Toronto Brain Bee Event Reports

TBB

The 26th Annual Toronto Brain Bee competition took place at the Health Sciences Building at the University of Toronto on March 22nd, 2024. 80 students from 24 high schools in the Toronto area participated in the competition. 16 graduate student volunteers and two faculty members were involved in organizing this successful outreach event. Over 100 people attended the event.

As the first place winner, Aidan will represent Toronto at the 2024 CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee Competition, which will be held virtually on April 20th, 2024. The Canadian National: the Final Showdown will be held in Vancouver, on May 19-22, 2024.

Aidan Wang

First Place

Aidan Wang, Grade 11, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute

Melina Fatemi

Second Place

Melina Fatemi, Grade 11, Bayview Secondary School; Top Novice winner

Vedda Gadde

Third Place

Veda Aditri Gadde, Grade 12, St. Brother Andre Catholic High School

We thank every student competitor, the organizing committee and our sponsor for a successful, impactful and mutually inspiring experience.

The Graduate Volunteers included (in alphabetical order): Avery Cameron (MSc, IMS), Candela Castro (PhD, Faculty of Music), Xiaoyu Chen (PhD, PSL), Sarah Eide (PhD, PSL), Ana Ferreira (PhD, PSL), Ain Kim (PhD, LMP), Zhengwei Luo (PhD, PSL), Rafi Matin (MSc, IMS), Andie Ovcjak (PhD, PSL), Karan Patel (MSc, IMS), Angenelle Eve Rosal (MSc, IMS), Alexandra Sas (MSc, IMS), Nicholas Silver (PhD, BCH), Maria Yang (PhD, PSL), Xianxuan Wang (PhD, PSL), and Xinyang Zhang (PhD, PSL).

The Organizing Committee: Zhong-Ping Feng (Committee Chair), Hong-Shuo Sun (Professor), Sarah Eide (Event Planning Lead), Andie Ovcjak (Event Planning Lead), Rafi Matin (Questions/Creative Lead), Ain Kim (Administrative and Outreach Lead), Gary Choi (Competition Platform Development Lead), Maria Yang (Social Media Lead).

The Questions Preparation Committee: Zhong-Ping Feng (Committee Chair), Hong-Shuo Sun (Professor), Rafi Matin (Lead), Nicholas Silver, and Xiaoyu Chen.

Toronto Brain Bee Sponsorship: The 2024 Toronto Brain Bee competition was sponsored by the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience (CPIN) and the Firefly Foundation.