The 2025 Houston Brain Bee will be held at Rice University on March 2, 2025, event location TBD. There will also be a Brain Bee Workshop hosted at Rice one week before the official competition, February 23, 2025, in order to better prepare competitors for the event. To sign up to receive more information, visit here.
2025 Houston Brain Bee
The Brain Bee is a live Q&A neuroscience competition for high schoolers. The Brain Bee motivates students to learn about the brain, captures their imaginations, and inspires them to pursue neuroscience-related careers in order to help treat and find cures for neurological and psychological disorders. The Brain Bee competition hosted by Rice University will consist of two rounds: the written round and an oral round. All participants will first take a written test, composed of multiple choice, True/False, and short answer questions. The top 10 students from the written round will then advance to the oral round, wherein they will compete for cash prizes and a chance to advance to the national competition. In addition to our competition, we will have guest speakers and exciting, interesting neuroscience demonstrations.
The winner of the 2025 Houston Brain Bee will represent Houston at the 2025 U.S. National Championship to be held at TBD.
To indicate your interest in participating in the 2025 Houston Brain Bee, please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-gzYjXDJe6UTrct8aIVWWODGKZSnnAx–7rzuEqHgxugM7g/viewform.
If you have any question, feel free to reach out to us at riceneurosciencesociety@gmail.com or the BrainBee EVP Ronak Jaisalmeria at rj51@rice.edu.
Where and when?
The 2025 Brain Bee Competition will be held on March 2nd, 6100 Main St, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005.
*You do not need to be a resident of Houston to participate in our competition.
How to STUDY:
All questions will be drawn from the official Brain Bee book (freely downloadable in text and in audio):
BrainFacts: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System
Additionally, the following may also be helpful (consider as supplementary):
- Preparation Guide from Michigan State University: The documents and links provided here are supplemental material meant to aid in understanding the content found on BrainFacts.org and in Brain Facts. *Only the material from BrainFacts.org will be covered in the competition.
- Vermont Brain Bee resources: Study Guide and Boot Camp Slides
- Brain Fact Sheets: A collection of downloadable (PDF) fact sheets for adults and children on various topics in neuroscience
- Brown Brain Bee resources
- Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (2006; by Mark F Bear Barry W Connors and Michael A Paradiso) and The Brain (by Watson et al).
- BRAIN ANATOMY QUICK REVIEW
- BRAIN BEE STUDY GUIDE
- Neuroscience.Science.of.the.Brain
To help you better prepare for the competition, we are planning to host a free WORKSHOP on February 23rd, 2025. We will be playing some themed jeopardy, watching some demonstrations, and reviewing general neuroscience information. All high school students interested in participating in the competition are welcome, but this opportunity is completely optional and not a prerequisite to the competition!
You can indicate your interest in the workshop here (same as the form above): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdKwKK6tihb5jjaThOZKnjar0r0a-r1TNFjO5-oTFYhrfcOLA/viewform.
Workshop Preliminary Schedule:
8:00am- 8:15am Welcome, Introductions, Orientation
8:15am- 9:00am Neuro Demonstrations
9:00am- 10:00am Mock Brain Bee Written Round
10:05am-10:20am Break
10:20am-11:00am Guest Speaker (Rice Biosciences Faculty Member, Rice Neuroscience Major)
11:05am- 11:45am Mock Brain Bee Oral Round
11:50am- 12:00pm Comments/Q&A Session
Competition Preliminary Schedule:
8:00am- 8:15am Welcome, Introductions, Orientation
8:15am- 9:00am Neuro Demonstrations
9:00am- 10:00am Brain Bee Written Round
10:05am-11:00am Guest Speaker (Current Neuroscience Research)
11:05am- 11:45am Brain Bee Oral Round
11:50am- 12:00pm Comments/Q&A Session
The International Brain Bee was founded by Dr. Norbert Myslinski and is a program of MIND, Inc (Mankind for International Neuroscience Development, Inc).
A special thank you to our sponsors: Rice NeuroX, Rice BioSciences, Society for Neuroscience, Fannin Innovation Studio, Rice Student Volunteer Program, Lucille’s, SusieCakes, Katz Coffee, and the Burger Joint!
