The Premier Undergraduate - IMPULSE

The Premier Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal
Using IMPULSE in International Medical Undergraduate Education
Sledge RA1, Moore EJ1, and Jones LS2
1The Honors College and 2Department of Biology, Appalachian State Univ., Boone, NC
Introduction
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Reviewer Training Sites!
(Cover)(
Review Board (con’t)
History of IMPULSE
A common international model for medical education typically routes students directly to
medical school following secondary education, often precluding research opportunities. Their
student colleagues in the U.S. who are interested in neuroscience pursue many different majors
and co-curricular opportunities prior to medical school that help extend their understanding of
the scientific foundations of clinical practice. Serving as a reviewer for IMPULSE, a journal
designed for undergraduates to publish and review neuroscience work, is an example of such an
educational enhancement. Medical students from the University of the Free State (South Africa)
have shown that it is possible for students in medical bachelor’s degree programs to join
IMPULSE and benefit from that experience. Faculty there have been mentoring a team of
neuropsychiatry-focused clinical students for the past six years, and they and individual
medical students from around the world report that the opportunity to review original research
papers and learn how to evaluate neuroscience manuscripts is a valuable addition to their
neuro-related career plans. Data from an earlier survey (reported at SfN/FENS in 2013/2014)
indicated that 85% of 46 respondents felt the experience improved their own writing skills.
Over 75% felt it improved their literature research skills, while 99% felt it improved their
article reading skills. Nearly 20% of these students were in M.D. or M.B. programs, while a
further 25% were in Ph.D. programs after their IMPULSE time.
The journal IMPULSE was started in the spring of 2003, with the first issue posted in 2004. A a
total of twelve issues have been archived, one per year. The current, 2016 issue, is the thirteenth.
The journal has evolved from a once-per-year posting reviewed by students at a single
institution, to rolling review and posting by students worldwide representing fourteen
institutions. The first issue was reviewed by 14 students from three countries and two
continents, with a single Faculty Advisor and Reviewer Training Site (RTS). The 2015 issue
posted with over 100 student reviewers representing over 30 institutions in six countries and
four continents. Many of these students were members of the 14 RTSs, one of which was in
South Africa. The rest of the Reviewers were individuals who simply wished to have the
experience and applied to join as independent reviewers. They were assigned to an RTS team
and they sent their individual reviews to the Associate Editor from that RTS. Each RTS had its
own Associate Editor, who compiled the team’s review, and a Faculty Advisor who oversaw and
taught about the reviewing process. The most recent RTS to be added (2016) was from the
University of North Carolina.
Creating a Reviewer Training Site at any institution is easy and does not require any special
application process. There are no costs, and the manner of involvement is flexible and up to each
Faculty Advisor at each RTS. Some choose to offer a course for new Reviewers, some work with
a campus neuroscience club, while others just focus on a group of students doing research in
their laboratory. All that is needed to start an RTS at an institution is a faculty member willing
to take on the role of the Faculty Advisor (see list at right of current FAs), and a few students
willing to be reviewers, one of whom will become the Associate Editor for that RTS. The process
works very fluidly, with submissions being forwarded by the Executive Associate Editor to all of
the RTS Associate Editors, who then distribute the manuscript to their RTS Review Team for
review. A compiled, single review from each RTS is returned to the EAE, and a final, unified
compilation is created by the Executive Editor for return to the authors, usually within 4-5
weeks. The first pages of two articles on how IMPULSE can be used in classes and teaching are
shown below (from the online Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education).
2003: M. Wilkinson, A. Autry, L. Helmick, and S. Roudsari founded new journal with Dr. L.S. Jones; IMPULSE at 1st SYNAPSE meeting
(James Madison U.) and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 29:25.3, New Orleans).
2004: First issue posted online. IMPULSE at SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 31:20.19, Washington, D.C.).
2006: Moved to rolling publication; IMPULSE at 2nd SYNAPSE (Davidson Col.) and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 32:xxx, Atlanta); Publicity Editors
created; ISSN # assigned.
2007: IMPULSE at 3rd SYNAPSE (Davidson Col.) , 7th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne, Australia, and SfN (Soc. Neur.
Abs. 33:26.4, San Diego). B. Goodlett became 3rd EiC. IMPULSE joins Directory of Open Access Journals; 2nd RTS at Middlebury
College with Dr. K. Cronise.
2008: IMPULSE at 4th SYNAPSE (Col of Charleston), 6th FENS Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 34:224.5,
Washington, D.C.). A. Walton became 4th EiC. The 3rd RTS opened at Appalachian State Univ. Honors College (L.S. Jones moved).
2009: IMPULSE at 5th SYNAPSE (Col of Charleston) and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs. 35:23.9, Chicago). Dr. S. Sweitzer (U. South Carolina) stepped
in as 3rd FA; Dr. S. Symington joined as FA for 4th RTS at Salve Regina Univ. Website moved to Appstate as host site.
2010: IMPULSE presented at 6th SYNAPSE (Wake Forest U), 7th FENS Forum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and SfN (Soc. Neur. Abs.
