Forums at NCSSM provide a unique opportunity for students to explore a variety of topics outside of a normal curriculum. These groups meet once a week and are supervised by instructors but rely on student initiators and participant input. Morganton offers 17 distinct forums and most rotate each semester. 

1. Breaking the Bias: Women’s Medical Ethics

Gender disparity is still a real issue in modern society, especially in medicine. This forum examines women's health issues, like dismissal of issues, reproductive health, and aging, through both presentations and in class debates.  

2. Electronics and Wiring for the Junkyard Enthusiast

This forum focuses on learning about electrical systems through hands-on experiences. Each week centers on a different topic, like currents, soldering, and power, leading up to a final project.

3. Graphic Design

Graphic design is a part of every piece in the digital age of modern media. This forum provides an opportunity to learn software design and analyze graphic design as an avenue for advertising, followed by a summative project and presentation. 

4. Investigating Personality Traits of Large Language Models 

Interaction with artificial intelligence has become a daily occurrence, but many of us don’t appreciate the mechanics behind how they work. This forum explores LLM’s “personalities” while developing papers to submit to a conference for publication. 

5. Medical Anthropology and Global Health: How Culture Shapes Medicine and Health 

Medical anthropology studies the relationship between human health and societal forces, like culture, history, and politics. This forum focuses on a different geographical region each week, exploring unique situations and factors affecting each area.

6. Navigating the Nuclear Past, Present and Future

Nuclear energy is a controversial topic that is not widely understood. This forum dives into all things nuclear, from basic principles to types to future applications, and is concluded with a project.  

7. Neurolaw 

This forum explores the complex topic of neurolaw: how brain function impacts the legal system, including rulings, evidence, and public policy. Each week examines multiple different cases around a theme, like brain death, sanity, age, or neuroimaging. 

8. Pathway to Medicine 

This forum explores the process to get into medical school and beyond. It connects previous science knowledge to real-world medical applications, including the MCAT, case studies, possible careers, and financial planning. 

9. Queer Visual Media

This forum provides an avenue to deepen understanding of LGBTQIA+ media through exploring underlying themes, like mental health, historical backgrounds, and misconceptions. Every other week, a movie is screened, followed by a discussion. 

10. Rocket Science and Space Travel

Focus on space exploration has evolved rapidly in the past couple decades. This forum covers the physics and engineering of space travel, focusing first on engines, followed by the logic and math of each mission, and concluding with exploration of advancements and designing rockets. 

11. The Hinges of History

This forum explores foundational ideas of western thought through analysis of texts from Thomas Cahill’s Hinges of History series. Each week is split into units focused on different areas, religions, or readings.