Ashley Juavinett, PhD and Cat Hicks, PhD explore technical skills, the science of innovation, STEM pathways, and our beliefs about who gets to be technical—so y...
In a special edition of Change, Technically, Ashley and Cat get into the facts of the NIH: what it does, how it works, and the consequences of disrupting its essential work. The NIH creates enormous economic impact, 400,000 jobs across the US, and sets science in motion that touches all of us.How to contact your representatives:Dial (202) 224-3121Tell autoresponder your representative name or zip code when promptedSpeak directly to staffer or leave voicemail: “My name is ___, I’m a constituent in [town]. (If clinician/scientist, say so) The NIH freeze harms research and patients and must be lifted immediately. I also believe that it is important to maintain funding mechanisms that improve and diversify the NIH workforce, including those labeled as 'diversity or DEI efforts'”Relevant executive orders:https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/Study on new drugs and NIH funding:E. Galkina Cleary, J.M. Beierlein, N.S. Khanuja, L.M. McNamee, F.D. Ledley, Contribution of NIH funding to new drug approvals 2010–2016, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115 (10) 2329-2334, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715368115 (2018).United for Medical Research resource where you can look up NIH impact for your state along with many resources about NIH impact: https://www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/ News articles on pausing of NIH meetings and travel:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00231-yhttps://www.science.org/content/article/trump-hits-nih-devastating-freezes-meetings-travel-communications-and-hiringhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/01/24/health/nih-scientists-purchase-supplies-trump-administration-pauses-communications/index.htmlInformation about STARTneuro:http://startneuro.ucsd.eduhttps://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/transfer-students-triumph-class-2024#manuel Support the STARTneuro program directly: https://crowdsurf.ucsd.edu/campaigns/support-the-startneuro-program-at-uc-san-diegoLearn more about Ashley: https://ashleyjuavinett.com/ https://mastodon.social/@analog_ashley analog-ashley.bsky.social Learn more about Cat: https://www.drcathicks.com/ https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina grimalkina.bsky.social
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34:52
The magic of little boxes
In this special 'Change, Technically: Holidays On The Couch' edition of the podcast, Ashley & Cat discuss their philosophies of measurement and goal tracking, debate the value of data, and ponder the behavioral science of doing the stuff we resolve to do.Notes:Cat & Ashley mention this essay: https://issues.org/limits-of-data-nguyen/Show correction: Ashley wrongly said the Nguyen essay above had reminded her about Goodhart’s Law (the idea that as soon as we measure something, it loses meaning). Rather, she re-discovered it in Calling Bullshit by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin D. West. Ashley’s error explains why Cat was so confused about her comments on the essay, oops. :)Learn more about Ashley: https://ashleyjuavinett.com/ https://mastodon.social/@analog_ashley analog-ashley.bsky.social Learn more about Cat: https://www.drcathicks.com/ https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina grimalkina.bsky.social
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21:41
Open science: hope is other people
Much like open source software, open science is a path to distributed collaboration. By sharing the data from experiments and investigations open and available, scientists can multiply impact and discovery for teams they've never even met.Our guest, Saskia de Vries, talks to us about her work at the Allen Institute, including accelerating the pace of discovery by making scientific data available to everyone who wants it.CreditsSaskia de Vries, guestAshley Juavinett, host + producerCat Hicks, host + producerDanilo Campos, producer + editorYou can learn more about the Allen Institute on their website: https://alleninstitute.org/Read some of Saskia's recent thoughts on sharing data in neuroscience here: https://elifesciences.org/articles/85550The CRCNS open data repository that Saskia mentions: https://crcns.org/Read about the FAIR principles for scientific data management and stewardship: https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618 Learn more about Ashley: https://ashleyjuavinett.com/ https://mastodon.social/@analog_ashley analog-ashley.bsky.social Learn more about Cat: https://www.drcathicks.com/ https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina grimalkina.bsky.social
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36:57
What really matters in software?
Can creativity mean more for software than productivity? Do we need to let go of “hardcore developer stuff”? Will getting more people to major in computer science fix everything? Ashley and Cat chat with Change, Technically’s first guest star SUE SMITH about developer learning and the future of software teams as technology changes. CreditsSue Smith, guestAshley Juavinett, host + producerCat Hicks, host + producerDanilo Campos, producer + editorWhile not mentioned in the episode, we would be remiss if we did not link you to Sue's illustrated collections of HTTP status codes:- Golden Girls variant- Keanu Reeves variantCat mentioned this paper by Dr. Natasha Quadlin as an example of how the same achievement information can be interpreted very differently by biased viewers during hiring:Quadlin, N. (2018). The mark of a woman’s record: Gender and academic performance in hiring. American sociological review, 83(2), 331-360.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0003122418762291Dr. Quadlin has many fascinating projects on inequality and a book with Brian Powell tackling questions about inequality and college: https://www.russellsage.org/publications/who-should-payLearn more about Ashley: https://ashleyjuavinett.com/ https://mastodon.social/@analog_ashley analog-ashley.bsky.social Learn more about Cat: https://www.drcathicks.com/ https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina grimalkina.bsky.social
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46:21
What’s neuroscience got to do with it?
Neuroscience is the hottest STEM field. Why? What does a neuroscientist actually do? Is the brain some mechanically deterministic box configured at birth? Cat knows Ashley has the answers, and now you will, too.CreditsAshley Juavinett, host + producerCat Hicks, host + producerDanilo Campos, producer + editorFor an incisive breakdown of “the crimes against dopamine” please read the piece of that title by Mark Humphries.The myth of mental illness book that Ashley mentioned was written in 1961 and we don’t really think it’s worth reading.The longitudinal fMRI study that Ashley contributed to while in graduate school: Stewart JL, Juavinett AL, May AC, Davenport PW, Paulus MP (2015) Do you feel alright? Attenuated neural processing of aversive interoceptive stimuli in current stimulant users. Psychophysiology 52:249–262.This is the Twitter/X account that highlights when a study happens IN MICE: https://x.com/justsaysinmice. And here’s the creator’s motivation: https://jamesheathers.medium.com/in-mice-explained-77b61b598218 The study that recorded from someone’s brain while they died is Vicente et al. (2022) Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 14. See also this commentary about their claims.We once again mentioned field-specific ability beliefs. Here’s Cat’s blogpost on her own research.This study explores the basic dynamics of field-specific ability beliefs and shows their connection to gender inequities in academic disciplines: Leslie, S. J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265.Learn more about Ashley: https://ashleyjuavinett.com/ https://mastodon.social/@analog_ashley analog-ashley.bsky.social Learn more about Cat: https://www.drcathicks.com/ https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina grimalkina.bsky.social
Ashley Juavinett, PhD and Cat Hicks, PhD explore technical skills, the science of innovation, STEM pathways, and our beliefs about who gets to be technical—so you can be a better leader and we can all build a better future.Ashley, a neuroscientist, and Cat, a psychologist for software teams, tell stories of change from classrooms to workplaces.Also, they're married.
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