Most McKnight award winners will tell you that a huge benefit of receiving a McKnight award is the chance to join a community of the nation’s best neuroscientists that they will continue to learn from, interact and collaborate with over their lifetime. Award winners attend the conference for the first four years after receiving the award, and then return to the conference every three years. No other community in neuroscience has this kind of longitudinal impact and that demonstrates such a strong sense of community.
The McKnight Conference on Neuroscience has met in Aspen, Colorado since 1998, and invites over 100 current and previous McKnight awardees every year. The bulk of the conference involves third year current awardees sharing the results of their research and ample opportunities for informal scientific discussion to fuel new ideas and collaborations. An entire session is devoted to a neurological disorder (e.g. Alzheimer’s, Autism, Depression, among others) with specialists invited to speak and host a Q & A.