Five years in 49 minutes

I've had piles and piles of questions about the research that I did in gradschool, so here it is! Be careful what you wish for... About a year ago I defended my dissertation from UCSB in Materials, exploring, among other things, growth of a semiconductor called lead selenide, a narrow-gap material with a bright (ba-dum-tss) future in the realm of infrared optoelectronics. I hope you enjoy!
For more information than you could ever reasonably desire:
escholarship.org/content/qt9m...
Viewers of the channel are probably going to be most interested in all the fun machines featured in chapter 2, "Experimental Methods"
- Molecular beam epitaxy (making crystals in ultra high vacuum)
- X-ray diffraction (explained with almost no math)
- Electron microscopy (many variants)
Music in this video:
I Dunno by grapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...) ccmixter.org/files/grapes/16626

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

So apparently my pinned comment vanished for no reason - here goes take 2: WELCOME TO THE COMMENTS of what will certainly NOT be my most popular video! For more information than you could ever reasonably desire, my dissertation is here: escholarship.org/content/qt9mj491xk/qt9mj491xk.pdf Viewers of the channel will probably be most interested in all the fun machines in Chapter 2: Experimental Methods, which talks about growing crystals with (and maintaining) an MBE system, X-ray diffractometry (explained with *almost* no math), and many many variants of electron microscopy. Enjoy!

[@AJyep]

Halfway through your dissertation and wanted to jump back here to say how much I enjoyed your defense, appreciate you sharing it, and how well your voice comes through in you writing. Back to the paper!

[@jonslg240]

To you we don't look like that camera, we look like you believe you look when you're talking into it Mind blown, right? 😉

[@jonslg240]

P.S. I enjoy your content a lot. You literally bridge the gap between what I've been able to learn and what an expert would learn extra-heemly well =p

[@DehimVerveen]

What was your first question that you say you "flubbed"? and how did you answer it?

[@theelectronwrangler6416]

I could not fathom putting my master's defense out there like this. Well done, and congratulations.

[@minervadev6094]

I think the most surprising thing about this was that I, whose best chemistry qualification is "did ok in high school," could understand the whole thing. I assume that speaks to your skills as a science communicator more than anything! Thank you for publishing this, it's great to know the motivation behind the work we've seen so many snippets of. It's a shame we didn't get to see the q&a section too! but I imagine that's a more vulnerable and therefore personal part of the process. Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed it!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

I left out the public Q+A just for privacy of everybody else, but the committee grilling is always behind closed doors - even on zoom (my studio audience went outside for a little while😁) I also flubbed the first committee question HARD… but they liked it anyways 😬 I’m glad you liked the talk!

[@vaisakhkm783]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel I actually really week at chemistry still did understand it, I was actually just going to watch 10 min and stop, but you made me watch till the end... Congratulations for PhD ☺

[@DehimVerveen]

What was the first question?

[@vokuh]

i agree - it was perfectly presented - and i think it was all understandable even for people not in the field. the Q&A probably went into details that are beyond me, but the presentation was perfect.

[@Life_42]

I strongly agree!!!

[@AdityaMehendale]

I wish all PhD defenses were recorded like this and published. Congrats, Dr. AlphaPhoenix :)

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

i do too! thanks!

[@Muphetballs]

Can't believe you thought this could be boring. I hated every moment of highschool because it wasn't as concise as it could be. This is perfect

[@jortand]

As someone who is thinking about going into academia taking a masters etc. this will be fun to watch to get an idea of how these defences go.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

That’s the idea! Good luck with deciding 😁

[@gorak9000]

It's basically just a long presentation on what you did, and your professor says "are you sure there's enough work here for a MSc" *right after* one of the other profs on the committee says "there's WAY TOO much work here for a MSc - are you sure you got the letters right on this one [name of supervisor prof]??". Then the curb your enthusiasm music plays and the credits roll. That's pretty much how all of them go. Oh, and then you get a job where you do the same work as PhDs, but get paid $20k to $30k less because "the letters were wrong". Sad, but true

[@zlandauer]

not to sound dismissive but what is the appeal of pursuing a career in academia opposed to something in the private sector or even an applied field. academia seems so stuffy and up tight from my perspective

[@zlandauer]

nevermind, 10 minutes in and this shit is neat, I get it now

[@mastershooter64]

​@@zlandauer Lmao, great! also keep in mind that research in different fields of science is vastly different

[@deefdragon]

Seeing those dislocations annihilate was genuinely really cool. I agree that that was one of the more amazing pieces of microscopy that you showed.

