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
From classrooms to Congress!
Landscapes of the Brain: Seeing us all through research & art
Students & Stories : Tales of Acquired Brains
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.
Chronic Pain + Mary Jane
Ram Kandasamy from WSU Vancouver presents research on cannabinoids and chronic pain along with Portland musicians Bob Desaulniers and Tony Remple at the incomparable Velo Cult Bicycle Repair Shop and Pub! UPDATE: Click here for pics, description and music links from this Noggin Velo event! VELO CULT FLYER (pdf): Chronic Pain & Mary Jane WHAT: Chronic Pain &…
A network grows in San Diego 🌴
NW Noggin organized outreach visits to two public elementary schools in sunny California earlier this fall… 🌴🌴 We were in San Diego to present our posters and discuss brain awareness with 30,000 brain researchers at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference… LEARN MORE: Art & Science @ SfN 2016 LEARN MORE: Cortical Connections in San…
Build your brain for finals!
Noggin is partnering with the WSU Vancouver library this week to offer pipe cleaners and instructions on building your own neurons! Relieve stress by twisting colorful wires into the brain cells you’re exercising while preparing for final exams… 🙂 “Christmas neuron” by Lilian Nguyen (WSU Vancouver) You’re welcome to hold on to…
The Art & Science of Stress @ Velo
“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” -Hans Selye “Inspired by the HPA axis,” by Kanani Miyamoto Final exams, politics, holidays, implicit and explicit bias – it’s no wonder people feel stressed these days. Yet stress can also be beneficial, and there are steps we can…
Noggin @ Velo Cult: Balance v. Stress!
Stressed out, burned out: Strategies to stay balanced from the studio and lab. Tamasen Hayward, a Neuroscience graduate researcher in the Coffin Lab at WSU Vancouver, gives you the inside scoop on stress, discusses when stress is good and when it’s too much, and suggests ways to manage stress based on proven…
Enter the Cerebral Wilderness @ Gallery 114 (12/1 & 12/10)
WHAT: Jeff Leake & Kindra Crick, “Cerebral Wilderness Artwork” WHERE: Gallery 114, 1100 NW Glisan, Portland, OR. 97209 WHEN: First Thursday, December 1, 6:00 – 9:00pm Artists Kindra Crick and Jeff Leake examine the impact of memory and place on one’s inner and outer identity. For over a year they have…
Nonprofit Noggins!
We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit! Northwest Noggin received federal 501(c)(3) status on November 15, 2016. Contributions – which let us purchase sheep brains, pipe cleaners, electrodes and modeling clay for outreach, plus send our graduate and undergraduate volunteers from Portland State University, Oregon Health & Sciences University and other area institutions to public schools,…
Bound in a Net of Memories
“My old addiction, changed the wiring in my brain…” – from “Chet Baker’s Unsung Swan Song,” by David Wilcox Compelling NW Noggin outreach by artist Kindra Crick and neuroscience postdoc Dr. John Harkness is featured in an article by Kindra in the November issue of Interalia Magazine, an online publication dedicated to the interactions between the arts, sciences and…
Art & Science @ SfN 2016
Our trip to the annual Society For Neuroscience conference in San Diego this year was really about the need for science outreach in public schools, and the effectiveness of arts integration as a vehicle for learning. We were fortunate this year to be offered a booth in the Art of…
Cortical Connections in San Diego Schools!
After three enjoyable days of poster presentations, nano-symposia, exhibitor swag and excellent conversations with fellow neuroscience educators and SfN staff about arts integration in STEM… And quite a lot of neuron selfies… 🙂 Bill Griesar, Jeff Leake, and their pipecleaner neurons represent at the #brainweek event. #nwnoggin #sfn16 pic.twitter.com/BkCKLUjZN1 —…
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!.