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
PARC and Recreation :)
Synapses and Seconds in Sisters
Joey Seuferling: Institutions must advance…
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
Latino Network Learning & Lobes
Noggin traveled this morning to the Rockwood neighborhood offices of the Latino Network, a Latino-led organization grounded in culturally-specific practices and services that aims to lift up youth and families to reach their full potential… LEARN MORE: LATINO NETWORK We are thrilled to partner with this fellow community nonprofit which…
Transmitters @ TEDx ⚡️
NW Noggin joined our frequent outreach collaborator Youth Engaged in Science (YES!) from the Fair Neuroimaging Lab at OHSU on Saturday at the inspiring TEDx conference in North Portland, to excite visitors with art and information on how our brains develop, and (mostly!) function… TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is…
Occipital lobes at Ogden!
We spent an especially energetic Tuesday engaging our visual systems – and additional brain lobes and networks – with seven consecutive classrooms of 3rd – 5th graders at Peter S. Ogden Elementary in Vancouver Public Schools..! Our enthusiastic, high endurance volunteers included Jobe Ritchie, Alison Mack, Tyler Parr and Aliese…
BBQ, Beer & Brains!
Noggin joined OHSU medical students and graduate students – including many of our outreach specialists – for a welcome barbecue and information fair, complete with Noggin brains, flu shots, Buster’s pulled pork and Widmer IPAs… Our knowledgeable volunteers, including Jordan Ray and Adam Bishop from Portland State University, and Noggin…
Lateral Landscapes: Homelessness & the Brain in Research & Art 10/19
WHAT: Homelessness & the Brain @ p:ear WHERE: p:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave. Portland, OR 97209 WHEN: Thursday, October 19, 10:00am – 1:00pm (9:00am set up for presenters) NW Noggin has been visiting p:ear, laden with plaster casts of cerebral hemispheres! We’ve been discussing plans to present brain research and art related to…
Drink Together, Stay Together?
Curious folk, partnered and not, streamed into our favorite, world-renowned Portland bike bar to learn what current neuroscience research – and art – suggest about alcohol’s effects on social relationships… Our velocipedal venue offers extensive opportunities to explore the role of this popular drug (an array of quality craft beer…
Here We Are in our NW Noggins!
We are all brains, receiving incoming messages about limited aspects of our bodies and landscapes, routing information along distributed, developing networks of wire-like cellular processes, and coupling this relevant electrochemical flow to outputs which move muscles and generate our complex human behavior… I enjoyed a great conversation last month with…
Noggin Fest October 11th!!
Post by Jesse Hamlin, Noggin Resource Council member for music and performance UPDATE: See how it went! Noggin Fest 2017! As you may well have heard, NW Noggin is headed to DC this fall to bring brains to DC area public schools and present on arts integration, research, outreach, and…
Dancing dendrites @ Camas 4 Kids!
With fires still raging in the Columbia River Gorge, Noggin returned to the annual Camas 4 Kids Health Fair under smoky yellow skies, along with our popular brains, pipe cleaners and outreach volunteers… LEARN MORE: Portland has the worst air quality in the country We arrived at the impressive Doc Harris…
Noggin mug winner in Astoria!
Post written by Noggin volunteer Kim Engeln (OHSU) Last weekend I hit the road to bring the neuroscience of caffeine and alcohol to beautiful Astoria, Oregon with Alfredo Zuñiga, Jacob Schoen, Jeff Leake, and Bill Griesar… I was so excited to hear that our talk back in April at Velo…
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?.