We did it!

Noggin Takes DC

WHAT: Noggin at Society for Neuroscience Conference & DC schools!

WHERE: Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt Vernon Pl NW, Washington, DC 20001; Public schools TBA

WHEN: Saturday, November 11 – Wednesday, November 15, 2023

**REGISTER FOR OUR BRIEFING TO CONGRESS (Monday (11/13) 10 – 11:30am) HERE

The Society for Neuroscience conference will bring 30,000 researchers to Washington DC this November, including many of our Northwest Noggin (nwnoggin.org) outreach volunteers.  NW Noggin brings together graduate and undergraduate collaborators from the Pacific Northwest, who since 2012 have developed and delivered their own arts-integrated instruction on the brain and behavior to over 65,000 academic priority students in urban and rural public schools, youth correctional facilities, art museums, breweries, coffee shops, houseless youth centers and more!

LEARN MORE: Noggin @ SfN

LEARN MORE: What is Northwest Noggin?

LEARN MORE: Noggin Bloggin

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2:30pm – 4:00pm
SfN Conference, WCC Hall E
Brain Awareness Campaign Event
Poster Presentation (presenters arrive at 2:00pm)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 10:00 – 11:00am (poster) & 6:00 – 9:00pm (Brainfacts Showcase)
Poster Presentation: 10 – 11am

BrainFacts Showcase, 6 – 9pm
Right Proper Brewing Company, 624 T St NW, Washington, DC 20001
JOIN US for short scientific talks for a science-curious public audience, live music, and the release of a new brain-inspired beer, specially brewed for the event!

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 10:00am – 11:30am
House STEAM and Neuroscience Briefing
Synapses & Schmears!

VIEW INVITATION (.pdf): NW Noggin briefing invitation – 11-13-23

REGISTER FOR THE BRIEFING HERE

BRIEFING SLIDES (.pdf): NW Noggin House Briefing 2023

BRIEFING SLIDES (.ppt): NW Noggin House Briefing 2023

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 8:15am – 3:00pm
Outreach at Inspired Teaching Demonstration School!
200 Douglas St NE, Washington, DC 20002

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin, PSU, OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin, PSU
3. Ben Bolen, PSU, Neuroscience Club President 
4. Kadi Rae Smith, PSU Neuroscience Club Vice President
5. Bee Conn, PSU, Neuroscience Club Science Officer
6. Cassidy Fitzpatrick, PSU, Neuroscience Club Historian
7. Cat Swallow, PSU, Neuroscience Club Event Coordinator
8. Marc Chenard, PSU Neuroscience Club NW Noggin Coordinator
9. Dan Jang, PSU, Neuroscience Club General Officer/Former President
10. Angie P. Mejia, PhD, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota
11. Jonathan Lehman, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota
12. Taylor Rawstern, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota
13. Denesa Lockwood, NW Noggin, OHSU
14. Yasmin Kloth, NIH BRAIN Initiative (8:15am – 11:30am)
15. Mai Habib, NIH BRAIN Initiative (8:15am – 11:30am)
16. Gina Sampson, NIH Brain Initiative (8:15am – 11:30am)
17. Liz Akinbiyi, NIH Brain Initiative (8:15am – 11:30am)

In partnership with the American Brain Coalition, we will visit DC area public schools during that week, introducing them to graduate and undergraduate students, real human brains, and art projects designed to engage and inform young people about how their brains work.

We’ll also present a NORTHWEST NOGGIN BRIEFING TO CONGRESS!

LEARN MORE: NW Noggins Bring #brains2DC!

LEARN MORE FROM 2016 STEAMing to DC..!

The Roundhouse Foundation is providing support for Noggin volunteers to attend the conference  –  we are deeply, deeply grateful to community organizations that let knowledge serve!

NW NOGGIN ABSTRACT

Signal from Noise on the Oregon Coast

GRIESAR, W.S.124, LEAKE, J.123

1Department of Psychology, Portland State University;  2NW Noggin (nwnoggin.org);  3Department of University Studies, Portland State University; 4Department of Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University

DOWLOAD NW NOGGIN POSTER PDF

Northwest Noggin Signals from Noise SfN 2023

Science needs investment. Engaging the public communicates discoveries and builds support for education and research. Integrating arts in STEM (STEAM) and community members from varied fields fosters interdisciplinary engagement, and draws in people not currently overrepresented in neuroscience.

Nonprofit NW Noggin (nwnoggin.org) organizes undergraduates and graduates to collaborate, build community networks and inspire people about neuroscience and art. We bring diverse students excited by research and their own arts-integrated study of the brain and behavior into K-12 public schools, correctional facilities, Congress, houseless youth centers, coffee shops and pubs to hear what people already know and what they’d like to know, and to see where our stories and discoveries from labs and classrooms intersect. We’ve talked with over 65,000 people since 2012!

Our volunteers left labs and lecture halls in spring 2023 to learn from bar pilots, cardiologists, graduate students, curious pre-K kids and 250 engaged 9th – 12th graders with inspiring, challenging questions from rural Oregon public schools.

We love to learn from people with knowledge and experience we do not have, and find where our research might apply. These efforts have deepened connections. Noggin has been invited to Oregon’s North Coast every year since 2019, with meals and housing provided by local businesses and TRIO Clatsop.

Eleven volunteers and 100+ people came to the Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon for a free Noggin talk about energy in waves. We introduced three speakers, each skilled in extracting essential signals from noisy swells. Mark Hails, a Columbia River bar pilot, described wave signals permitting safe navigation around an infamous bar; Tom Hernandez, a PA cardiologist at Columbia Memorial Hospital, taught us to appreciate and measure a blood-borne wave relevant to health and disease; and Randall Olson, a graduate student in Behavioral/Systems Neuroscience at OHSU, explored brain waves contributing to conscious experience and perception.

This presentation began a week of visits to pre-K’s and high schools in Knappa and Astoria. We made brain-related art, examined brain specimens, and discussed diverse topics of local interest, including sleep, psychedelics, fentanyl, elk behavior in response to different hunting techniques, ADHD, anxiety, depression, autism, alcohol, epigenetic impacts of multi-generational trauma, forest bathing, education and career pathways in neuroscience and the development of adolescent brains!

Interdisciplinary outreach informs community understanding, reaches more people, and builds support for investment in research and art.

LEARN MORE: Signal from Noise on the Oregon Coast

LEARN MORE: Pre-K, Fish and Logger Lobes!

PSU Neuroscience Club Abstract