An Indian American whiz kid in neuroscience, Sojas Wagle, 15, of Arkansas, won the 19th annual International Brain Bee Aug. 6, earning the title of International Brain Bee champion and being awarded a trophy and cash prize of $3,000.

Elwin Vethamuthu, a Malaysian competitor of Indian origin, finished third, while Milena Malcharek of Poland took second.

Five of the 24 finalists at the International Brain Bee were of Indian descent; besides Wagle and Vethamuthu, they included Rutvik Savaliya of India, Prerana Keerthi of Canada, and Kartik Goyal of the United Arab Emirates.

The event, hosted by the American Psychological Association Convention and held Aug. 3 through Aug. 6 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., featured the top 13- to 19-year-old students in neuroscience.

The purpose of the Bee, founded by Dr. Norbert Myslinski of the University of Maryland Dental School Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, is to motivate young men and women to study the brain, and to inspire them to consider careers in the basic and clinical neurosciences.

We need them to treat and find cures for the 1,000 neurological and psychological disorders around the world, Myslinski said in a statement.

Wagle, a sophomore from Har-Ber High School in Arkansas, has a breath-taking history of accomplishments, the Bee said in a news release.

The winning competitor is the captain of his schools Quiz Bowl Team and was state MVP for the last two years.

He placed third in the National Geographic Bee in 2015 and in 2016 was chosen for Who Wants to be a Millionaire Whiz Kids Edition where, by the end of the game show, he had won $250,000 a portion of which he later donated to his school district and a childrens hospital.

Additionally, Wagle is a member of the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra where he plays violin as first chair.

During the competition, 12 Washington, D.C., ambassadors invited their respective national champions to visit their embassies to be honored, including India, Kenya, Egypt, Ukraine, Korea, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Poland and Germany.

The Brain Bee competition has three tiers. Worldwide there are about 200 local chapter competitions, each one involving many schools. The winners of those then compete in their respective regional, or national, championships with the winners then moving on to the world championships, representing their respective countries.

Along the way, the competitors are tested on their knowledge of the human brain, including such topics as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensation, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, schizophrenia, addictions and brain research.

The competition involves oral tests, a neuroanatomy laboratory exam with real human brains, a neurohistology test and a patient diagnosis component with patient actors.

The Bee is held in various cities around the world with every third year being in Washington, D.C. The 2018 competition will be held in Berlin, Germany.

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Neuroscience Whiz Kid Sojas Wagle of Arkansas Wins 2017 International Brain Bee - India West