Las Vegas City Wire

The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) promoted Brain Awareness Week during the month of March, but for one of the university's assistant professors, brain awareness is a year-round pursuit. 

According to a press release, Brain Awareness Week ran from March 14 through March 20, but Amy Altick, a teaching assistant professor in the College of Science's Department of Biology, hosts seminars, activities and events throughout the year to provide education on the human brain and how research and discoveries have led to incredible results.

“The brain is one of the last frontiers," Altick said. "We don’t know much about deep space, we don’t know much about deep oceans, and we don’t know how the brain works. We have some understanding because we know how cells work, but your liver doesn’t have thoughts or ideas. There’s something different about how the brain is working.”

Altick worked on neuroscience investigations for many years before joining the department as a professor and is club adviser for several of the campus' neuroscience programs. She sees Brain Awareness Week more as a reminder for local SfN chapters to remember their mission to further their knowledge on this topic.

"One of my neuroscience classes has an outreach assignment that’s been really successful," Altick said, according to the press release. Students design their own outreach projects and bring them to the community. Students recently presented about the brain to children in Jan Evans Juvenile Justice Center, which one presenter told Altick was, “the best thing he had done in his college career."