UNO Student, Alumnus Earn Trip to German Neuroscience Conference

Omaha – A student and recent alumnus from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) will travel to Munich at the end of March to attend an international neuroscience conference thanks to scholarships from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Beth Fetzer, a senior neuroscience major, and Maxwell Virus, a December 2013 graduate, along with just eight others from outside of Germany, were awarded airfare and admission into the Munich Brain Course, a highly-respected conference featuring some of the world’s leading experts on brain science.

“We are going to be immersed in an environment where people are passionate and excited about brain science and its future,” Virus said. “I am particularly excited about a talk that will be given about mapping connections of an organism’s brain.”

In order to earn their scholarships, each student had to submit a motivation statement, an academic resume, a transcript and a letter of recommendation from an academic supervisor. Both Fetzer and Virus learned of the opportunity from Suzanne Sollars, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, in her role as advisor for UNO’s chapter of Nu Rho Psi, the National Honor Society in Neuroscience.

“This is a great opportunity for our students and a testament to the high level of science education we have at UNO,” Sollars explains. “So few students get the opportunity to visit academic conferences before they are graduate students, let alone an overseas conference with most of their expenses paid for.”

The Munich Brain Course runs Wednesday, March 26, through Saturday, March 29, and will feature a number of presentations and workshops, not the least of which is a hands-on dissection of a human brain.

“Most students only ever get access to dissect rat brains or sheep brains,” Fetzer says. “To have the opportunity to participate in an actual human brain dissection live is just incredible.”

UNO’s neuroscience program has existed for several decades within the psychology department, but has only recently become its own program. It is the first undergraduate neuroscience program to exist within the University of Nebraska system and is a large component of UNO’s commitment to STEM education.

After she graduates, Fetzer is planning on attending medical school. Virus is currently living in Colorado exploring his career options.

For more information or media requests, please contact Charley Reed, UNO media relations coordinator, at unonews@unomaha.edu or by phone at 402.554.2129

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