2026 Newark New Jersey Regional Brain Bee

The 18th Newark New Jersey Regional Brain Bee, sponsored by the Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI), took place on Sunday, March 22, at New Jersey Medical School. Hosted by Dr. Steven W. Levison, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience at NJMS and Vice-Chair of the Neurodegeneration and Injury Focus Area Working Group at the BHI, this year’s event set a new record with 98 students from 42 New Jersey high schools competing. Participants were tested on their knowledge of brain anatomy, neurophysiology, the brain circuits underlying learning and memory, sleep, vision, addiction, audition, and movement, as well as the causes and treatments for major neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Congratulations to the winners of the 18th Newark New Jersey Regional Brain Bee!

1st Place:
Eason Yuze Lu (10th grade – Livingston High School)
BHI awarded Eason $300 as the first-place prize and will also cover travel expenses for him and his family to attend the national competition at the University of California, Irvine, on April 25th, 2026. Learn more

2nd Place (Tie):
Ariv Shah (11th grade – Woodbridge Academy Magnet School)
Sophia Zhang (11th grade – Tenafly High School)

3rd Place (Tie):
Aarya Pradhan (10th grade – Moorestown High School)
Sragvi Basireddy (10th grade – Hillsborough High School)

Thanks are due to Dr. Ioana Carcea, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience at NJMS and BHI core faculty member, who presented the Keynote address, where she discussed her unpublished studies demonstrating how social isolation can increase the risk for metabolic disorders. Dr. Carcea also served as our judge for round #2 of the competition.

We are also grateful to Dr. Michael Shiflett, Associate Research Professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers-Newark, for once again providing information to our participants about the undergraduate neuroscience major and the breadth of neuroscience research taking place at Rutgers-Newark.

We are also especially grateful to Nitya Kathiravan (our Brain Bee winner from last year) and to Eesha Oza, the Co-Executive Director of the International Youth Neuroscience Association, who taught our participants and their parents how to perform a neurological exam to diagnose a stroke. They also emphasized the need for EMTs and encouraged them to become EMTs.

Additionally, our thanks go to Meghana Jamched, Johe Mahuire, Hannah Yingling, and Khadim Diokhane, who are all Masters students at NJMS, who set up tables and chairs, manned the registration desk and the brain demonstration tables, prepared snacks and beverages, and cleaned up after the event. They were an amazing crew!

Finally, the organizers are grateful to:
Stephanie Herrera in the Center for Cell Signaling for preparing certificate of participation
Louise Petrone and Rose Smith in the BHI for administrative assistance
Lily Zhang in the BHI for maintaining our website
NJ STEM High School Teachers for all they do to educate our youth and to stimulate their interest in science in general, and neuroscience in particular.