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
What Happens to a Young Brain on Opioids?
Lobes in LONDON
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.
Waltzing Mice @ Velo!
Amanda Barkley-Levenson, a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, and Kelsey Holland-Rayle, an illustration major at PNCA (the Pacific Northwest College of Art), teamed up this week to present a lively introduction to the fascinating history of how mice studied in genetic and behavioral research came to be… The tale (tail?) involved…
Drugs, Genes & Waltzing Mice!
Tales from Genetic Research! Mouse fanciers developed unusual, multi-colored, alcohol drinking, even “waltzing” mice – while scientists sought out rodents with unique behaviors and genes. Amanda Barkley-Levenson, a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, and Kelsey Holland-Rayle, a student of illustration at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, will…
NW Noggin at the Gardner School of Arts & Sciences
Today our intrepid Noggin volunteers from WSU Vancouver and Portland State University came to the Gardner School of Arts and Sciences, literally just down the road from WSUV. The middle schoolers have been learning about their brains, with help from their teacher Caitlin Littlefield, and we enjoyed a lively discussion…
Velo Cult: Megan Slaker & Dawn Nielson draw a memorable crowd!
Almost 100 people piled into Velo Cult on Thursday night (10/23) to learn about memories, including drug memories, and innovative efforts to disrupt such memories by removing chemical scaffolding around synapses known as “perineuronal nets…” Megan Slaker, a graduate student in Neuroscience at Washington State University Vancouver, led the crowd in a spirited…
NW Noggin heads to McMinnville!
Four undergraduate neuroscience outreach volunteers from WSU Vancouver (Chelsey Anderson, Matt Wadzita, Grace Hoinowski, and Angela Johnson), and one accomplished Clark County high school student (Alli Probst), brought brains and art projects to Patton Middle School in McMinnville, Oregon on Friday, where 270 8th graders were reading the book “Flowers for Algernon.” We met…
2014 summer outreach complete!
This summer our NW Noggin graduate and undergraduate students from OHSU, PSU, WSUV and PNCA were very busy, both in the lab, in the classroom, in the art studio – and in the community! They were busy collaborating with each other, and learning from each other – and together, 35 of…
NW Noggin on VIDEO
In May (2014) our talented program participants (and PSU undergraduates) Lindsay Craver and Michael Miller debuted their brand new video about NW Noggin at Velo Cult in NE Portland. Watch and enjoy! All About NW Noggin It was part of a “Bikes, brains and beer” event that raised money for…
WSU-V once supported student participation in NW Noggin
The College of Arts and Sciences at WSU-V is making stipends available for undergraduate participation in neuroscience outreach this summer! In addition, they awarded us $2775 to purchase five, well-stocked “outreach kits,” complete with brain models, spiker boxes, dissection kits, art supplies..! Go Cougars! Ahhh…but see what happens later when…
NW Noggin awarded PARC grant!
NW Noggin received five, $750 travel grants from the Portland Alcohol Research Center (PARC) at OHSU to encourage graduate participation in summer outreach! There is another $1250 available in PARC support for outreach materials and supplies… FOR OHSU GRADUATE STUDENTS… We have two remaining $750 Portland Alcohol Research Center (PARC) travel…
NW Noggin wins RACC grant!
NW Noggin was just awarded a Regional Arts & Culture Council grant to support participation by art students from PNCA, PSU and WSU-V in summer 2014 outreach efforts! This will allow us to better support art students who collaborate with science graduates and undergraduates in developing art activities aimed at…
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!.