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.
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LEARN MORE: Community Neuroscience: How to Build an Outreach Organization
NW Noggin: Art + Brains
NW Noggin: Interview with the Dana Foundation!
Hey Vancouver: Let Kids Sleep!
Honest selves @ Hosford
Join us in Chile in *2027*!
In 2027 we'll return to Valparaíso, Chile, home of the Humboldt squid! 🦑⚡️🧠🎨😃 Just like in 2025, and 2023, we'll explore how neurons carry information, and how research in Chile (involving the squid’s giant fused axons) informed 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 with Ciencia al Tiro, a local STEAM (STEM + Arts) outreach nonprofit.
LEARN MORE: LAS NEURONAS SON BACANES. LEARN MORE: Valparaiso - Arte y Cerebros en Chile LEARN MORE: ARTS AND BRAINS IN CHILE
David Jacobs walks us through a research paper
Post by David Jacobs, Behavioral Neuroscience, OHSU Neuroscience gets more complicated every day and the media does not always paint a detailed or accurate portrayal of what is being discovered. Thinking critically is a pivotal part of the scientific process, but the public is not always offered ways to assess…
Noggins & Noodles @ SfN!
Post by Louis Sumrall, President, Portland State University Neuroscience Club This month, we (the PSU Neuro Club + NW Noggin) traveled to San Diego to the enormous convention center to present our own posters, attend symposia on cutting edge neuroscience, talk with the cool schools there about their work, make…
Sciencepalooza!
Robots, earthquakes, infrared technology, math games, slime, and more came to Meriwether Lewis Elementary School in Portland last month – along with some Noggin brains! Susan Rosenkranz, a medical anthropologist, graphic designer and Lewis parent organized the school’s first Sciencepalooza, a new PTA sponsored event featuring interactive STEAM based activities…
Synapsing in San Diego @ SfN!
“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 Brain Awareness Campaign Event Action and Potential in Outreach, Education, and Research It was a joy and honor to present the keynote address on brain…
Joanne Trzcinski on Synapses, Stories & Song!
Impressions of Synapses, Stories, and Song Post by Joanne Trzcinski, Director of the Pathways to Healthcare Careers program, Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center (OPAHEC). Joanne helped plan and implement our Spirit Mountain Community Fund backed outreach to Lincoln and Yamhill County schools. LEARN MORE: Synapses, Stories & Song! LEARN MORE: In the Spirit…
“You get me!” @ Creative Science
NW Noggin fielded another crowd of eager outreach volunteers for a day at Creative Science, a Portland Public “focus option” K-8 school where “students are encouraged to be independent thinkers, learners, and problem solvers…” LEARN MORE: Creative Science School We’d enjoyed another day of art and brains back in 2015,…
At risk of being risky: Teenage brains & Oregon’s Measure 11
Post by Emma Schifsky, Oregon Health & Science University Emma is a Research Assistant in the Fair Neuroimaging Lab at OHSU, and recently joined Noggin at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility for discussions with young people incarcerated under Oregon’s Measure 11. I enjoyed our visit to the MacLaren Youth Correctional…
In the Spirit of Learning
NW Noggin recently collaborated with the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, the Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center, the Native American Network at Intel, Siletz Valley School, and Amity and Willamina High Schools to bring 15 #sciart outreach volunteers (including undergraduate and graduate students from Portland State University, OHSU…
Noggin Fest 2018: The Beauty of the Brain
Post by Louis Sumrall, President, Portland State University Neuroscience Club We did it!! More Noggin Fest posts are coming soon…but please check out what this two day celebration of art, music & brain research helped support..! Synapsing in San Diego @ SfN! LEARN MORE: Nonprofit Noggins DOWNLOAD: Noggin Fest Press Release…
Corrections, Bias & Brains
“We have a tendency sometimes to almost take for granted or think it’s normal” that so many young people have been locked up. “It’s not normal,” he said. “It’s not what happens in other countries. What is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. What is normal is young people making…
What is outreach like?
“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 Northwest Noggin undergraduate and graduate outreach volunteers are enthusiastic and informed, and regularly let knowledge serve by going places, making art, exploring brain research, sharing stories and listening to community questions and interests in urban and rural K-12 public schools, coffee shops, museums, correctional facilities, houseless youth nonprofits, research conferences, Congress and more! LEARN MORE @ What is outreach like?.