[@MusicBent]

Came here to say that. Really amazing

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

I was so unreasonably excited when I found that event in a timelapse I’d just taken 😁

[@TheGeoffable]

@@MusicBent Ditto! They reminded me of a common analogy for particle-antiparticle annihilations. Wondering if they could be used as an analog for that experimentally in any way?

[@StrawberryFPV]

This and the picture of the dislocation pattern differences between the two crystals on different planes

[@barefootalien]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel Nothing unreasonable about it!

[@xBris]

Congrats mate! I was grilled for 1.5 hours when I did my defense two years ago (I was only allowed to talk for 20 minutes, the rest was questions). And I guarantee that I looked way less professional doing it than you did. Good job doctor :) Also: I love how you plugged your KZbin channel *in your defense*. Classic move!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

that simulation was a side-project but it really became exactly how i mentally picture crystal growth so i had to include it! (the watermark just happened to be on the GIF version =D

[@jmodified]

Being grilled like that never made sense to me. Except for the outside observer, these are your committee members who are familiar with your work and have read and approved of your dissertation. If they had problems with it, those should already have been resolved. I think I talked 45 minutes at my defense (which was the limit imposed on me), had a few friendly questions, and just a bit of flak from the outside observer because he was unfamiliar with the common structure of academic papers in my very specific field (and I told him so, in the most subtle and non-confrontational way possible).

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Hello everybody! Welcome to the few braving the comments section on what is most certainly NOT going to be my most popular video! For more information than you could ever reasonably desire, my dissertation is here: escholarship.org/content/qt9mj491xk/qt9mj491xk.pdf Viewers of the channel are probably going to be most interested in all the fun machines featured in Chapter 2, "Experimental Methods", which tackles crystal growth via Molecular Beam Epitaxy, X-ray diffraction (explained with almost no math), and many many variants of electron microscopy. The eagle eyed viewer may notice that graphics made for the lab and graphics made for youtube videos have slowly blended over time...

[@darealpoopster]

I know a masters is uncommon in physics, do you have one? Also do your advisors know about your channel? Also also would this be considered condensed matter physics?

[@grabatar]

I think this might be more popular than you might think. This for me who know close to nothing love this as i do sort of understand some basics while you do explain it so i understand parts of what goes into this. I wouldnt be able to do it, but i can understand the jist of things and that helps understand the world if you "get the jist of things" on many topics. and i just love that :D.

[@aneb2002]

So far is one of my favorite videos on your channel. Wish we had more 'at the extremes of human knowledge' public communicators. Great stuff!

[@ericputney4598]

(Late) congrats to you Brian! I'm in the 3rd year of my physics PhD, it's been a lot of fun so far. Great defense :)

[@MiguelAbd]

Having recently defended my undergrad thesis and considering to start a Master's, I gotta say your passion to the topic really seeps through you when you are defending your work. Congrats again! All good to you!

[@mmhmnms]

the fact that I haven't touched any chem or physics in about 10-12 years and managed to follow along and understand what you were talking about is a testament to not only your presentation skills but your deep understanding of the subject matter. This didn't feel like a ~55 minute video at all!

[@wrex509]

Likewise. My background is history but I had no problem following along comfortably.

[@spargel1338]

I started my studies in materials science this/last year. And I already knew that what I learned in the first semester would be important for future semesters. Your video not only inspired me even more but also showed me directly that what I am now learning should never be forgotten because even in a doctoral thesis it cannot be done without the basics. Thank you very much for this video and congratulations on receiving your doctorate.

[@MusicBent]

The dislocation annihilation imaging was seriously cool. As an electrical engineer I really disliked my semiconductor physics class. I really do appreciate the Many decades of work in the field. I remember when GaN power transistors were prohibitively expensive, and now it’s in lots of our fast chargers. Congrats on your accomplishment!! I think you did a great job presenting your work to multiple audiences. You got me excited at least

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

I find it incredible how much effort is required to bring a semiconducting device to market. For any individual component you can go buy on digikey, there's probably 30-50 years of R&D by thousands of different people

[@rigbyprecisionmachining6210]

I find it incredible that the computer I bout this year can beat any super computer form before the 1980s

[@aidancoetzer2567]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel from an electronics perspective, is the goal of moving to these lower valence band gaps to increase the switching speed that we can get out of semiconductor materials? It's quite interesting to see what these defense lectures look like. Keep up the great content :)

[@Muonium1]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel is radiation released during dislocation annihilation? Maybe just phonon excitations? Something must happen, it's so analogous to electron-hole recombination.

