Always Room for Growth

Post by Abubakar Nur, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University.  I’m an undergraduate at PSU, and I’m pursuing an interdisciplinary neuroscience minor. This Halloween I joined my fellow undergrads, along with graduate students and scientists from the nearby Oregon National Primate Research Center, for a visit to Dr. Martin…

Continue reading

Noggin Takes DC

“I just hope that more people will ignore the fatalism of the argument that we are beyond repair. We are not beyond repair. We are never beyond repair.” — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Brains change, but they also develop routines, and adult brains are less plastic and more fixed in their neural…

Continue reading

Je pense, donc je suis: Traversing tricky topics through outreach

Post by Dan Jang, an undergraduate triple majoring in Computer Science, Biomedical Physics and General Science, and also pursuing a double minor in Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University. Dan is a PSU Neuroscience Club General Officer (’21-’24) and served as Club President (’22-’23). “Je pense, donc je suis,” an insight…

Continue reading

Making art and making brains

Post by Kasey Judd, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University.  “Hello, my name is Kasey and I am studying Psychology and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University. I think brains are fascinating!” — Kasey Judd, undergraduate at PSU This is typically what I’d say as we briefly introduced ourselves…

Continue reading

Curiosity for the Noggin

Post by Conner Corbett, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Conner is a 2023 McNair scholar. My Journey to Research Growing up I have always had a deep curiosity for the brain. I was puzzled and intrigued by the trivia facts that are commonly told to kids, such as…

Continue reading

Fentanyl On The Brain

Post by Rebecca Chevrel, undergraduate in Social Science and Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. My name is Rebecca Chevrel. I’m in my senior year of undergrad at Portland State University, pursuing a double major in Psychology and Social Science, and a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. I’ll be 44 when I…

Continue reading

Why does my brain FREEZE?!

Post by Alexandria Bills, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. My name is Alexandria Bills, and I am a senior at Portland State University (PSU) pursuing a degree in Psychology and a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. I am also co-president of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanic and…

Continue reading

A Hippocampal Halloween

Happy Halloween! We LOVE visiting King Elementary in Northeast Portland, and couldn’t have chosen a better date to return! Halloween will forever be on our schedule for future Noggin school outreach, and King is one of our favorite and most memorable community connections. Memory and the Brain Certain kinds of…

Continue reading

Listening at MacLaren

Northwest Noggin returned to the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility this fall, to meet with more young people curious about the brain, and the policy implications of ongoing neuroscience research on adolescent development, bias, trauma, drugs, and mental health in terms of education, healthcare, criminal justice and the law. We’ve visited…

Continue reading

Brains in Boise

A huge thanks to Geof Garner, the President of the National Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (NAEOP), for inviting Northwest Noggin to their annual conference in Boise Idaho! This was our THIRD conference workshop on interdisciplinary neuroscience outreach for NAEOP, following earlier presentations in Bellevue, Washington and Gleneden Beach, Oregon.…

Continue reading