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When Brains Collide

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Omer Ashmaig is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. He was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which he used to attend the 2017 Society for Neuroscience Conference.

Attending the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) 2017 conference, located in Washington, D.C., was an important step in advancing my career as a researcher and scientist. My research project, “Bayesian Optimization of Asynchronous Distributed Microelectrode Theta Stimulation and Spatial Memory”, may sound like a mouth full, but it simply deals with trying to optimize Deep Brain Stimulation parameters, a novel therapeutic method for treating epilepsy, by looking at memory as a measured outcome. 

This year, SFN had over 30,000 attendees! This makes it, by far, the largest academic conference I have attended. Due to this large attendance, this makes SFN unique in the sense that I had to tweak my presentation style to match this conference compared to other conferences/symposiums I have presented at. 

While presenting at this conference, I learned an important aspect of poster making that I learned to keep in mind for future posters. Since there were so many posters, many individuals had very little time to look at each individual poster. This brings me to my first point – the title. I learned that a poster title needs to be eye-catching and needs to sell or at least persuade individuals walking by to take a closer look at your poster in just a few seconds. This brings me to my second point. When someone is interested in your poster, you have to sell them on your project, not just tell them about it. Sometimes you have 5-10 minutes to do this, but I encountered situations where I had to do this in 30 seconds. Having multiple versions prepared is important. Furthermore, just like everyone else at the conference, I had to learn how to effectively plan out which posters/talks I would attend, while still keeping an eye out for any posters that grabbed my attention. 

 Besides learning how to effectively sell my research, attending this conference provided many other benefits. For one, an important component of any conference, is networking with others, especially with those in your field or those who work on similar projects. Networking and discussing your research with others, especially during early stages of your research, is a vital aspect of improving aspects of your research project. Also, I learned that discussing with others about their research not only expands your knowledge in that field, but can also help you refine your own project also. Overall, I had a wonderful time at SFN and highly recommend undergraduates to present at an academic conference at least once, as it will help you develop a transferable skill set. 

Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Conference Grants. 
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