[@MrFleischFloete]

Does anyone have a timestamp for that?

[@gara8142]

As a student I feel the need to ask: what's next for you? Do you keep researching this topic, do you branch out? If so, how? Do you start with an idea by yourself or is it assigned? And of course, congrats!

[@baldilocks2356]

A PhD is essential for getting a job at most research institutions. Often researching a specific topic for this long will allow you to come up with new questions you didn't have originally, so it's not uncommon to continue to publish papers that run tangential to your original dissertation. Of course, I've also seen others who decided to tackle entirely new problems after graduating.

[@Muonium1]

the next step is leaving the rotting hellscape of decrepitude known as academia to go to industry so you can make actual money.

[@jl4859]

Find someone to pay you

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

I agonized about what I was going to do next for a while - like literally pacing around the house for like a week when I got a job offer lol. I looked at post docs in a variety of fields, some quite unrelated to my phd work, and ended up taking an industry job with a primary decision point being the ability to settle (with a garage workshop!) and not keep moving around the country chasing couple-year academic positions. I’m very happy in industry so far and I still get my teaching fix in with this channel and with FIRST robotics 😁

[@MrDanielmahaniel]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel very cool bro very happy for you!

[@austo2010]

I left mechanic engineering for mechatronics and E&E because of the material science component 5 years ago, today I watched a 45 minute PhD defence on materials science. That's a long way of saying you're incredibly talented public speaker, Congratulations Dr

[@vinayaktrivedi9375]

Hi how is mechatronics as a field? Does it have potential? I am in high school

[@schelsullivan]

I have followed your channel long enough that this talk felt like a refresher.

[@nikethunner2732]

As a applied material sciences engineer myself, this was extremely satisfying to watch. Very nice work.

[@mozkitolife5437]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 You’re a highly engaging presenter. All your KZbin productions talking to a camera surely improved your ability to garner interest in your work and transfer information to an unseen audience. To prove I watched the whole dissertation: 46:40 accidentally said 010 planes and a typo “peoperties”. Just pointing that out for fun. I’m highly jealous of your chosen stream of research. I love thinking in spatial dimensions and the underlying physics allows the stimulation and flourishing of logical reasoning to solve problems. Unfortunately I chose Entomology which is based on an evolving system that’s constantly changing. Congratulations, Brian. Well deserved.

[@matthewbrown1617]

Yeah, I feel like I could happily stare at the kind of images and data he showed for the rest of my life. I'm not upset with my current profession, but it's less discovery for me at this point and more running through the paces..

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

On that day in particular when I had to talk to a camera for an hour, eye contact with the camera was EXTREMELY aided by KZbin filming experience 😁

[@mozkitolife5437]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel Dude, 190K(!) views is probably the most watched dissertation on social media. It's testament to your science communication skills. I take my hat off to you, stand for applause and wait eagerly for more. Your family must be so proud. Your extended family is.

[@Mo95793]

As someone who is specializing in the completely unrelated medical field, and whose only source of chemistry knowledge is undergrade chem, organic chemistry and biochem (as well as channels like yours). It is really impressive on your end that I was able to at least grasp like 90% of your presentation. You're genuinely amazing at this.

[@lucyinchat]

Hey, I only have hs and KZbin channels, I could understand approximately 90%. But I also have a deep interest in material sciences.

[@aa2339]

This should be the wave of the future, beyond just text based academic papers.

[@TheBookDoctor]

The time-lapse of the dislocations moving around was just incredible, as was seeing two dislocations annihilate. Really amazing work.

