Where is NW Noggin?
Our innovative graduate and undergraduate art and neuroscience volunteers are Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) Juice award-winning developing experts in science communication, synapsing for science, and teaching in schools, theaters, museums, urban and rural communities, homeless youth centers, breweries, correctional facilities, Congress and bike shop pubs! For more information see NOGGIN BLOGGIN.NW Noggin is a locally sourced, 501(c)(3) ALL-VOLUNTEER shoestring nonprofit organization. Your tax-deductible contribution supports the purchase of sheep brains, pipe cleaners, electrodes and clay for innovative, arts-integrated outreach, and helps send volunteers from local universities (including Portland State University, OHSU, and other area institutions) to public school classrooms, conferences and free community events.
DONATE HERE!
LEARN MORE: Community Neuroscience: How to Build an Outreach Organization
NW Noggin: Art + Brains
Synapses and Seconds in Sisters
An axe to the head
What is brain surgery like?
Join us in Chile in 2025!
Please join us SUMMER 2025 in Valparaíso, Chile - the home of the Humboldt squid! 🦑⚡️🧠🎨😃 We'll explore how neurons carry information, and how research in Chile (involving the squid’s giant fused axons) led to our understanding of the electrical signaling that links our experiences to the world. We’ll visit laboratories to examine the rich history and exciting present of research at the Universidad de Chile en Valparaíso, make art (including arpilleras, woven depictions of experience that help people express challenging memories and preserve them for accountability), and contribute to community engagement through Ciencia al Tiro, a local STEAM (STEM + Arts) outreach nonprofit. We may even create a public mural celebrating famed neurology patient Phineas Gage, who lived for several years after his infamous accident - and drove a stagecoach - in the city of Valpo!
LEARN MORE: LAS NEURONAS SON BACANES.
Bilingualism is Cool!
Post by Lidia Echeverria-Garcia and Ziru Bolen, Bilingual Graduate Student Clinicians, Communication Disorders & Sciences, University of Oregon. LEARN MORE: 双语很酷！ LEARN MORE: ¡Ser bilingüe es maravilloso! TAKE THE SURVEY Please click on the link to take this survey when you finished reading the blog post – thank you! Many…
Enamored by Neuroscience!
Post by Grace Taylor, undergraduate Psychology major and interdisciplinary neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Grace joined Noggin outreach volunteers at the gorgeous new MLK Elementary in Vancouver Public Schools this month, including fellow PSU undergraduates Yasaman Farhand, Britta Harbury, Sydney Watson, Elizabeth Munk, Lauren Kuiper and Annabella Showerman. We love brains This April…
Art, brains & GUTS at Ogden!
Post by Tonia Bautista, undergraduate Psychology major and interdisciplinary neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Tonia joined Noggin outreach volunteers at Ogden Elementary in Vancouver Public Schools this month, including fellow PSU undergraduates Yasaman Farhand, Britta Harbury, Kristin Preston, Roman Cimkovich, Elizabeth Munk, Lauren Kuiper, Hannah Shawo, Tira Gaston and…
Moving beyond paywalls and jargon
Post by Britta Harbury, interdisciplinary neuroscience and honors undergraduate at Portland State University. Britta regularly contributes to outreach through NW Noggin, and was invited to help present on innovative, student-led community engagement and mental health by Oregon TRIO at their 2022 annual conference on the Oregon coast. Neuroscience is a…
Lightning in a Berry
Post by Kilsi Naanee, undergraduate in interdisciplinary neuroscience at Portland State University and Biology teacher at Franklin High School in Portland Public Schools. Kilsi organized Noggin visits to Franklin this spring, and wrote about his experience. Planning for outreach There are so many moving parts trying to plan for an…
Interested in Research? Here’s what I gained from my volunteer experience in a neurobiology lab
Post by Tiarra Jacoby, undergraduate at Portland State University Volunteering at Legacy Research Institute (LRI) for Dr. Haiying Shen in the R.S. Dow Neurobiology Laboratories for the past few months has been an unforgettable experience. From day one, the research associates I’ve worked with have made me feel right at…
Lobes in LONDON
“London always reminds me of a brain. It is similarly convoluted and circuitous. A lot of cities, especially American ones like New York and Chicago, are laid out in straight lines. Like the circuits on computer chips, there are a lot of right angles in cities like this. But London…
Gathertown, Gathertown en ervaar het verhaal van de Nederlandse Noggin
Post by Austin Howard, MA, Radboud University. Austin was a member of the Portland State University Neuroscience Club and an enthusiastic Northwest Noggin volunteer! LEARN MORE: From Hamlet to hemorrhaging On the 12 of February three intrepid Noggineers assembled back in town, Gathertown. The occasion? The Hersenolympiade 2022 (Dutch for the ‘brain olympiade’ 2022). READ POST…
Tired Trappers at Fort
So while last week’s freezing temperatures drove us inside a large, well-ventilated gym for K-5 students at Washington Elementary… LEARN MORE: Hands on Brains! THIS week a literal atmospheric river of Northwest rain led us to plan to station our volunteers, noggins and art under a generous outdoor tent at…
Hands on Brains!
“This is so cool! I love hands on stuff – even hands on BRAINS!” —3rd grader at Washington Elementary in Vancouver Public Schools On a brisk, chilly, windy morning, with temps hovering around freezing, some awesome and talented undergraduate and graduate students arrived early at Washington Elementary in Vancouver to…
Synapsing in San Diego
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” ―Maya Angelou.
Our AMAZING volunteers organized the largest all ages Art & Neuroscience Festival in the Pacific Northwest! We offered live bands, science-inspired art, neuroscience research presentations, and the chance to ask questions and examine real brains! The fifth annual Noggin Fest helped send more young scientists and artists to the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego - and into San Diego Unified Public Schools! LEARN MORE @ Brains Beyond SfN!.