Club of the Day: BCS & Neuroscience Undergraduate Council
There are many different student organizations offered at the University of Rochester. From academic clubs to sports teams to Greek life to a myriad of other extracurriculars, there is something for everyone!
Today, I would like to highlight the Brain and Cognitive Sciences & Neuroscience Undergraduate Council.
The club was founded in 2014 in order to provide Rochester students with an opportunity to interact with other BCS/NSC students and faculty members. The council also aims to educate the community about ongoing different lectures, research opportunities, and current issues/news regarding neuroscience and the brain and cognitive sciences through emails and their social media pages.
If you are looking for research opportunities, the BCS & Neuroscience Undergraduate Council definitely has you covered! We frequently send out different research opportunities going on either on campus or at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). Through this, I have been able to participate in many shadowing opportunities at URMC for a variety of fields such as neurosurgery, pediatric neurology, and the emergency room. This is how I got my first research experience working in the emergency department research center at the Saunders Research Building!
The club also hosts different events such as the Annual BCS/NSC Student & Faculty Lunch, Neuroscience and BCS Lab Tours, and the Mentor-Mentee Pairings. We also participate in Spooky Science Day, Family Science Day, and research symposiums.
Spooky Science Day is a Halloween-themed event to teach STEM topics. The event was hosted by different UR STEM student organizations on campus and participated by local families. We wanted to teach the kids about the basics of how vision and perception work. First, we presented two different goggles. The first pair of goggles that we asked the kids to try on was a regular pair of laboratory goggles. They would try to throw bean bags into a bucket; many got all of the bean bags into the bucket. Next, we would ask kids to take off the regular goggles and put on the “dizzy goggles” instead. Wearing these, the kids threw bean bags into a bucket once more; many of the kids missed the bucket. We wanted participants to see how their perception of the bucket’s location changes. We also had a model of the human brain to show the general idea of the visual pathway to the participants. This is not only a fun event for the visiting children, but also for their parents and for us! We present the same fun activity for students during Spring Family Science Day.
Through the events held and the opportunities sent out, the BCS & Neuroscience Undergraduate Council is a great resource for both underclassmen and upperclassmen! Underclassmen can get an early exposure to different research experiences, shadowing, and/or networking opportunities while upperclassmen can get valuable information about medical school, MCAT, and research and internships during the academic year, as well as the summer. Join us to have fun with BCS and neuroscience topics and to meet your fellow BCS and Neuroscience peers!