Society for Neuroscience 2026 Science Education and Outreach Awards

Society for Neuroscience 2026 Science Education and Outreach Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present four neuroscientists and three chapters with this year's Science Education and Outreach Awards, which include the Award for Education in Neuroscience, the Science Educator Award, the Chapter of the Year Award, and the Next Generation Award. The awards will be presented during SfN's annual meeting.

"The Society is honored to highlight these dedicated neuroscientists who are committed to sharing science with the public and underserved communities in particular," said SfN President Nicholas C. Spitzer, PhD. "The efforts of these Science Education and Outreach Award recipients have a lasting impact. I am so excited to acknowledge those bringing neuroscience education to communities long underserved by STEM opportunities, help those living with brain disorders better understand current research, deepen the understanding of communication and interaction difficulties resulting from autism spectrum disorder, and inspire future neuroscientists."

Award for Education in Neuroscience: Robert Calin-Jageman

The Award for Education in Neuroscience recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to neuroscience education and training at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The recipient receives complimentary registration and travel for the SfN annual meeting.

Robert Calin-Jageman, PhD, a professor of psychology at Dominican University, has made significant contributions to education through university teaching, publications and software, national workshops, and volunteer leadership roles. In 2007 he founded the neuroscience program at Dominican University and continues to serve as the program's director. This neuroscience program has become one of the most successful on campus, with students earning nearly 10% of the poster awards at the annual Chicago Society for Neuroscience meeting. Calin-Jageman and Irina CalinJageman have mentored 47 undergraduate researchers through funded laboratory research opportunities - 60% of whom are from groups underrepresented in STEM - and the majority of these researchers have earned co-authorship on a peer-reviewed paper and/or continued in a STEM-related field after graduation.

In addition to teaching and mentoring both students and teachers, Calin-Jageman has created tools and activities that have expanded access to neuroscience education. He has been a tireless advocate for reproducibility and rigor in research and has coauthored a textbook and papers to help integrate open science practices into curricula. He has also organized many professional development workshops and contributed talks, tutorials, and training materials on teaching statistics and improving research practices. Additionally, Calin-Jageman has developed open-source resources for both education and data analysis, including packages for R, jamovi, and JASP. Calin-Jageman's tireless efforts have expanded opportunities for potential neuroscientists and meaningfully broadened the field's resources, benefiting students, researchers, and the lay public.

Science Educator Award: Leigh Wilson and Chinna Orish

The Science Educator Award is supported by the Allen Institute and honors two neuroscientists who have made significant contributions to educating the public about neuroscience: one who conducts education activities full time and one who devotes their time primarily to research while conducting outreach, policy, and education activities. Recipients receive a $2,500 honorarium, an opportunity to write a feature commentary on science education in eNeuro, and complimentary registration and travel for SfN's annual meeting.

Leigh Wilson, PhD, a public engagement manager and teaching fellow at King's College London, is an innovative science educator who demonstrates remarkable commitment to teaching neuroscience across age groups, particularly to communities underrepresented in higher education and research. She has devised and produced numerous public events, exhibitions, and neuroscience media resources including co-developing U.K. versions of BioEYES and Neurolab, which bring hands-on education and research to primary and secondary students. One of her key projects has been establishing the Developmental Neurobiology Academy (DNA), which gives students aged 16-18 from disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to engage with neuroscience research. Under Wilson's leadership, the DNA Academy is an intensive annual weeklong course for more than 60 students from local schools to build community among young scientists. Alumni of the program return to coach the next cohort. Wilson also created Sunnydown Synaptic, a project that brought together neuroscience, electronic engineering, and art to build a unique interactive experience for students with communication and interaction difficulties associated with autism spectrum disorder. Through her inspired and imaginative leadership, Wilson plays a critical role in defining and implementing strategies to increase public understanding of brain function and development and share research with audiences beyond academia.

Chinna Orish, MBBS, PhD, a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, is one of the most consequential neuroscience educators and outreach leaders on the African continent. She founded the Youth Neuroscience Association of Nigeria (YNAN), one of the first and most comprehensive youth-led neuroscience education networks in Africa. YNAN's mission is to empower young people in Nigeria and across Africa to pursue careers in neuroscience, lead innovative research, and contribute to solving brain and mental health challenges. She designed a sequence of educational and mentoring programs, from primary school through the undergraduate level, that includes lectures, blogs, competitions, multi-day training programs, and awards. The deliberately integrated system is generally scalable, replicable, and powerful in resource-limited settings where structured pipelines are needed. Under Orish's leadership, YNAN has trained and mentored thousands of students and early career researchers across Nigeria and created rare opportunities for early career researchers, consistently bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world scientific engagement. Her extraordinary dedication to student development and access has produced impressive outcomes, with her mentees progressing to graduate training, earning competitive scholarships, participating in national and international conferences, and mentoring younger students at primary, secondary, and undergraduate levels.