[@chase2496]

That 49 minutes flew by. I work in the computer networking field so completely unrelated to material sciences, with the exception of telecom lasers that is! You are astounding with your ability to break down extremely complex and specialized topics into a digestible format. I truly appreciate you making videos for all to watch, and for your contagious excitement towards the thing that grasp your interest.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

1350nm photon go vroom

[@brandoncalvert8379]

I'm a steel casting engineer, so I took a lot of extra material science classes in undergrad. I'm not up on the application of this research, but I was very entertained by everything else! Heck yeah, that annihilating pair of dislocations was like one of those "extremely satisfying" type videos lol

[@andycremeans]

“That’s not going to be an energetically favorable thing to do” is my new phrase

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

This is the reasoning that goes through my head for 90% of decisions that are even remotely scientific lol

[@viktorandersson1533]

I`m a none native English speaking car mechanic that dropped out of school and yet you kept me captivated for the full 54min., well done!

[@RobertShippey]

I haven’t studied science since high school, and I didn’t understand lots of the technical bits but generally this was pretty accessible and made a lot of sense! The question is, when are you renaming your channel to DrAlphaPhoenix? 😊

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

I did consider briefly changing my screen name in a game to “docPhoenix” because there’s a friend of mine who has “doc” as a screen name but I didn’t bother to figure out where that setting was 😂

[@loser-nobody]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel ah, a fellow cultured man I see, joining the elite ranks of Dr. Gamers, such as the esteemed Dr. Disrespect! "The Doc"😂

[@Tjkrusinski]

You're a very talented engineer, scientist AND communicator. Thank you for creating the content you do and publishing it for the world to see. I'm am certain you will inspire young people to pursue careers in science and R&D because of how you've made it approachable. You demystify what happens in a laboratory in a way that makes it more accessible for those who aren't familiar.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

thanks! i had no idea what gradschool WAS until i started working in a lab in undergrad surrounded by grad students. "demystification" is EXACTLY what i was going for with this! It's crazy important to our ever-more-technological world to have as many scientists working on cool stuff as possible!

[@TheScott10012]

Congratulations on your PhD in PbSe spray painting, Doc! Q: if you were looking to transition into professional work in the industry, what kind of job roles would you be a suitable candidate for? What kind of companies?

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Thanks! I work for a semiconductor company right now

[@Piipolinoo]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel I'm very happy to hear that. Great minds like you should not rot away in the academic system. I'm glad you made it out alive.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

@@Piipolinoo eh it's kinda weird. in industry your work never makes it outside the walls so to that extent i feel like i'm hiding, but the work is always much closer to application than academic work. also without a variety of random academic studies from decades ago, whole industries may not exist today, so there's a gap that needs to be filled by both!

[@redshifted8790]

Shouting out his YT channel in his dissertation defense. Absolute madlad.

[@scarrgk]

As a materials scientist who spent many years(70s-90s) using (ordinary) STEM microscopes to study dislocations and nucleation/phase transitions in metal alloys, I really enjoyed your presentation. Being able to "see" Burgers vectors rather than determine them indirectly from extinction analysis of the diffraction contrast, is really amazing. I remember people from Arizona showing us impressive images using Field emission sources in UHV microscopes, but they were often looking at materials like semiconductors or gold atoms sitting on semiconductors and it was hard to imagine their utility for real-world materials like we use in jet engines. It is clear to see how your work can be applied to the manufacture of the devices that are increasingly important to our modern lives. Fascinating - thank you so much for a wonderful presentation

[@ericvater2004]

Your KZbin channel will probably have a huge impact in my life. I am currently studying cheme and finished my sophomore year but realized that my matsci class was much more fun/interesting . As a result of your excellent videos I’m planning on switching to matsci. You did a fantastic job with making your dissertation both understandable and technically informative.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

muahahaha - converting the masses to the beauty of crystals! but really - awesome! whatever you end up doing, enjoy it!

[@Mutual_Information]

Wow witnessing an annihilation reaction (35:55)! That’s wild - you can actually see it happening.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Ikr?!!?!?!???!!!

[@chrisunfocused]

You did an amazing job of explaining all of this. I think it helps that, rather than being an especially abstract topic, it is mostly an extension of the basic geometry that we learn in our first years of school, and the difficulties of trying to create perfect geometry in the real world.

[@alphanaut14]

Oh crap! I learned something. I'll never need to use this... why did I watch? Seriously, great job, Brian! I took electron microscopy classes in the 90s and this makes sense to me. I'm envious of the STEM, we just had TEM and SEM. Congratulations!

