Kim Anderson-Erisman, Ph.D., past Director of Education, The Miami Project and Research Associate Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery and Coleen M. Atkins, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery and The Miami Project participated in the Miami Dade Public School’s 63rd Annual South Florida Regional Science and Engineering Fair on Saturday, February 4.
The annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Expo is a gathering of Miami-Dade County’s most creative, intelligent, and resourceful K-12 students that compete and demonstrate their prowess in STEM activities. On twitter, MDCPS estimates that 20,000 people attended this year’s Expo.
Drs. Anderson-Erisman and Atkins participated in this event by teaching children and parents about neuroscience in a mini Brain Fair setting. Dr. Atkins’ exhibit included lessons taught by her and her two daughters, discussing with children about the pathology in the brain after traumatic brain injury. She also presented information about how animal brains are different and similar, and why differences in brain size and shape matter for intelligence. Dr. Anderson-Erisman and her team (Maria Chagoyen, Danielle Cilien, Katie Gant, Crystal Noller, Megan Marlow, Suhmedh Shah, Deena Cilien) shared information about research at The Miami Project, and taught children about spinal cord function. This included how the spinal cord interacts with the brain and controls the body, and how researchers study spinal cord injury and repair the spinal cord to restore function17