The Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Association at PSU hosts Brains on Crafts every Wednesday, bringing the PSU community together to explore how the brain responds to creativity—complete with food! The Neuroscience Association connects students across the university and between research development.
By studying the process of neuroscience, students gain an understanding of the brain’s chemical processes. Kadi Rae Smith, the Association’s President, explains,
“We run on the premise that knowing how your brain works is kind of like a user’s manual for the brain,” said Kadi Rae Smith, President of the Neuroscience Association. “Whether you’re neurodivergent or neurotypical, we all need a user’s manual. We all have a brain. Why not at least know the basics of why that works?”
“Knowing how your brain works, knowing why you feel a certain way, is so beneficial for self-regulation and having agency over your actions,” said Cece Austin, Vice President of the Neuroscience Association.
The Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Association began as a form of support for Northwest Noggin—a nonprofit and educational neuroscience outreach group that the club partners with.
“The club was started to also facilitate neuroscience learning because there wasn’t a minor or a major when [we began],” Smith said.
PSU biology and psychology advisors aid in the foundational formation of the neuroscience program. Unlike Oregon State or the University of Oregon, PSU does not yet offer a neuroscience major.
“We serve to kind of be supplementary education for what we were offered here at PSU,” Smith said.
The association has been instrumental in establishing the neuroscience minor and is currently working to develop a neuroscience major at PSU.
“What we do is fight neuromyths and try to spread information about the brain and body that is scientifically accurate, but in an accessible way—which is what leads us to why we have crafting of physical tangible things [being] at all of our meetings,” Smith said.
At a typical meeting, folks are welcome to gather, create neuro-specific crafts like models or any art at all, and learn.
The association provides the ability and community to aid in reframing the fear or stress that can occur in the field of STEM.
“A lot of people in the club have told me it kind of helps them overcome that self-defeatist attitude around [science],” Austin said. “When it’s reframed in an artistic context, [some] feel totally comfortable with it.”
This approach creates an enjoyable, accessible way to engage with complex scientific concepts, making them far less intimidating.
“Using art as a way to engage people in science is a helpful way of understanding things that have been historically taught to us in really binary ways,” said Sam Mutschler-Aldine, Science Officer in the Neuroscience Association.
In addition to weekly gatherings, the club engages in outreach events to educate and engage with the community. Outreach events typically begin with a live Q&A session where students have the chance to ask questions. They are then welcome to touch the scientific pieces that are brought and taught how to make their own elements of science—such as neurons.
“They [students] can either make a model of a whole neuron, or they can make a neuron hat that they can wear,” Smith said.
Both crafts aim to teach the students the basic anatomy of cells and how they interact to make actions.
The association has access to several types and sizing of brain matter that they share with those they do outreach with. Outreach attendees—typically children at schools or even correctional facilities—are equipped with gloves and have the opportunity to hold the brains and brain matter.
For Austin, this experience stands out in vivid memory and aids in understanding the complexity of the brain.
“I think that if I had had an experience, like Northwest Noggin visiting my school when I was younger, and been able to understand why things happen, what it feels like to exist…” Austin said. “That’s the first opportunity for them to get those questions answered in an objective, scientific way, and it’s often… very helpful, especially at younger ages, to have that understanding.”
The association encourages individuals to share their ideas for events that include research reviews and professional panels addressing career-related questions, especially for college students uncertain about their future paths. One highlight from last year, Austin mentions, was the “women in STEM panel,” featuring professors who shared their experiences and offered advice for women and people of color in the field. This provided valuable face-to-face interaction and guidance for attendees exploring their career options.
With an experience as immersive as Brains on Crafts, multiple senses become engaged—which enhances understanding.
“Everybody’s brain is different, but a general rule of thumb is when there’s like a learning opportunity that’s both kinesthetic and verbal or [that] mixes different types of teaching styles or stimuli, you’re not only going to be able to capture everybody’s primary preferred way of learning…” said Mutschler-Aldine. “You’re able to [then] engage emotions and [one’s] insular lobe at the same time as with executive functioning.”
When intersecting art with education, there is further ability to go into depth with the science, as actively making the model instills tangibility.
“Art ties your whole brain together, from the front to the back, our muscle memories, to how we feel about color and textures,” Smith said. “When you’re actually interacting with it, your body is remembering things that you’re not necessarily fully aware of. You’re paying attention to them in a different way than you think because recall is attention-based, but it’s also tactile and emotional.”
This holistic approach not only deepens comprehension but also fosters a more meaningful connection to both the scientific concepts and the creative process.
“We only remember things that we feel, and the stronger we feel something, the easier and more reliable the recall of it is,” Smith said.
Through engaging both the mind and emotions, the experience makes science more memorable and impactful.
The Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Association crafts in Smith Memorial Student Union every Wednesday evening.
