Apr 6, 2020

Dr. Alie Caldwell, a.k.a. Alie Astrocyte, is a neuroscientist who is well-known for her YouTube channel Neuro Transmissions. In this episode, she discusses the YouTube channel, how it was created, what types of videos the channel produces, how the videos are made, and what she has gained out of it.

Top three takeaways:

1. In doing this channel, Alie Caldwell has had to overcome the challenge of maintaining a good work-life balance, since this channel is not her full-time career.
2. In academia, you are taught to feel as though you don’t know anything, which can make people feel hung up on inaccuracies; however, a lot of the time, you can explain something with simple terms and it will still be accurate.
3. When building a YouTube channel, the most important thing is to realize what your goals are; you have to ask what you want to communicate, who you want to reach, and what is unique about your content.

[0:00] Ladan introduces the episode and the guest, Alie Caldwell

[1:30] Caldwell talks about her YouTube channel, the type of content she produces, and who her target audience is

[4:30] Caldwell explains how a special event in her graduate program helped her get into making neuroscience videos

[6:45] The biggest challenge when starting the channel was that since neither Caldwell nor her YouTube partner Micah does YouTube full-time, maintaining a good work-like balance while doing this “side project” became difficult at times

[8:30] The channel tries to put out a video every two weeks, and every video takes roughly 20-30 hours to create and edit depending on the style and amount of animation

[12:15] The content the channel puts out is high-level enough that Caldwell is confident enough in her research on the topic to be able to teach the topic without fear of inaccuracies

[14:45] Caldwell recently finished her PhD and is currently employed by the Bigelow Memorial Science Communication Fellowship

[17:45] Both Caldwell and her YouTube partner Micah are trying to figure out their next career steps; they are not intending to have YouTube be their full-time career

[21:00] The most important thing is realizing what your goals are with your videos; what are you trying to get across, who are you trying to reach, and what is unique about your videos?

[23:45] This YouTube channel was an opportunity to build a portfolio and stand out from other scientists with a distinct skill set

[27:30] One main thing that Caldwell learned from the YouTube channel is public speaking and translating it into a video personality