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
Awestruck and Humbled Amazement
Synaptic Community Connections
Noggin GEARs UP for a Skyview Storm ⚡️
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. APPLY HERE (PSU): Valparaiso - Arte y Cerebros en Chile APPLY HERE (NON-PSU): ARTS AND BRAINS IN CHILE
What will your students remember in five years?
Post by CoreyAnne Russell, Science Teacher, Fort Vancouver High School/Center for International Studies NW Noggin volunteers are honored to work alongside CoreyAnne Russell and other science teachers at Fort Vancouver High School, the Home of the Trappers! Their students have dissected sheep brains and viewed live brain surgeries at Providence St.…
What is brain surgery like?
Post by Sai Kiersarsky, NW Noggin volunteer and Portland State University teaching assistant for the Advanced Neurophysiological Psychology course (Winter term 2019) Sai joined fellow NW Noggin volunteers, along with students and teachers from Fort Vancouver High School last week to attend Providence Brain Watch, an innovative educational outreach program…
The scalpel raised
Post by Michael Deveney, NW Noggin volunteer and Portland State University teaching assistant for the Advanced Neurophysiological Psychology course (Winter term 2019) “Surgeons must be very careful When they take the knife! Underneath their fine incisions Stirs the Culprit – Life!” –Emily Dickinson Michael joined fellow NW Noggin volunteers, along…
Ducks, Fish, Art & Brains!
“Knowing something about the deep origins of humanity only adds to the remarkable fact of our existence: all of our extraordinary capabilities arose from basic components that evolved in ancient fish and other creatures.” ― Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish Going places and reaching out, listening and reflecting, and sharing…
Until the story takes shape
“When we are young, the words are scattered all around us. As they are assembled by experience, so also are we, sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape.” ― Louise Erdrich UPDATE (3/2021): We are so excited to return to Siletz next fall, for a potentially live, in person…
Living like bears
“Haven’t you ever thought of living unconsciously like bears, sniffing the earth, close to pears and the mossy dark, far from human voices and fire?” – On İbrahim Balaban’s Painting “Spring” ― Nâzım Hikmet Black bear skull on Bradley Hill, Oregon Earlier this year, thanks to Wayne Sherrard of Wayne’s Taxidermy…
What color is your…neuron?
Post compiled by Jesse Benefiel, Vice President, PSU Neuroscience Club It’s easy to look at the mechanics of neuroscience and wonder how working scientists do it. Analyzing what those quadrillion synapses mean, studying exceedingly complex systems, using – dare I say it – math; it’s not exactly what everyone might…
The Tracks We Leave
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave” – Santee Sioux Tribe In this post, you will find… Brains vs. computers Your neurons are unusual cells! A “Moore’s Law” for brains? Native history, artists – and ART!! Kanani Miyamoto on Native artists at Intel Intel volunteers make FIFTY…
Rewiring Youth Justice in Oregon
Post written by Kayla Townsley, OHSU (a recent graduate of Portland State University and an NIH BUILD EXITO scholar) “Hunger only for a taste of justice Hunger only for a world of truth” –Tracy Chapman, All That You Have Is Your Soul When I walked through the doors of the MacLaren…
Building Connections through Mentoring
Post by Sulema Rodriguez, Portland State University/NIH BUILD EXITO, Noggin Resource Council member for NIH BUILD EXITO It has been about three months since my return from my NIH internship in Bethesda, Maryland. As I type this, my mind fills up with a plethora of ideas, thoughts, and emotions. Since I…
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!.