[@aliceorwell7541]

I came into this thinking it would be dry and above my head but instead I was lead on a journey that, albeit left outt many of the trials and tribualtions that you went through, opened new doors and has me wanting more. Your way of explaining and conveying such a highly specific and specialised subject to a leyperson is simply amazing. We need more people like you. I hope you continue being you.

[@daltontinoco7084]

I had the honor of watching a PhD defense during an REU I did and it was very rewarding. I am very glad you posted this, as I think this is a good defense and offers valuable insight into what graduate school is like and what you are working towards. I think I need to watch this a few more times on repeat xD Awesome awesome awesome 😎

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Cool! What were you studying for your REU? My goal with the intro here was to give people the briefest explanation of gradschool because I sure didn’t know what it really was until I started working in a lab in undergrad and thought “man this research stuff is pretty cool!”

[@nraynaud]

I spent 4 years of my life refining a material that works quite well when it's a mess of atoms anyways :) congrats Doctor!

[@lwwyt]

Wow, I never thought I would watch a one hour video now. It felt like 10 minutes. Thank you for sharing this. It's incredibly well explained, I could follow it almost completely and I have absolutely no material science background. It's great that we have so much knowledge so accessible. I wish more researches would provide their research as accessible as this.

[@rosonowski]

@53:40 - The applause had to have felt AMAZING. Just the instant reassurance that whatever comes next, they're at least not unimpressed.

[@gingermany6223]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this might be the most watched material science dissertation ever. It is certainly already the number one watched dissertation on KZbin (an actual dissertation not a how to video).

[@stop-amertime]

Very interesting. I did watch the entire thing, if you asked me about my interest in material science an hour ago, I'd have said I was fairly indifferent. But I think you have a real gift both for communicating the ideas intuitively, and expressing WHY it is interesting and satisfying , and I was hooked. Hooked like a PbSe surface treatment is at 400C.

[@thedeepfriar6742]

I had no idea of any of this. I work in healthcare and manage a team of data analysts so have zero perspective on this. I myself can't believe that I watched this all the way through, and that is a serious testament to your ability to take that info and break it down to where I could grasp it. Thanks for sharing that - it was great!

[@alemiles1525]

Absolutely brilliant presentation! The way you organized the dissertation, clear, concise, dense yet `fun`, is a great inspiration. Congratulations on your doctorate and thanks for sharing

[@RichardT2112]

My defence was one of my most stressful events of my life … and yet one of the best! 🎉it is a slightly different system in Europe, as I had a single “opponent” which grilled me on every random aspect of my dissertation. Fun times!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Interesting! In the USA, we get a public Q+A, then get grilled by the committee in a closed session. My committee questions weren’t that bad but I did seriously flub the first one 😂

[@kindlin]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel Did they ask you a really interesting question that you had never considered? Or did they have an answer they were looking for, but if so, how do THEY know that? Why do they expect YOU to know that? EDIT: Sorry, this is kind of probing, in retrospect, but for a topic you're so clearly versed in, I'm surprised you could "flub" _any_ of their questions!

[@peterfireflylund]

Europe is a big place. We don’t have a single system. The phd defenses I have seen have always had three committee members asking questions. The presentation and the Q&A was always public. Then the committee would deliberate in private and write their evaluation report.

[@RichardT2112]

@@peterfireflylund I know, but didn’t care to provide too many details … my defence was based primarily on publications rather than dissertation.

[@randomelectronicsanddispla1765]

I found myself watching the whole presentation in one take. Without needing breaks or needing to backtrack, which shows how well done it was

[@knyggaplease1222]

Same. Really need to pee now, tbh.

[@daniellarsson3118]

This was incredibly interesting, I am coming from a molecular biology microscopy background so this was right up my alley. I watched the whole thing but that section on the two dislocations annihilating each-other was incredible. watching the two points contact and cancel out was mesmerizing and shows the beauty of microscopy. Amazing work, ill definitely be reading your summary and paper for further research into this field.

