture by David Chalmers
* Offered In conjunction with MindFest: Grand Opening of the Center for the Future Mind

Program Sponsor:

Event Sponsors:

Learn more: BI-outreach@fau.edu

Brainy Days 2022

Brainy Days—A Celebration of Neuroscience 2022

FOR THE PUBLIC

Dates	Event	Speaker or Host	Zoom link
Dates February 28	Event “Never Enough: Personal and research experiences of drug addiction”	Speaker or Host Judith Grisel, Ph.D.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 6	Event Autism Speaks Walk	Speaker or Host NeuroSquad	Zoom link
Dates March 15	Event “Gifts of the Crow”	Speaker or Host John Marzluff, Ph.D.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 19	Event Brain Blitz! (Neuroscience fun for kids)	Speaker or Host NeuroSquad	Zoom link
Dates March 23	Event "COVID – In It for the Long Haul? How Immune Responses Impact the Brain and Mind”	Speaker or Host Ning Quan, Ph.D.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 25	Event Diversity in Science Festival	Speaker or Host NeuroSquad and NSO	Zoom link
Dates March 31	Event “The Past, Present, and Future of Alzheimer’s Prevention”	Speaker or Host Richard Isaacson, M.D.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording

Program Sponsor:

Event Sponsors:

Brainy Days 2021

Brainy Days—A Celebration of Neuroscience 2021

FOR THE PUBLIC

Dates	Event	Speaker or Host	Zoom link
Dates March 2	Event How Dogs Love Us: Insights from Brain Imaging	Speaker or Host Gregory Berns, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychology Emory University. Hosted by Cheryl A. Krause-Parello, Ph.D., R.N., professor, Florida Atlantic Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, and director of Canines Providing Assistance to Wounded Warriors® (C-P.A.W.W.).	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 4	Event Brains, Minds, and Aliens: The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence and its Relevance to Brain Science	Speaker or Host Jill Tarter, Ph.D. Emeritus Chair for SETI Research, SETI Institute, Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D., Co-Director, Florida Atlantic Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics Lab, hosted by Susan Schneider, Ph.D.. Professor of Philosophy and Director, Florida Atlantic Center for the Future Mind.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 9	Event New Insights into Mechanisms and Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease	Speaker or Host Allan Levey, Ph.D., chair, Department of Neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Research Center, Emory University. Sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Jupiter.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 11	Event Brains on Trial: What Brain Science Tells Us About the Origins and Limits of Responsibility	Speaker or Host BJ Casey, Ph.D., director, Fundamentals of the Adolescent Brain Lab, Yale University; Josh Buckholtz, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University; Carey Haughwout, public defender, Palm Beach County, Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, presiding county court judge, Misdemeanor Mental Health Court, 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County. Hosted by Wendy Guastaferro, Ph.D., interim director and associate professor, Florida Atlantic School of of Criminology and Criminal Justice.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 19	Event The Mighty Worm: Nobel Prize Powerhouse for the Study of Neurodegenerative Disease	Speaker or Host Randy Blakely, Ph.D., professor, Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and executive director, Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, Peter Rodriguez, graduate student, Florida Atlantic’s Integrative Biology Ph.D. program. Hosted by Becky Mercer, Ph.D.,  associate dean, Academic Affairs, Palm Beach State College.	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 23	Event Brain Gains for Mental Illness: Progress for Science and Society	Speaker or Host Audrey Gruss, founder and chairman, Hope for Depression Research Foundation, Susan G. Amara, Ph.D., scientific director, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording
Dates March 27	Event Brain Blitz: Neuroscience Fun for Kids	Speaker or Host Hosted by the ASCEND Program at Florida Atlantic and South Florida Science Center	Zoom link Watch Zoom Recording

Program Sponsor:

Event Sponsors:

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MAIN OFFICE

Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute

Jupiter Campus

Room 201F, MC-22
5353 Parkside Drive, Jupiter, FL 33458
Phone: 561.799.8100

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EDUCATION OFFICE

Florida Atlantic Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute

Boca Raton Campus

Room 103A, SE-43
777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561.297.4989