36:24.7, San Diego). K. McClellan became 5th EiC. Dr. K. Crisp joined as FA for 5th RTS, St. Olaf College, Dr. V. Turgeon as FA at
6th RTS, Furman Univ., Dr. Stephanie Smith as FA at 7th RTS, University of the Free State (South Africa).
2011: IMPULSE presented at 7th SYNAPSE (Wake Forest U) and 8th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience in Florence, Italy, and SfN
37:25.15S (Washington, D.C.); Kate Davison is 6th EiC. Social Media and Publicity Editor created.
2012: IMPULSE presented at 8th SYNAPSE (USC-Columbia), the 8th FENS (Barcelona), and SfN 38:23.07SA (New Orleans). The 8th RTS
established at Roanoke College.
2013: A DECADE of IMPULSE! M. Cook installed as 7th EiC. The 9th RTS, and first in Europe, established at University of Barcelona, Spain
(Dr. Juan Abolafia). The 10th (UC San Diego, Dr. Jaime Pineda) and 11th (Wake Forest Univ., Dr. Wayne Silver) RTSs came online.
Presentations at 9th SYNAPSE (USC-Columbia) and SfN 39:22.08SA ( San Diego).
2014: IMPULSE presented at 10th SYNAPSE UNC-Asheville) and 9th FENS Forum in Milan, Italy, and SfN 40:24.05SA (Washington, D.C.).
Dana Cobb installed as 8th EiC. Added Brown University as an RTS with FA Dr. Carlos Aizenman, and Carnegie Mellon
University, with Dr. DJ Brasier as FA.
2015: IMPULSE presented at 11th SYNAPSE (UNC-Asheville), 9th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and 45th
SfN Conference (Chicago); Kyle Sasser takes over as 9th EiC.
2016: IMPULSE presented at 12th SYNAPSE (Presbyterian College); Rachel Sledge takes over as 10th EiC.
Oberlin College (USA)
Emma Hahn
Rice University (USA)
Zara Khan
Roanoke College (USA)
Alex Arey, Paige Arrington, Kelsey Collett, Victoria Godwin, Kati Hurt, Aldijana Mekic, Rebecca Ward
Jordan Hall
Rutgers University
Rahul Patel
Salgado de Oliveira University (Brazil)
Hercules Rezende Freitas
Salve Regina University (USA)
Wayne Bainter, Raymond Black, Hanna Cote, Kristen Dostie, Justin Gay, Craig Irving, Karl Varkey,
Gina Varuzzo, Priscilla Villa
Skidmore College (USA)
Jennifer Brown
St. Olaf College (USA)
Amara Balhorn, Stuart Behling, Maia Erickson, Liz Grosse,Annika Lee, Pedro Monque, Roman Tyshynsky,
Jacob Westerberg
Stony Brook University (USA)
Andrew Lee
Tanta University (Egypt)
Samar Morsy Khalil
Trinity College (USA)
Isabella Dahilig
University of Alberta (Canada)
Calvin Howard, Parikshit Chandra Mukerjee, JeeSu Suh
University of California Los Angeles (USA)
Gal Daskal, Brett Neely, Vu Tran, Arielle Tripp
University of California, San Diego (USA)
Wednesday Bushong, Sofia Campos, Katelyn Carmichael, Lala Forrest, Mary Graves, Sara Kimmich,
Edward Nguyen, Nathan Olesen, Thuy-Iinh T Pham, Chris Shenton, Trisha Srivastava, Alan Truong,
Jacob Valadez, Tyler Wishard
University of Colorado, Boulder (USA)
Review Board
Appalachian State University (USA)
Brandon Fields
University of Connecticut (USA)
Hannah Johnson, Zoe Kaplan, Elisabeth Moore, Meghan Pavelka, Courtney Quick,
Rachel Sledge, Cole Sloboda, Sarah Snouse
Margaret Rowland, Tiahna Spencer
University of the Free State (South Africa)
Brooklyn College (USA)
Natalie Collis, Dakota Corett, Louise du Plessis, Julian Eloff, Johann Fourie, Alden Geldenhuys,
Karien Janse van Vuuren, Johan Klinck, Pierre Kriek, Corli Leonard, Sune Liebetrau, Bhavana Natayanan,
Anelle Saaiman, Lisa Sibthorpe, Stefan Spamer, Nicki Steyn, Carl van Heerden, Lbe van Niekerk, Cornel Vermaak
Peter Lee
Brown University (USA)
University of Georgia (USA)
Hye Bin Shin, Dustin Hayden, Olena Kuksenko, Nicolas Ledru, Kurt Pianka,
Ali Razaei, Alexandra Saali, Methma Udawatta
Ayan Hussein
Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
University of Greenwhich (UK)
Ji Heon Han, Luke McDonald, Amira Millette, Mark Nicholas, Brandon Rogowski,
Meredith Schmehl, Erin Sipple, Theodore Teichman, Taisuke Yasuda
Steliana Yanakievs
Colgate University (USA)
University of Kentucky (USA)
Allie Lonneman
Kathryn Welp
University of Kentucky (USA)
College of Charleston (USA)
