Winner of this year's 'Bay Area Brain Bee' places second in national competition

• March 13, 2013 5:00am

The International Brain Bee, a nonprofit competition for high school students, uses a format similar to a spelling bee to test knowledge of the nervous system. CSUEB first hosted a qualifying round for the Brain Bee in 2012 (read the CSUEB news article).

Associate Professor James Murray (biological sciences) is the mastermind behind bringing the Bay Area Brain Bee to campus, to “inspire interest in research and medicine related to the brain, neuroscience and biological physiology.” CSUEB’s Institute for STEM Education helped fund the 2013 event with a support grant, which also provided travel assistance for the Northern California winner to advance to the national round hosted in Washington, DC.

This year, Anvita Mishra of Granite Bay High School in Granite Bay won the Northern California qualifying round with a perfect score. At the national competition held March 2-3, she placed second in the nation!

Other Northern California awards went to Anna Thomas, Presentation High School, San Jose, who placed second; and Ramya Auroprem, Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Vishal Jain, Monte Vista High School, Danville, who tied for third.

SS