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
Voices of Two Worlds: Delving into Mandarin-English Bilingualism
Do You Wake Up Tired?
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
A full day of brains at OMSI
And a full house of NW Noggin volunteers, including Grace Hoinowski, Brittany Wouden, Chelsey Anderson, Sarah Neveux, Angela Morrelli, Angela Johnson, and Max Neideigh from WSU Vancouver, and Sarah Loftus, Lauren Wilgus, Amanda Yancy, Julian Rodriguez, Aldair Rodriguez, Alex Voigt, Allie Clark, Austin Howard, and Sam DeLuche from PSU… We…
NW Noggin @ the Newmark: Christof Koch
Our students from WSUV and PSU staffed a busy information table and new display, built by Jeff Leake, to speak about our outreach efforts in Portland and Vancouver at the Newmark Theater in downtown Portland on Monday night… We were there to hear renowned neuroscientist Christof Koch, the Chief Scientific Officer of the…
I feel your pain @ Velo Cult (3/19)
Chronic pain torments more Americans than heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined, yet its neurobiological basis remains a mystery, and successful treatment is rare. Researchers at OHSU and elsewhere are now exploring the powerful influence of social and environmental factors on the experience of chronic pain, and how understanding empathy…
Your creative, lying brain – at Velo!
This week our Velo crowd explored how memories depend on changes in neuron connections (i.e., synapses), and how these changes require expression of specific genes… Christie Pizzimenti, a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, enthusiastically described her research on how PTSD and substance use disorders involve powerful “excitatory” memory expression in the wrong contexts; that…
A Biochemical “Cascade”..!
Ten enthusiastic, multi-state, undergraduate NW Noggin volunteers from WSU Vancouver and Portland State University spent an entire day at Cascade Middle School in Vancouver, Washington – home to 900 curious and adventurous 6th through 8th graders! Our undergraduates gained tremendous real world experience in these classrooms, and enjoyed the chance to practice their…
Battle Ground Brains!
Our Noggin volunteers from WSU Vancouver and Portland State headed up interstate 5 today for an afternoon discussing neurons, networks, and the functional contributions of different brain regions with 180 curious students at CAM Junior and Senior High School in Battle Ground, WA… Our talented undergrads took charge of the microphone, and engagingly explained the…
Music @ Velo: Mouse syllables and guitar!
The neuroscience of sound chorused with the beauty of classical guitar in a joint, jam-packed NW Noggin sponsored performance at Velo Cult… Elena Mart, a graduate student in Neuroscience at WSU Vancouver worked alongside Ryan Walsh, an acclaimed classical guitarist and student of neuroscience from Portland State, to deliver an entertaining and informative…
Upcoming! Song of the Noggin: How your brain processes sound, speech and music
NW Noggin is thrilled to continue our ongoing Science and Art event collaboration with Velo Cult Bike Shop! Join us January 22nd from 6:00-8:00pm Sound Matters! Join presenter Elena Mahrt, a PhD candidate at WSU Vancouver, as she discusses the beauty and complexity of everyday sounds, and how our…
Brains for 437 @ HeLa High!
Our skilled undergraduate outreach participants, a total of twelve from WSU Vancouver and Portland State University, led multiple discussions of brain structure and function for wave upon wave of high school students at HeLa High School in Vancouver this morning… We arrived early, and split into two rooms: the library for…
Brain Health at Sabin K-8
Our Noggin volunteers from WSU Vancouver and Portland State spent two afternoons speaking with 6th through 8th graders at Sabin K-8, a PPS school in Northeast Portland… We spoke in four Health classes about adolescent brain development, and concrete steps we all can take to improve brain health, including good sleep,…
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!.