WHAT: Noggin Brain Board meeting

WHERE: County Cork, 1329 NE Fremont St, Portland, OR 97212

WHEN: Saturday, March 24, 2018, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

The Noggin Brain Board (Jeff Leake, President; John Harkness, Vice President (absent); Bill Griesar, Treasurer; Kindra Crick, Board Secretary) MET at the County Cork on Saturday (3/24) to discuss progress and plans for more innovative arts integrated outreach in the Pacific Northwest…

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BRAIN BOARD

Since our Board retreat in February, 2017, Noggin has visited more than 80 public schools, homeless youth centers, conferences, galleries and bike shop pubs, reaching more than 5000 new academic priority K-12 students and members of the public (including members of Congress) with brains, art and enthusiastic outreach volunteers..!

From this morning’s Women in STEM event: Noggin inspires 🙂

Brain Board members Jeff Leake and Bill Griesar organized and attended every visit, and Bill wrote detailed posts about each one, which are available here…

NOGGIN BLOGGIN

Jeff and Bill also arranged (joyously!) for volunteers to present at their first conferences, including the Society for Neuroscience – both the Oregon Chapter (where Bill serves as the PSU Representative), and at the national conference in Washington, DC. They brought Noggin volunteers into Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to advocate for investment in research and education, and to p:ear, a homeless youth drop in center for a day long public session on “Homelessness & the Brain.” They traveled to Street 14 Cafe in Astoria to discuss caffeine and the brain, to La Grande, Heppner, Ione, Sheridan, Amity, Willamina and Siletz Valley, Oregon for multi-day outreach visits in rural districts, and to the Oregon Arts Education conference in Wilsonville for demonstrations of arts integration in STEM.

“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” –Ursula K. Le Guin

In fall, 2017, Bill and Jeff enthusiastically encouraged volunteers to organize and present the inaugural Noggin Fest, a public extravaganza featuring graduate and postdoctoral research presentations, science-inspired art works, and live music. Board members Kindra Crick and Jeff organized the art auction and Board member John Harkness served as the emcee. This well-attended event at the Alberta Rose Theater raised enough money to send 15 PSU undergraduates, and four from WSU to present multiple posters and run a popular “Art of Neuroscience” booth at the Society for Neuroscience conference in DC, work with over 750 local K-12 students, present on innovative outreach to the House Neuroscience and STEAM caucuses and tour the Cajal exhibit and additional science-related art at the NIH. Noggin was awarded a 2018 “Out of the Ordinary” Juice award by the Regional Arts & Culture Council for giving “children a unique opportunity to learn about neuroscience and the brain using nontraditional, artistic methods that make the information more accessible and impactful.”

LEARN MORE: Noggin Fest 2017

LEARN MORE: From Classrooms to Congress

LEARN MORE: Ten Ways to Support the Arts (& Science!)

Noggin raised thousands of dollars in grants from diverse sources, including Noggin Fest ($7000), the Spirit Mountain Community Fund ($5000), the Society for Neuroscience (complimentary conference registration for 18 students), and the Portland Alcohol Research Center at OHSU ($5000 in supplies) to run our free programs for diverse academic priority K-12 students, and introduce them to the study of their own brains and behavior.

LEARN MORE: Synapses & Stories

Discussions focused on Board communication, Board member responsibilities, expanding and/or changing the Board, current financial status, and plans for future outreach activities, including the upcoming March for Science on April 14, and possible connections in China (congrats to Jeff on winning the Arte Laguna Prize!)…

In it for the awe, student support and service. Educators and innovators at heart. No academic or administrative agenda, no more of the same, no roll up costs or fancy lifetime tenure. We thoroughly enjoy making connections and communicating neuroscience & art 🙂