A science program at ASU that teaches children about the human brain called Brain Awareness Month has been limited this year because of the University-wide furloughs, which are a result of the budget cuts, and a general lack of funding.

Heather Bimonte-Nelson, an assistant psychology professor at ASU’s Tempe campus, started Brain Awareness Month during March and April at ASU in 2006.

Bimonte-Nelson said she went to a third-grade classroom and taught about brain cells and how the brain drives human actions while at the Medical University of South Carolina.

After witnessing the “excitement and curiosity” the children showed for the subject, Bimonte-Nelson said she decided to start the program when she arrived at ASU in 2005.

“There’s very little about the brain and nervous system taught at these early ages,” so there is a need for more childhood education about the brain, Bimonte-Nelson said.

But budget cuts and furloughs have cut down the visits that Bimonte-
Nelson, psychology students and other faculty can make, she said.

However, Bimonte-Nelson said she plans to continue visiting classrooms during the fall.

With less money, supplies like microscopes, sheep brains, lab coats, awards, pencils with brain erasers and hands-on activities are also limited, she said.

“We’re taking away time from the laboratory to do this [so] we’ve had to essentially reallocate our workload because of the furlough,” Bimonte-Nelson said.

In the past, some funding for the program has come from the Psychology Department, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Barbara Colby, who helped nominate Bimonte-Nelson for the Woodside Community Service Award, she said.

Although there are budgetary and time constraints, Bimonte-Nelson said a few weeks ago she and her staff visited the Phoenix Children’s Museum, which hosted the Children’s First Academy — formerly known as the Thomas J. Pappas School.

Her staff also visited more than 100 classrooms in 2008, Bimonte-Nelson said.

Joshua Talboom, a psychology graduate student with a concentration in neuroscience, started helping Bimonte-Nelson with Brain Awareness Month in 2006.

“I try to really give out that enthusiasm and get [the students] excited about learning about the brain,” Talboom said.

All of the children in the program wear lab coats that display the slogan “Future Neuroscientist — Knowledge is Power,” a sentiment Bimonte-Nelson hopes will prove true for the students.

“There are things in life that are really fun. Education can take [them] to places [they] didn’t even know existed,” she said. “That is where I want to take them — on a journey to more.”

Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu.