Change, Technically
by Dr. Ashley Juavinett and Dr. Cat Hicks
Latest episode
Stem Cell Buffet
Stem Cell Buffet
About this podcast
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.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 21 episodes
- Stem Cell Buffet · 38 min · Season 2 Episode 8Ashley and Cat discuss stem cells, gene editing, a future in which we can grow new organs, and explore the borders of creepy-exciting science! Show Notes Gene editing in the news…
- Dopamine, misunderstood · 41 min · Season 2 Episode 7Are we addicted to talking about dopamine? In this episode, we tackle dopamine hype with real science: what dopamine is doing in the brain, how we study it, and how it's been…
- You have bad mental models of learning · 60 min · Season 2 Episode 6You can find the talk Cat gave about learning and its citations here: https://github.com/DrCatHicks/tailscale_talk On beliefs about humans being more genetically dissimilar than…
- You can write a book · 51 min · Season 2 Episode 5📚 PREVIEW CAT'S BOOK, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOFTWARE TEAMS! Pre-orders will be available in June. https://www.routledge.com/The-Psychology-of-Software-Teams/Hicks/p/book/9781032963389…
- You can learn with AI · 37 min · Season 2 Episode 4Can people learn in the AI era? Ashley and Cat think so. We talk about Ashley's experiences teaching programming and co-designing WITH students (not against them) to create…
- Know your neighbors · 15 min · Season 2 Episode 3This isn't the episode we planned, but it's what is on our minds right now. We talk about the power of knowing your neighbors and a few ways in which we've found solace and…
- Math is for girls · 51 min · Season 2 Episode 2The story from Janet Hyde about her motivations to get a grant and "fight with data" can be found here: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/janet-shibley-hyde-sinks-ster…
- Science deserves stories · 37 min · Season 2 Episode 1First of all, in this episode you'll learn why Ashley has shipped ONE THOUSAND COCKROACHES through the mail. Second of all, Ashley shares about getting scientists to tell…
- The Change, Technically anniversary special · 33 min · Season 1 Episode 13Ashley, Cat, and Danilo reflect on the major themes after one year of Change, Technically. For more information on consulting with Cat, please visit…
- Andor and the psychology of resistance · 49 min · Season 1 Episode 12SHOW NOTES Dominic Packer’s Normative Conflict Model of Dissent is described in this paper as well as his other work…
- You deserve better brain research · 53 min · Season 1 Episode 11SHOW NOTES: For an example of a consideration of learning with information searching, a paper by Saskia Giebl and co-authors explored students learning basic programming concepts…
- Dire wolves and bullshitters · 41 min · Season 1 Episode 10More reading & sources: Fantastic article which echos many of our arguments here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/18/wildlife-extinction-dire-wolf-endangered-species/Scienc…
- Who's afraid of math? · 53 minSHOW NOTES: Cat wants you to know she read a *lot* of research for this episode. Major highlights we specifically drew from, and quote sources, were aross three reviews: Cat…
- Stepping out of the silo · 43 minHow do human beings work together and learn to be, well, human? Stepping out of our comfortable and cozy silos and learning to communicate our value in new contexts might just be…
- The NIH pays off beyond our dreams · 35 min · Season 1 Episode 7In 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…
- The magic of little boxes · 22 min · Season 1 Episode 6In 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…
- Open science: hope is other people · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 5Much 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…
- What really matters in software? · 46 min · Season 1 Episode 4Can 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?…
- What’s neuroscience got to do with it? · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 3Neuroscience 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…
- Who's technical? · 40 min · Season 1 Episode 2What makes someone technical? What are our preconceptions about "technical" skills? How do those beliefs influence outcomes, and the success of who we include? Ashley and Cat dig…
