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
How do you find a job in a lab?
What about the glia?
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
Little People Large Study
Research on child brain development Post by Salma Nassar, an undergraduate majoring in Psychology and minoring in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience and Community Health at Portland State University. How I got involved in research Academic planning is a passion of mine. Besides doing it for myself I often help friends form a…
Medication free with ADHD?
Post by Kayla Dagnino, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Kayla joined outreach visits with Northwest Noggin this fall. Visiting Leodis McDaniel High School in Portland, Oregon, I noticed that the students were very inquisitive about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and what it…
COVID in the Classroom
Post by Alyssa Showalter, undergraduate in Psychology and Social Science pursuing two minors in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience and Sociology at Portland State University. Towards the end of last summer I was cramming in all my trips to various cities before fall term started at Portland State. My last trip ended with…
Slow Down, You’re Doing Fine
Post by Maha Mukhtar, senior undergraduate at Portland State University pursuing a bachelors degree in Psychology with a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. This fall term she is a part of the Northwest Noggin outreach program. This fall I’ve been visiting Portland area public classrooms, teaching kids about the brain and…
Every day is Halloween
Halloween is now always on our schedule for Noggin outreach, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Northeast Portland is one of the most creative places to spend the day! LEARN MORE FROM LAST YEAR: A Hippocampal Halloween We brought a large contingent of excited volunteers to King,…
Do salmon laugh?
Post by Jennifer Logan, Honors undergraduate in Psychology and Indigenous Nations and Native American Studies pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Jennifer is a regular volunteer participant in outreach through Northwest Noggin. We enjoyed an afternoon with curious 4th graders at Sunnyside Environmental School this fall, making…
Show me the glia!
Post by Conner Corbett, Psychology/Interdisciplinary Neuroscience graduate from Portland State University, Clinical Research Assistant at Oregon Health & Science University, PSU Neuroscience Club Alumni Advisor, and recipient of a 2024 NW Noggin Glial Grant. Funding and Politics Before you go to graduate school, please know this: funding and the university…
Missing limbs at McDaniel
Leodis McDaniel High School is where Northwest Noggin got its name! Years ago, when we began visiting classrooms with our undergraduates and graduates to talk neuroscience and make art, we joined forces briefly with a federal grant program known as GEAR UP, volunteering in the summer at what was then…
NogginFest 2024!!!
Putting on NogginFest each year as a totally free, accessible presentation of local Northwest artists, musicians and neuroscience researchers – the largest student-run celebration of interdisciplinary neuroscience in our art and brain-saturated region – isn’t an easy lift! LEARN MORE: NOGGINFEST! But we have extraordinarily creative and resourceful undergraduates at…
Why do we think too hard?
Post by Melissa Garcia, an undergraduate at Portland State University pursuing a major Psychology with a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. Why do I feel trapped in my mind? Why I can’t escape myself? Thoughts like these can impact people who live under pressure and face stress in their lives. I’ve…
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?.