Hanna Fields
Cornell University (USA)
Jennifer Brown
Davidson College (USA)
Charles Ford, Malcolm Moses-Hampton, Matthew De Niear, Garrett Smith
Dominican University (USA)
Allie Lonneman
University of South Carolina (USA)
Rahoul Ahuja, Sonesh Amin, Nidhi Arashinagundi, Alexis Baker, David Berry, Zachary Blake, Syndey Bromfield, Shravya Budidi, Anna Capps,
Celia Biyun Cui, Selina Chang, Pooja R. Choudhari, Purva R. Choudhari, Lauren Cole, Breana Carter, Darien Davda, Julio C. Diaz,
Hassieb Din, Andrew Dippre, Sarah Erlandson, Tori Espensen-Sturges, Mohammad Fatani, Humna Fayyaz, April Galloway, Lauren Gee,
Alexander Gex, Michael Goyda, Luke Havens, John He, Caroline Hendricks, Molly Higgins, Christine Hsieh, Polina Kopylova, Rachel LeMelfant,
Courtney Marsh, Trevor Morris, Anjali Pathak, Kristen Polinski, Marcia Reeves, Tori Seigler, Alex Teshon, Allie Turgeon
Vanderbilt University (USA)
Andrew Meissen
Drexel University (USA)
Sravanthi Koduri
Duke University (USA)
Jordan Hall
Michael Cross, Lance Lehman, Stacy Yanofsky
Wake Forest University (USA)
Virginia Catherine Cushing, Jordan Hall, Nanami Miyazaki, Eileen McNamara, Hope Peterson, Ian Rosner, Caitlin Suire
Wayne State University (USA)
Emory University (USA)
Jonathan Lin
Furman University (USA)
Samantha Cloutier, Christopher Yoo
Wellesley College (USA)
Paige Miranda
Kate Brokaw, Kyle Duke, Stephanie Manceor, Nathan Moliterno, Jason Pecorella,
Madison Ritter, Arianna Scricco
Faculty Advisors
Lafayette College (USA)
Carlos Aizenmann, Ph.D., Brown University (USA)
DJ Brasier, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
Jacqueline Brittingham, Ph.D., Simpson College (USA)
Kim Cronise, Ph.D., Middlebury College (USA)
Annalize Landman, M.B.Ch.B., University of the Free State (South Africa)
Jeremy Loebach, Ph.D., St. Olaf College (USA)
Leslie Sargent Jones, Ph.D., Appalachian State University (USA) Founding FA
David Nichols, Ph.D., Roanoke College (USA)
Marsha Penner, Ph.D., University of North Carolina (USA)
Jaime Pineda, Ph.D., University of California San Diego, (USA)
Deanna Smith, Ph.D., University of South Carolina (USA)
Wayne Silver, Ph.D., Wake Forest University (USA)
Steven Symington, Ph.D., Salve Regina University (USA)
Site hosted
Victoria Turgeon, Ph.D., Furman University (USA)
Sonia Bhala
Madras Medical College (India)
Vishala Mishra
Middlebury College (USA)
2014 issue
DanVal Braddick, Eliza Jaeger, Adam Glaser, Timothy Ogle, Anna Paritsky
National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan)
Victor Daniel Lee Aplicano
New York University (USA)
2015 issue
Editor-in-Chief
Laura Craciun, Themesap Khan
Nova Southeastern University (USA)
Katie Dabrowski
Supported by The Honors College at Appalachian State Univ., The Dept of Psychology at Middlebury College, the Dept of Biology
at Univ of South Carolina, the Dept of Biology at Salve Regina Univ, the Dept of Biology at Furman Univ, the Dept of Biology at
St. Olaf College, the Dept of Basic Medical Sciences at the Univ of the Free State, the Dept of Psychology at Roanoke College, the
Dept of Biology at Wake Forest Univ, the Dept of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego, the Dept of Neuroscience at Brown
University, the Dept of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon Univ, the Dept of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of
North Carolina, and the Dept of Biology at Simpson College.
impulse@appstate.edu
Rachel Sledge
http://impulse.appstate.edu
Associate Editors
Mng. Editor Exec. Editor Exec. Assoc. Ed.
at
Appalachian State
University
QR codes for website and facebook
Publicity & Social
Media Editors
IMPULSE Reviewer Training Sites:
Exec. Editor
Elisabeth
Moore
Zoe
Kaplan
Hannah
Johnson
Sarah
Snouse
Ali
Rezaei
Meredith
Schmehl
Kate
Brokaw
Anna
Paritsky
Stephanie
Shields
Rebecca
Wood
Blake
Brown
Micah
Watson
Mitch
Thomas
Jana
Badrani
Pierre
Kriek
Katarina
Swaim
Mara
Cowan
Jack
Rutland
Meghan
Pavelka
Courtney
Quick
USC