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
North Coast Noggins: Art, Alevins & Brains!
Your Inner Worm Bin
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
Voices of Two Worlds: Delving into Mandarin-English Bilingualism
Post by Amy Lin, undergraduate in Public Health Studies: Pre-Clinical Health Sciences pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Getting into research I knew that I was interested in medicine and biomedical science at a young age. Growing up, I attended many medical summer camps that fed into my interests. Although many people…
Did school kill my brain?
Post by Andy Ng, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Andy is a welcome and regular contributor to outreach visits through Northwest Noggin. On average, a young citizen of the United States spends 180 days a year at school, for at least 6 hours a day. From 1st to 12th grade,…
The Science of Sociability
Post by Regina Warila, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Regina is a welcome and regular contributor to outreach visits through Northwest Noggin. Growing Up Takes Time Participating with Northwest Noggin during my final term as a Psychology undergraduate at Portland State University presented me with many questions, the majority of…
When a Western Blot Goes SOUTH
Post by Olivia Monestime, undergraduate in Biology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Olivia is a BUILD EXITO scholar working in Dr. Nora Gray‘s research lab at the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center. Am I a scientist? I wasn’t obsessed with science as a kid. The only…
Psychedelics & Outreach
Our Oregon/Southwest Washington Society for Neuroscience Chapter Meeting is BACK! We happily returned to the McMenamin’s Edgefield for two days of in person research discussions, poster presentations, and a deep dive into the need for more accessible community engagement, participation and outreach. LEARN MORE: Northwest Noggin @ Society for Neuroscience…
A Lit Review of Cannabis Vaping for Pain
Post by Asha Powell-Stormberg, undergraduate in Science pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Asha is a regular contributor to outreach visits through Northwest Noggin, and is currently interning in Dr. Adie Rae Wilson-Poe’s cannabinoid research lab at Legacy Research Institute. I am a senior at Portland State University about to graduate in June. For the last few…
Pre-K, Fish and Logger Lobes!
Our all-volunteer Northwest Noggineers hit the road this spring, leaving busy labs and lecture halls for the wet and stormy mouth of the Columbia River, to learn from bar pilots, cardiologists, graduate students in neuroscience, curious pre-K kids and hundreds of engaged 9th – 12th graders with challenging questions from…
Synapses and Seconds in Sisters
LEARN MORE: NW Noggin Brings Neuroscience Fun to Sisters Students “Forged out of electricity, born ready to run, drunk on the promise of new grass, young evening sun, never quite solving the mystery of where the ropes come from.” — Beth Wood, excerpt from The Ropes We left the drenched Willamette…
Signal from Noise on the Oregon Coast
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla We are immersed in waves! The world is full of energy, and much of it can be described and measured as waves. In Astoria this week, at the turbulent mouth…
The Art & Science of Nostalgia
Post by Hosanna Broderick, undergraduate in Speech & Hearing Sciences pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. I was born in San Francisco and though I grew up north of the bay, I spent a lot of time in the city during my adolescent and young adult years. I experience profound nostalgia…
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!.