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
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Minibrains, Music, Estrogen, Art & Sleep!
Dear NW Noggin…
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
Making art and making brains
Post by Kasey Judd, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. “Hello, my name is Kasey and I am studying Psychology and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University. I think brains are fascinating!” — Kasey Judd, undergraduate at PSU This is typically what I’d say as we briefly introduced ourselves…
Curiosity for the Noggin
Post by Conner Corbett, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Conner is a 2023 McNair scholar. My Journey to Research Growing up I have always had a deep curiosity for the brain. I was puzzled and intrigued by the trivia facts that are commonly told to kids, such as…
Fentanyl On The Brain
Post by Rebecca Chevrel, undergraduate in Social Science and Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. My name is Rebecca Chevrel. I’m in my senior year of undergrad at Portland State University, pursuing a double major in Psychology and Social Science, and a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. I’ll be 44 when I…
Why does my brain FREEZE?!
Post by Alexandria Bills, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. My name is Alexandria Bills, and I am a senior at Portland State University (PSU) pursuing a degree in Psychology and a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. I am also co-president of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanic and…
A Hippocampal Halloween
Happy Halloween! We LOVE visiting King Elementary in Northeast Portland, and couldn’t have chosen a better date to return! Halloween will forever be on our schedule for future Noggin school outreach, and King is one of our favorite and most memorable community connections. Memory and the Brain Certain kinds of…
Listening at MacLaren
Northwest Noggin returned to the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility this fall, to meet with more young people curious about the brain, and the policy implications of ongoing neuroscience research on adolescent development, bias, trauma, drugs, and mental health in terms of education, healthcare, criminal justice and the law. We’ve visited…
Brains in Boise
A huge thanks to Geof Garner, the President of the National Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (NAEOP), for inviting Northwest Noggin to their annual conference in Boise Idaho! This was our THIRD conference workshop on interdisciplinary neuroscience outreach for NAEOP, following earlier presentations in Bellevue, Washington and Gleneden Beach, Oregon.…
Butterflies in my brain!
It’s fall, the leaves are changing, and Noggin volunteers are heading back into public schools, correctional facilities, houseless youth nonprofits, neuroscience conferences and even Congress! Imagine that! BRAINS IN CONGRESS: Noggin at SfN, DC schools – and the U.S. House! LEARN MORE: Noggin Event Calendar! LEARN MORE: The last time…
Las neuronas son bacánes!
Jeff Leake and Bill Griesar of Northwest Noggin are teaching a NEW interdisciplinary neuroscience course NEXT SUMMER (2025) in the extraordinary art and brain research saturated coastal city of Valparaíso, Chile! Anyone is welcome, and for undergraduates at Portland State University this course can fulfill the PSY 403: Outreach requirements…
Long skinny lightning in Siletz
“Sabía poco, pero al menos sabía eso: que nadie habla por los demás. Que aunque queramos contar historias ajenas terminamos siempre contando la historia propia”—Alejandro Zambra Storytelling and the brain Storytelling has a long history, and it’s a powerful and accepted method of teaching science. Research finds that curricula which…
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!.