Pick Your Brain at the Tenth Annual Brain Waves RI
The brain health-focused organization is celebrating a milestone anniversary with educational events and fun activities for the whole family.
Participants at last year’s Brown Brain Fair. (Photography by Justin Case)
Is there anything more fascinating than the human brain? Some may say a single week is not nearly enough time to delve into all the wonders this complex organ has to offer, but it’s certainly a great start. Brain Waves Rhode Island — an organization dedicated to getting families and students excited about brain research and health — is marking a milestone anniversary this year with not one, but two events celebrating the marvels of the human brain.
The fun kicks off on Saturday, March 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the Brown Brain Fair held in the Brown University engineering building. The fair features games and activities for the whole family, with more than fifty displays focused on the function and health of the human brain. The fair also features talks by graduate students on their research and opportunities to engage with the experts and ask questions about the brain.
On Saturday, March 22, the fun continues at Hope Artiste Village with the Pawtucket Brain Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Along with games and activities, the Pawtucket fair features a “Power Hour” with guest speaker Dr. Eric Wong spotlighting his work on brain tumors. Wong is an international authority on the treatment of glioblastoma — one of the most common and virulent forms of cancer — and a research professor of neurology, medicine, neurosurgery and radiation oncology for Brown University as well as an attending neuro-oncologist at Rhode Island Hospital. His work in developing a therapeutic device to treat glioblastoma earned him the title “Oncologist of the Year” from the Massachusetts Society of Clinical Oncologists.
If that’s not enough to get your senses tingling, the Pawtucket fair will also feature brainy snacks, free face painting and a traditional Puerto Rican carnival parade. Kids and parents will have the chance to create brain and balloon art and interact with experts on all their burning brain questions.
Victoria Heimer-McGinn, Brain Waves RI co-founder and president.
Brain Waves Rhode Island — formerly Brain Week Rhode Island — was founded in 2015 to educate and inspire the next generation of neuroscientists. Founders Victoria Heimer-McGinn, Hakon Heimer and Alden Bumstead were driven by their experience of mental illness in their families to highlight the brain research and treatment happening in the Ocean State. Since then, the program has reached more than 17,000 students, parents and teachers in and around Providence through its annual brain fairs and classroom activities.
“We’re really proud that we’ve been doing this for 10 years. Neuroscience is a rapidly evolving field, and we continue to seek out ways to enrich and expand our programs and events to inform and inspire the public,” says Heimer-McGinn, who serves as president of the organization. “This year we are, again, putting past lessons into practice to create two great brain fairs and a lot of exciting school visits.”
A young person enjoys last year’s Pawtucket Brain Fair.
In addition to the brain fairs, the organization arranges classroom visits by students and researchers from Brown University, Bryant University, Roger Williams University, Providence College and the University of Rhode Island. This year, the organization also loaned out EEG machines it acquired for educational use. Students have the opportunity to test out the machines and monitor how their own brains respond to stimuli like sight, sound and touch in real time. Students from Cranston East High School and Central Falls High School will showcase their work with the machines at the Pawtucket Brain Fair.
The organization’s two co-chairs are passionate about exposing new generations to brain science, particularly those from underrepresented communities. Heimer-McGinn, an associate professor at Roger Williams University, studies and teaches how neuropsychiatric conditions such as bipolar disease affect cognition. In 2019, she received the International Society for Neuroscience’s Next Generation Award in recognition of her contributions to public neuroscience education and outreach. Dr. Kristin Scaplen, the organization’s vice president, is an assistant professor of Neuroscience at Bryant University, where she runs an undergraduate-powered lab that studies alcohol addiction’s effects on the brain. She is also an adjunct professor of neuroscience at Brown University.
To learn more about Brain Waves RI and its upcoming brain fairs, visit brainwavesri.org.
Kristin Scaplen, Brain Waves RI vice president.
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