[@user-nj1qc7uc9c]

watching a bunch of your videos come together here is immensely satisfying and it says a lot about your communication skills that the only thing i (someone currently doing poorly in year 12 chem) wasnt able to understand, was how i understood almost all of this

[@davec8385]

Wow that was a really interesting presentation and surprisingly understandable! You did a great job explaining it. Thank you so much for sharing and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day

[@PuhuTube]

Now this is real science, congratulations! I might say that your complexity estimate chart is also right on :) I'm lucky that I had taken an elective SEM-TEM course during my Mat. Sc. & Eng. undergraduate education so I could understand almost every bit of your brilliant presentation :)

[@shanecormier1]

Thanks for the video, and your work. I found it incredibly insightful to understand how much work goes into such an narrow field of study, but also how useful that work is to others in their own progress and process of understanding how different materials interact with one another at the atomic level. You presented your experience and knowledge in the field extremely well, and it was easy to follow along with you. You're a great teacher. Congratulation on your hard work.

[@aekee8434]

With one year delay, I had the pleasure to watch your presentation. Congratulations, not only due to the work done, but also on the clear communication. I only managed to get a Master degree in radiation tolerant design for digital ICs, that never went this deep on crystal growth, and I was able to follow the whole presentation with good understanding. This could only be possible with a great communicator. Cheers and keep up with your very good work.

[@Scrogan]

This is fascinating! I can see fragments from a few of the videos you’ve done over the past few years! It’s interesting to me how materials science is the easiest science to introduce children to, but is also probably the most technically complicated. Well maybe that applies to biology better, but it’s more work to get past the taxonomy and into the scientific method with biology.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

It lays wonderfully midway in between physics and chemistry, and if you include the crystallography, an appetizing dash of math!

[@Silasssssssss]

I work in a methanol production plant as an operator and there's a saying that goes around which basically goes 'if you understand your shit you can explain it to someone who's dumb enough to lose their own ass' and it's amazing to see that kinda goes the same for something of this caliber. The small laymans terms here and there really make it easy for someone to follow along with the whole process and why you do it. Amazing!

[@hammerth1421]

"If you can't explain it in simple terms, you haven't fully grasped it yet." - Albert Einstein Well, something like that, I'm roughly translating from the German original that was pinned up at my school.

[@Silasssssssss]

@@hammerth1421 haha wouldn't surprise me if that saying went around the place i work at in the beginning when it was made in the 70's. Naturally over time the saying changed a bit due to work enviroment lingo and all that

[@someguylostintime]

Your genuine enthusiasm and love for the subject comes through in your presentation and made for a fascinating dive into a field that I knew nothing about.

[@aclearlight]

Lovely! Been there, did that...LONG AGO...and loved it. It's so fun that you're now able to share your own such right of passage here for curious people to enjoy. And I do mean ENJOY since your own blessed sense of JOY comes thru here so wonderfully. ✨️

[@MikeDS49]

Thanks for this video Brian. I wish I watched your intro when I started my MSc, especially when you called it a job. I think a full length video titled "So you've decided to go to grad school in physics" would benefit a lot of people.

[@thefunbuns1]

This is such cool insight! I've been considering grad school as I'm nearing the end of undergrad and this type of thing makes me want to pursue it that much more. I didn't realize a dissertation defense was in this format at all, for some reason I always imagined a panel of judges that you're pleading your research case to lol

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

hahahahaha that comes later - in the private committee-only Q&A but seriously, nobody would let you book a defense date unless they planned to pass you. by this point it's more of an extra-stressful victory lap than an actual examination. I flubbed the very first question of the closed-doors section with an answer as wrong as it could have been xD

[@rubikmonat6589]

That really drew me in, far more than expected. Thankyou. This really got me thinking about the operational temperature range of integrated circuits. Hopefully we see some super low temp electronics for use in space exploration that don't need to expend a ton of power on heaters. Makes me regret choosing to take a practical trade path after school instead of university. I hope you keep making KZbin content, you're a great teacher.

[@UnBayleefable]

I'm loving the symmetry between how we grow snowflakes is also how we grow crystalline structures in other materials, makes sense but it still blew my mind. I loved your presentation and found myself able to follow along to the very end so I'd say you did I great job at formatting it so it was approachable! Also your idea for heating the substrate up to take advantage of only being able to form a single layer to create the best possible starting layer for the rest of the structure to form off, big brain move there.