Chapter of the Year Award: North Central Florida, Ottawa, and Sierra Nevada

The Chapter of the Year Award recognizes outstanding chapters, often led by students, for their efforts and accomplishments across a broad range of activities in line with SfN's mission. Three chapters are awarded $1,000 each for their impactful work from the previous calendar year.

The North Central Florida (NCF) Chapter of SfN exemplifies a fully student-led model of scientific engagement, innovation, and community impact. The chapter holds the annual NCF SfN Conference, a free student-run event that attracted more than 220 attendees from nine institutions. The conference is designed to reduce barriers to participation by its no-cost to attendees model that is open to all career stages and inclusive of interdisciplinary audiences. To promote neuroscience learning for K-12 students, NCF hosts Brain Awareness Week activities that reached approximately 1,750 students across 13 schools, and a Brain Bee Program, which doubled participation recently. NCF also engages with the community through immersive educational exhibits and interactive demonstrations at events, including the Walk to End Alzheimer's and Girls in Science Day. The chapter hopes to use the award to help launch a K-12 Brain Drawing Contest, which will be designed to engage students creatively with neuroscience concepts and provide an accessible activity for underserved communities. Additionally, the funds would help to establish a Brain and Mental Health Art Exhibition in Gainesville to bring together neuroscience, art, and the community.

The SfN Ottawa Chapter has demonstrated outstanding service and helped promote and communicate neuroscience to the community over the last 16 years. The chapter organizes the annual Brain and Mental Health Art Show to help link the scientific and mental health communities in Ottawa, as well as raise awareness and funds for local mental health charities. The SfN Ottawa Chapter tours local schools during Brain Awareness Week, recently bringing the wonders and mysteries of the brain to more than 35 schools and more than 1,500 students. The week also includes a day at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The museum has asked the chapter for help in turning the hands-on activities from Brain Awareness Week into a permanent interactive exhibit. The chapter hosts the Ottawa Region Brain Bee, a neuroscience trivia competition for high school students, with winners consistently placing in the top five at the Canadian National Brain Bee. The SfN Ottawa Chapter partners with Carleton University to present a Neuroscience Colloquium Series, the Royal Ottawa Hospital Research Centre to organize a regional conference, and local universities to host the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute Brain Health Research Day. These initiatives bring together researchers, students, and clinicians to share their work, discuss findings, network, and learn about careers in the field.

The Sierra Nevada Chapter organizes outreach events year-round to reach students of all ages from both urban and rural areas, as well as community members and older adults. The chapter has developed a program with their local juvenile detention center for at-risk youth to include a yearlong neuroscience education unit and two standalone presentations in the spring and fall. The Sierra Nevada Chapter also hosts an annual Brain Bee at the University of Nevada, Reno, a daylong event that includes campus tours, visits to the microscopy core and electroencephalography (EEG) lab, neuroscience demonstrations, a keynote speaker, and breakfast and lunch for competitors and their families. The chapter hosted its first Sage Stage, an event that allows graduate students to present their work to older adults in the community who act as judges. The Sierra Nevada Chapter also participates in Brain Awareness events and hosts an annual research symposium featuring faculty talks, graduate student posters, and a keynote speaker. The chapter hopes to use the award funds to update materials used in outreach demonstrations; produce posters, flyers, and other promotional materials for the Sage Stage and Brain Bee; and cover travel expenses and provide an honorarium for the symposium keynote speaker.

Next Generation Award

The Next Generation Award recognizes SfN chapter members who have made outstanding contributions to neuroscience public communication, outreach, and education through activities including classroom engagement and social media campaigns, typically at the high school level and below. The recipient receives a $300 honorarium and a $750 travel award to help defray the costs of attending the meeting, complimentary meeting registration, and the recipient's chapter receives a $2,000 chapter grant to be used to continue the chapter's outreach efforts in the following year.

Pre/Postdoctoral: Uma Chatterjee

Uma Chatterjee, MS, MHPS, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has made sustained, innovative, and highly impactful contributions to neuroscience communication, outreach, education, and public engagement. Chatterjee is committed to making neuroscience research accurate, accessible, and relevant to people living with brain disorders and mental health conditions, their families, and their communities. She has delivered more than 150 presentations worldwide, hosts the mental health science communication podcast A Chat with Uma, and helped create the award-winning OCD and the Brain knowledge hub for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, families, clinicians, researchers, and the public. Chatterjee realized her local chapter lacked a way of helping neuroscientists learn to communicate effectively beyond academic audiences. In response, she created the chapter's first science communication and social media training workshop. The filled-to-capacity workshop helped trainees, faculty, clinicians, and researchers learn how to engage responsibly and effectively with the communities their work is ultimately meant to serve. Chatterjee's work across communities has helped individuals better understand their symptoms and treatment options; helped families and clinicians engage in more informed conversations; and helped scientists think more carefully about public engagement, trust, and accessibility. Through this work, Chatterjee is promoting a broader culture that values public communication and the involvement of people with lived experience.

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The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of nearly 30,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and the nervous system.