I am an Assistant Professor in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University, affiliate graduate faculty in Behavioral & Systems Neuroscience (BEST) at OHSU, and co-founder and Neuroscience Coordinator for the nonprofit Northwest Noggin. At PSU I helped create and now supervise our innovative Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor.

I LOVE TEACHING and exploring how networks of linked neurons and glia underlie perception, cognition and behavior. My dissertation in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU examined nicotine effects on spatial attention, time perception, and boredom in non-smokers. I completed this research in Dr. Barry Oken's lab.

In addition to teaching at PSU, I supervise an OHSU graduate teaching practicum, and bring extra brains and art into K-12 classrooms, houseless youth centers, coffee shops, correctional facilities, art museums and pubs. I’m fascinated by the power of art to engage students in STEM fields, and my courses and outreach efforts involve art projects, and collaboration with artists and arts institutions.

Along with artist and educator Jeff Leake, I co-founded NW Noggin (Northwest Neuroscience Outreach Group:  Growing in Networks, www.nwnoggin.org), a robust, creative, entirely volunteer driven non-profit (EIN: 81-3885713) that brings scientists, artists and students of all ages together to share their expertise, enthuse young people about science and art, share educational resources, and inform and excite the public about ongoing, taxpayer supported psychology and neuroscience research.

Since 2012, we've offered graduates and undergraduates opportunities to communicate science with more than 70,000 K-12 public school students, houseless youth, coffee shop patrons, incarcerated youth, members of Congress, museum goers and more in Portland, Vancouver, San Diego, Chicago, rural Oregon, rural Washington, Washington DC, Chile and the UK! We’ve arranged free cross-disciplinary public talks informing thousands of community members about research, and trained graduates to present their work to a lay audience. You can follow our continuing all-volunteer interdisciplinary neuroscience adventures here: NOGGIN BLOGGIN.

We partner with many local, national and international institutions, including Portland Public Schools, Vancouver Public Schools, p:ear houseless youth center, Portland Art Museum, Roundhouse Foundation, Oregon TRIO, Portland Alcohol Research Center (PARC), Artist Mentorship Project (AMP), Dana Foundation, ONPRC, OHSU Brain Institute, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Kúkátónón Children’s African Dance Troupe, Caldera Arts, Latino Network, BioGift, the Phillips Collection, Universidad de Valparaíso Chile, Kings College London, Fort George Brewery, the Society for Neuroscience and the American Brain Coalition. Through Academic Programs International and PSU Education Abroad, we offer a Cerebrarte: Arte y Cerebros en Chile course in June and July.

Northwest Noggin also organizes the largest annual student-run FREE music, art and interdisciplinary neuroscience celebration in the Pacific Northwest:  NOGGINFEST!

Please check out nwnoggin.org and get involved!