Congratulations Dr. Haidet ! I also had to defend during covid two years ago but with less restrictions than for you, some weird times... Even if I'm not in the field of material science I feel like you did a great job, clear and precise talk, very nice. This video really has its place on your channel ! What are you doing next ? post-doc somewhere else ? staying in academia ? Soon Pr. Haidet ?

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Working for a semiconductor company. Really agonized about leaving academia but I’m happy so far!

[@StarNova9]

Thanks for posting this! I though it was a really interesting talk, and for someone who is not familiar in this field (I study CS myself), I was still able to follow along with the main points. The pretty electron microscope footage was especially insightful! What made me keep watching until the end was your energy and enthousiasm throughout the talk. :) Although I do not have the knowledge to ask an intelligent question here, I would be interested in seeing you answer questions from the committee. Are you planning on posting this on the channel too, or maybe on a second channel? Thanks again for sharing the talk!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

The committee questions aren’t part of the public session - that’s the private grilling lol

[@josiahf78]

Kudos Brian. From one thin-film guy to another, you do an amazing job of communicating what it is that you do. Your presentation was fantastic and the channel really brings what is a foreign realm to many, into an understandable and fascinating story for all. It all speaks volumes about your fascination with the world around you. Thanks!

[@tomerhacohen3315]

Awesome presentation!! It’s amazing that you managed to present this very complex subject in an incredibly compelling and surprisingly easy (well, not that hard) to follow way. This is what happens when a great science educator does a dissertation defense. Keep up the good work and keep us updated on the nitty gritty details!

[@axu6207]

I hate that he makes me think that I have the slightest clue on what he's talking about, he's so clear and I understand so effortlessly. I know this was 5 years but I feel like he could have discovered this in 49 minutes :/. In all seriousness well done, and even better explained! Thank you for all your academic/ youtube work!

[@fernandovalner]

as someone in the first year of materials engineering major considering a master or doctor's degree maybe, this is like fun to watch. thanks dude and congratulations

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Enjoy your studies! This was supposed to be a taste of what could be to come…

[@allenjackson1417]

Congratulations on your successful defense. Having been through my PhD defense some years ago, I appreciate the amount of work needed to present your results as nicely as you have done. Best wishes for continued fun in your research and your channel so the rest of us can enjoy what you find.

[@Archamfer]

This felt really cool after watching a few of your past videos! It was almost living vicariously, I saw the image of the sample that was in the STEM and felt like I was involved it it even though all I did was watch a video. This was extremely cool and good work!

[@mumiemonstret]

Haha, I know, like "Hey, I _know_ that sample!"

[@wChris_]

So can we call you Dr. Brian now?

[@mickolesmana5899]

When i was in HS : I kinda knew everything freshman at college : Yeah i guess i know a thing or two Sophomore : Hmmm yess hmm yeh uhum what is that, what is this Junior : REEEEÉEEEEEEEEEEE I DONT KNOW ANYSHIT Senior : What is e?

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

One of the professors who’s lab I worked at in undergrad said that universities were places where knowledge accumulates, because students come in knowing everything and PhDs leave knowing nothing, so by conservation of information, it must be piling up in the lab

[@mickolesmana5899]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel "one must obey the theory of conservation of information"- Euler, probably...

[@kieranwood3594]

All I can say is your videos stand way out in being informative, entertaining, and fascinating. Everybody needs more knowledge and the world needs more people like you. Keep doing what you're doing!

[@kentworch]

I did like this video all the way to the end and was able to follow along well enough for almost everything you said to make perfect sense. I think you did an amazing job presenting it and clearly demonstrating/explaining the material in a way that even I was able to see how everything you were saying made sense and fit together. I myself am a machinist not a material scientist. You are incredible.🤘

[@pr0hobo]

im not gonna pretend i could have explained or done any of what you did but you where so good at explaining it that i think i understood all of it. probably not the math nor the requirements for actually doing the procedures but it all made sense what and why you did each step and the goal of your research.

[@insensitiveclod]

I had planned to just skip through and watch interesting parts. Tried that...but then found out the whole thing was wildly interesting and gave a great way to understand what you've been doing all this time with various 'stainless steel metal enclosures with varying amounts of vacuum in them'....if i were to typify the types of gear you've been talking us through throughout the years. Seeing it so elegantly come to a single story, well-executed and greatly informative was a wonderful treat. Especially with your usual enthousiasm and ability to be bewondered by the realities of the physical world. Thank you greatly for having taken us on this journey, not just by accident or necessity, but by choice and deliberate intent and beautifully executed at that.

