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
What about the glia?
Making a human @ P:ear
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
The Homunculus Dance @ Skyridge
Our enthusiastic Noggin crew joined Ms. Morrisey and three of her very knowledgeable middle school classes this last Friday from 9:20 to 1:50. The students were well prepared with questions, and already knew a surprising amount about the brain. We gamely discussed everything from why we sleep and dream, to what…
Creative Wiring: Art and Brains @ PSU
Noggin volunteers generated a little STEAM this week, during a visit to Sarah Morgan’s arts classroom at Portland State University… Art students joined Lauren Wilgus, Austin Howard, Jacob Schoen and Alex Voigt from PSU to discuss how the arts engage and motivate, and allow for personal, relevant, creative expression and exploration of ideas and…
NW Noggin featured in SfN Neuronline
The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is the world’s largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 40,000 members in more than 90 countries and 130 chapters worldwide. Neuronline is the SfN members-only home for learning and…
Developing brains @ Discovery
Our Noggin volunteers returned to Discovery Middle School this Tuesday for more creative art and brains with science teacher Sam Barnhart’s 7th grade classes. Alex Voigt, Erin McConnell, Justin Case, Gil Brady, Jacob Schoen, Jason Koch, Danae Brown, and Kayla Stippich from Portland State, and Rosie Salice and Essence Zundel…
Driving dendrites @ Discovery!
A nice crowd of Noggin volunteers spent their Friday afternoon with science teacher Nina Gross’ enthusiastic 7th grade students at Discovery Middle School in Vancouver. We were guests of Nina’s, and her fellow science teacher Sam Barnhart, whose classes many of us will return to visit next Tuesday… Hilary Frey and Austin Howard of…
Your brain is plastic @ Velo!
Noggin packed the bike house Wednesday, for an informative, entertaining look at how brains encode memories, covering both genetic and “epi-genetic” contributions to why you remember what you remember, and do what you do… Dr. John Harkness, a postdoc in Barbara Sorg’s former Neuroscience lab at WSU Vancouver, teamed up with celebrated…
Brain Watch Wednesday!
Thanks to the extraordinary Brain Watch program at Providence St. Vincent Hospital, three high school teachers, one Noggin volunteer, and twelve Noggin high school participants from McCoy Academy, Skyview and Fort Vancouver High Schools witnessed brain surgery today… Angela Fojtik, a Biology teacher at Skyview, brought along Noah Tukhashvili (who…
Velo in January: Memory, Art, Genes, and Bikes!
Join us for an evening with internationally renowned artist Kindra Crick, and Dr. John Harkness from the Sorg lab at WSU Vancouver, on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27th, from 6 – 8pm..! WHAT: Remembering is who we become How neurogenetics influence our preferences, memories and personalities… Kindra Crick and John Harkness WHEN:…
Hippocampal hordes at HeLa High
Ten Noggin volunteers visited Henrietta Lacks High School in Vancouver this week, with a well-traveled bucket of human brains, to talk neuroscience with several hundred students curious about everything from gender identity, music and memory, to anxiety, brain eating amoebas and sleep… (Picture by Alex Voigt) Our brainy team brought in several undergraduates from Portland State University (during…
I am thankful…for my brain!
An enthusiastic band of Noggin volunteers met an exuberant and well-informed classroom of 4 and 5 years olds this morning, who had been eagerly learning, and singing, about their changing brains! Kindergarten teacher Kelsey Day welcomed us into her friendly classroom at WSU Vancouver, where students already knew all about…
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?.