Program Details

Applications are now open for 2019 Enrollment !

**PLEASE NOTE: Due to Spring Break, Application deadlines have been moved to April 11th**

May Session 3 Details:

Time: 10:00am-4:00pm

Dates: May 4th - May 5th, 2019

Location: Stanford Medical Campus

**These dates are for Session 3 NFEP, open to all high school students aged sophomore - senior.

Neuroscience Foundation Exploratory Program (NFEP):

Session 3:

Session 3 will be in workshop format, consisting of 2 6-hour days over the course of a weekend. Workshops will take place in a classroom on Stanford's medical campus.

The program will be limited to 20 students to maximize individually tailored experiences for each of the students.

The focus of all lessons will surround scientific research as it relates to studying the brain. Topics included will be relevant to any student interested in pursuing the following majors: Neuroscience, Psychology, Bioengineering, and Cognitive Science.

The 2-day workshop will be divided into a series of lectures and activities to provide both educational and skill-building course material. The workshop will include, for example, journal club format mini-workshops in which students will read and present on scientific articles in their area of interest, and will culminate in an internal scientific conference amongst the students, where students will present poster presentations on study design concepts of their choosing, anchored in the material learned from the workshop. While the curriculum will largely overlap with the curriculum taught in previous sessions (see below), the intensive workshop nature of this session will allow a deeper dive into individual topics, as well as more fluidity in material.

This workshop will be co-lead by four researchers from Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco. For more information on the instructors, click here.

Some example topics include:

**The below list are potential topics that will be included in the NFEP program. Subject to change based on student backgrounds and interests**

Specialized Lessons: Teaching key, relevant subject matter to initiate interest and broaden knowledge base for eventual specialization

• Human and Animal Somatosensory System: Motor and Visual System
• Human Cognition: Attention, Working Memory, Emotion
• Neural Signaling in the brain: From Neurons to Networks
• Neural Plasticity: Long-Term Depression and Potentiation

Research Tools: Building relevant skillsets that will both advance their current knowledge, and better position them for research positions and internships in college

• Measuring Brain Signal: NeuroImaging and Electrophysiological Recordings
• Capturing Neural Plasticity: NeuroStimulation and Cognitive Training
• Building Tasks for Cognition: C# and Python Coding of Cognitive Tasks
• Building Analyses for Neuroscience: Matlab Coding of Neural Signal

----------------------------------------Embedded Advanced Enrichment Opportunities----------------------------------------

• Stanford Research Lab Tour: See Neuroscientific Tools in Action!
• Hold and interact with real human and animal brains!
• Explore the use of virtual reality in scientific research!

Mentorship: Providing mentorship to interested students eager to succeed in field of brain research

• Question & Answer session with Stanford or UCSF Doctor and/or Researcher
• Creating and Maintaining your curriculum vitae (CV)
• Approaching Professors for Research Positions
• Important College Classes to Enroll In
• Gap Year vs Immediate Enrollment: The pros and cons of taking a gap-year after college before graduate school vs not
  • Gap Year: How to best situate yourself to get a relevant and fruitful position out of college
  • Immediate Enrollment: How to advance your chances of being accepted into graduate programs straight out of college

NFEP Female-Advance Program:

This program will take place during Session 2, and will echo the above curriculum, but with an emphasis on empowering advanced female high-school students with knowledge and confidence to be competitive in the sciences. While society is making great leaps towards equality, science is still a heavily male-dominated field. Therefore, this program emphasizes networking with female leaders in the field, and building skill-sets to succeed on the path towards a science-based career.

Previous NFEP Sessions:

Session 1 & 2:

This program will consist of 8 weekly, 2-hour courses for Session 1 and 2. Workshops will take place in a classroom on Stanford's medical campus during after-school hours.

The program will be limited to 12 students to maximize individually tailored experiences for each of the students.

Each 2-hour workshop will be split into two objectives: 1 hour of education, and 1 hour of skill-building. For example, a given workshop may cover brain network connectivity: the first hour will focus on educating students about the existing networks of communication in the brain, and their specialization. The second hour would then focus on, for instance, learning to build tasks to effectively study such network communication in a research lab setting. The skills portion of the workshop will build a set of tools for each student to more practically understand how researchers address scientific questions in lab, and simultaneously augment their research portfolio to be more competitive for University admissions, and University-level research positions.