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
Psychedelic Portland
Ask Me Anything: Science Reddit Noggin AMA!
Brains are xumxum @ Willamina
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
Hella Bright at HeLa
NW Noggin returned to Susie Ridgeway’s science classroom at Henrietta Lacks High School (HeLa High) in Vancouver this week, after our two previously scheduled visits were scuttled by snowpocalypses..! We assembled quite a crowd of volunteers educators, including Sulema Rodriguez, Allana Zuccaro, Jessica Patching-Bunch and Kayla Stippich from Psychology at Portland…
Love & Brains @ P:ear
“Alas poor Yorick’s” Shakespearean skull – and a whole skeleton! – greeted our NW Noggin volunteers on a Tuesday return to P:ear..! We are thrilled to be back at this extraordinary and essential community nonprofit, which provides a warm, supportive, arts-filled educational space in downtown Portland, filled with caring staff and volunteers for young people,…
Shahala Synesthesia!
Another big day of noggins and art at Shahala Middle School, in Evergreen Public Schools, this time with more than 200 5th graders! We also welcomed a larger crew of enthusiastic volunteers, including Scott Jones from Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, Andrea Anaya, Aliese Poole, Jessica Patching-Bunch and Sulema Rodriguez from Psychology…
Synapses @ Shahala!
Our intrepid Noggin volunteers visited Shahala Middle School in Vancouver’s Evergreen Public School District this morning, to meet with six classes of 6th graders eager to learn about their brains! We had some seasoned outreach volunteers, including Gaile Parker and Noggin Resource Council member Jessica Patching-Bunch, both recent graduates of the Department of…
Noggin returns to P:ear 🍐!
Noggin is returning to P:ear, a remarkable Portland organization aimed at building positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation to affirm their personal worth and help them create more meaningful and healthier lives… We are excited to communicate science through the extraordinary volunteer efforts of our talented graduate…
Feeling no pain @ Velo!
A huge crowd of curious people streamed into Velo Cult eager to learn about local, federally funded research on how chemicals in marijuana might help in the treatment of chronic pain, and also hear from creative Portland musicians Bob Desaulniers and Tony Remple… This is becoming a season of public cannabis research presentations…
Living brain, successful surgery
Noggin was honored to bring 30 high school students, teachers and our own volunteers to Providence St. Vincent hospital this morning, to participate in the Providence School Outreach Brain Watch program, and view an actual surgery on a living patient’s brain..! We arrived EARLY, around 6:15am, and major props to all…
Observing the living brain in surgery
This year Noggin is honored to bring thirty curious high school students, outreach volunteers from Portland State University and WSU Vancouver, and school chaperones to Providence St. Vincent hospital for their extraordinary Brain Watch program – to view an actual brain surgery from start to finish! SOURCE: Robert Ludlow, University College London Institute of…
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…
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?.