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
Mushrooms, Psychosis, & Drugs
Spinning Wheels: Anorexia in Research & Art
From classrooms to Congress!
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
High energy Hosford: Tumors, music & drugs!
Another merry band of volunteer neuroscience educators arrived in southeast Portland this morning, eager to make art, show brains and answer questions from 6th graders at Hosford Middle School! We’re fast approaching Brain Awareness Week, an annual celebration of high energy (noradrenergic?) neuroscience outreach initiated by the Dana Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization that supports…
High Desert Noggins: Brains & baby goats!
What is science communication? How do we effectively talk with each other, and learn? In this season of brain awareness, we know from lived experience, extensive outreach – and brain research – that taking risks, including others, going places where established institutions don’t engage, listening to stories and making art…
Trickster Brains @ Shahala
“The trickster’s function is to break taboos, create mischief, stir things up. In the end, the trickster gives people what they really want, some sort of freedom.” – Tom Robbins Detail from “Singing the Souls Back Home,” by Ruth Brockman We love hearing from kids in middle school! Sixth graders…
White Matter on Wy’East
Wy’East is the resonant Wapato tribal name for Oregon’s tallest mountain, currently snow-capped Mount Hood, re-named by white settlers after a British Admiral who both fought against the United States – and never set foot in the Pacific Northwest… LEARN MORE: 7 Northwest Mountains Named For White Men LEARN MORE: KEEPER OF THE FIRE (Tale…
Are brains edible?
Post by Denesa Oberbeck, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, OHSU Another early start for our volunteers, who brought their brains (plus extras!) and knowledge to 6th graders at Shahala Middle School – beginning at 7:45 am! LEARN MORE: Noggins in Nod, The science of sleep We’ve been to Shahala…
Race, Bias & Brain: You Can’t Control Art
“We all have cultural bias, racial bias. One of the difficult things around this subject is to deny that we have places we go to subconsciously, and unless you consciously decide that that’s wrong and you’ve got to do something about it, especially if you’re in a position of power,…
STEAM Ahead @ Ionotropic Irvington
NW Noggin joined the fun at Irvington School this week for the annual Family STEAM Night (STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Mathematics) at this Portland Public K-8… LEARN MORE: How the Sciences & Arts are Coming Together to Drive Innovation We brought more of our motivated, knowledgeable Noggin volunteers, including…
Lab Coats & Lobes @ Liberty!
Post by Jacob Schoen, PSU/OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center Early this morning a dedicated group of NW Noggin volunteers pulled up to Liberty High School with containers full of pipe cleaner neurons, vibrant pink, green and orange 3D printed brain models – and of course REAL human brains! The…
Addressing TBI through research, outreach & art
Post written by Heather Hamilton, NIH BUILD EXITO scholar at Portland State University Through NIH BUILD EXITO at PSU, I was lucky enough to be introduced to NW Noggin. BUILD EXITO is a scholarship that diversifies STEM fields by pairing underrepresented undergraduates with mentors in their fields of interest. I bring diversity…
Meninges over Minter Bridge!
Post by Jessica Patching-Bunch, Noggin Resource Council member NW Noggin volunteers were invited to Minter Bridge Elementary School in Hillsboro on a crisp December morning, ready to take on an energetic class of SIXTY 4th graders followed by another thirty eager 5th graders! We were welcomed by Mrs. Murphy, a 4th…
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!.