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The STEM College Playbook

For students and parents aiming for top STEM colleges—and success once they get there.

College students share what they built, how they found opportunities, what failed, and what younger students can do now.

Hosted by Neil DeyVideo + audioSeason one coming soon
Season one

Episodes

Episode 01 cover16:9 · 1600 × 900
Episode 01Recorded · transcript preview

Truman Gillman

From creekside curiosity to wildlife tech

Truman grew up catching frogs and lizards with no STEM family background. He explains how a bearded dragon, hands-on mechatronics, thrift-store electronics, and one ignored research application led him to combine animal science, coding, GIS, and field research.

  • Why “your tribe determines your vibe” when choosing friends and mentors
  • How rejection from one lab opened a better research path
  • Why AI should help students learn—not replace their thinking

From the transcript

“Your tribe determines your vibe.”— Truman Gillman
“AI can be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how you use it.”— Truman Gillman
Episode 02 cover16:9 · 1600 × 900
Episode 02Recorded · transcript preview

Taegang Kim

Learning Python offline—and building AI that helps people

Taegang started experimenting with Python in an offline terminal after his parents disconnected the internet. He shares how deep focus, sudden immigration, hackathons, and real projects carried him from self-teaching in Seoul to AI research at UT Austin.

  • Why fewer distractions became an advantage
  • How real projects can outshine a perfect activity list
  • Why focus starts with one small next step—not multitasking

From the transcript

“Fewer distractions force me to create my own ways of spending time.”— Taegang Kim
“If I focus only on the next problem I need to solve, it becomes much easier to get started.”— Taegang Kim
Episode 03 cover16:9 · 1600 × 900
Episode 03Coming soon · interview preview

Eesa Bajwa

Building detectors for invisible particles

Eesa connects a move from the UK to Texas, an unexpected path into physics, particle-research work, and teaching younger students through math and science outreach.

  • Adapting after moving countries at 14
  • Working with muon detectors and particle physics
  • Why learning deepens when students teach
Episode 04 cover16:9 · 1600 × 900
Episode 04Coming soon · interview preview

Akash Agarwal

Cold emails, neuroscience, and starting before you feel ready

Akash discusses frequent childhood moves, discipline systems he once disliked, and the cold emails that helped him enter research on microplastics and breast-cancer progression.

  • Finding research access without family connections
  • Productive rigor versus unhealthy pressure
  • Separating early evidence from big conclusions
Episode 05 cover16:9 · 1600 × 900
Episode 05Coming soon · interview preview

Jonathan Feldman

Where AI meets biology

Jonathan explores how computer science, protein-structure prediction, drug discovery, and AI safety can meet—and how students can approach advanced fields before they have formal lab access.

  • Turning broad curiosity into a focused technical path
  • Using computation to ask biological questions
  • Building foundations before chasing advanced tools
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