As a neuroscientist, David Cinalli, Ph.D., studies how the brain forms and recalls different forms of memory. But his real passion is sharing science with the community — especially students — through the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute’s Advancing STEM: Community Engagement through Neuroscience Discovery (ASCEND).

“Teaching is my passion, and my main goal is to make learning fun – and we do just that,” Cinalli said.

Cinalli’s postdoc research focuses on neuroscience community engagement programs and developing metrics to track their impact, and making neuroscience educational content available to science teachers around the world.

Additionally, Cinalli is charged with leading a team of postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students to engage in hands-on activities and neuroscience lessons to area middle school and high school students. Cinalli and the ASCEND team utilize the MobileMinds van to bring state-of-the-art technologies, scientists and activities to Title I schools to reach historically underserved communities. This includes portable museum style exhibits and classroom virtual reality headsets.

“There are so many students who don’t have the opportunities that I had and giving back to our community has always been important to me,” he said. “We hope to impact students at an age where we see interest in STEM subjects drop off sharply and inspire them to consider careers in science and technology.