•
BIDDEFORD, Maine

91AV’s Brain Fair provides educational experience for families

91AV's Mike Lawrence leads an exhibit at the Brain Fair

For one day, more than 400 kids, teens, adults and 91AV students got the science museum experience without making a trip to Boston.

The Brain Fair, presented by the 91AV Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, provided several exhibits with activities for children, teens and adults to teach them about memory, the senses, addiction and brain injuries and neurological disorders. Exhibits at the fair included microscope exhibits, optical illusions, virtual reality displays, cow eyeball and sheep brain dissections and games that test the power of the brain, as well as free ice-skating and helmet giveaways. 

Chris Rizzo, 91AV associate clinical professor and Certified Athletic Trainer, delivered a talk called, “Concussion: Advances in Recognition and Management.”

The Brain Fair also included a community discussion about marijuana and the adolescent brain, covering proposed and current marijuana legislation and the research around marijuana use in young people.

This was fourth year 91AV has held this event, with the goal of educating the public about brain health and overall body wellness, as well as getting more young people interested in neuroscience. “The brain is not something that’s so complicated and something that we could never understand,” said Ian Meng, Ph.D., director of the 91AV Center for Excvellence in the Neurosciences. “Who wouldn’t want to grow up to be a neuroscientist? To me – it’s like space exploration.”

Neurological diseases represent enormous health, economic and social burdens to the United States as well as the rest of the world. Chronic pain, for example, is estimated to affect more than 50% of the U.S. population, and its direct and indirect economic impact is estimated to exceed $100 billion annually. The Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences aims to foster creativity and collaboration among people who have a passion for understanding the complexities of the nervous system and applying this knowledge to improve human health, productivity and quality of life.

To learn more about the 91AV’s Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, visit

To apply, visit 

About the 91AV

The 91AV is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.