[@billmccaffrey1977]

Loved the presentation. I spent most of my career in semiconductors (retired now) and never got tired of the endless set of material challenges. I wish you an exciting and eventful career.

[@christophersilver1902]

Congrats! Have watched for a while, this is probably the coolest video. You did a great job making this topic accessible to a general audience.

[@dmeemd7787]

Awesome work man!! Awesome! Really glad you got to start that setup from the beginning and confirm days from the 90's! That in and of itself is amazing in so many levels and the research has VAST implications. Awesome 👌🤘🏻

[@mmilesg]

I am actually an employee of Riber USA (in the Santa Barbara branch no less!) where I design/build/repair electronics for these MBE systems. I just wanted to say that I've learned more about what MBE is, how it works, and what the goals/challenges of this field are in the last hour than I have in the several years I've been with this company. It is fascinating to be a part (albeit a small one) of the MBE world and I look forward to the new advances in electronics that this kind of research will bring to the table. Thank you! You are a fantastic communicator!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Awesome! Our C21 served us well. It’s up at Stanford now, still growing IV-VI as far as I’m aware!

[@Nathan-xg1os]

I just finished up my freshman year going into this summer. Watching this video and hearing about the process you went through working on your doctorate makes me excited for what lies ahead. Seriously great video, I’ll definitely be reading some of your writing.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Good luck! what are you studying?

[@foobar-9k]

Man, you really have a gift for explaining things! Even I, a bio-engineering dropout (20+ years ago) from Argentina, with a self-taught "English", was able to not only follow along, but to comprehend, learn, be amazed, and be thoroughly entertained! This was just all kinds of awesome! Thanks a lot for sharing it, Brian!!!

[@rpric001]

Finished this in one sitting, not knowing what I was going to be watching. Fantastic display of understanding. Easy to digest with a minimal amount of handwaving away important dense details. Your editorial room hopes to ramp it up for a general audience were met. I might also add that it was eloquent without feeling rehearsed. I believe that these are key characteristics to any scientific educator, coworker, or salesperson. This is what has made your content so successful on KZbin. This is what will make you successful.

[@HighWarlordJC]

I think one of the hallmarks of a great teacher is the ability to explain complex systems in a manner that even simple folk will understand. There are some big terms to go over in this, but I think even a teenager or potentially even younger would understand what you're on about; even if the subject might not hold their attention.

[@jakea7065]

I took a semiconductors class in my Undergrad as part of my EE degree and havent really touched the subject in years. The whole presentation from beginning to end was very well explained, and I understood everything. You would make a great professor just because of how well you explain this stuff.

[@nickbz1303]

That comment at the end made me feel very called out! That is why I started following your channel. Very interesting progress on this useful field! Sounds like this tech may be immediately useful in gas sensors. I may have a project for which miniaturized poly-gas sensors would be extremely helpful, so I look forward to any updates on this

[@EnderSpy007]

As someone who did alright in General Chemistry in my first semester of college, I can safely say that I am in the demographic of "possibly interested but currently uneducated." I know very little about material science on my own, but the combination of watching your other videos on the topic and watching this meant that this was surprisingly easy to understand. You are a fantastic science communicator and your explanations were complex and detailed but stated in a way that an average science-interested audience member could understand. Thank you Dr. Haidet.

[@justmemyselfandi5532]

Thank you very much for sharing, I admire your enthusiasm, good work and above all willingness to share. Wish you to never lose the spark! Best wishes!

[@vokuh]

watched through the whole thing and it was very very interesting - and actually perfectly presented - even for a material science noob like me it was easy to follow and understand - and your enthusiasm is contagious. i studied a few years of physics and physical engineering, but somehow always steered clear of the material science part of classes :D while i'm here: i just recently stumbled upon your channel - have been devouring every video since!! you have a wonderful mixture of enthusiasm, knowledge, hands on experiments and presentation - it's amazing. So i think your channel is way way underrated at this point - was delighted to see Veritasium mention you on that whole electric field discussion

[@InfiniteNesLives]

Thanks for sharing this with us! I’ve been enjoying your videos for awhile and this was quite a special treat.

[@vegandiver]

Very nice! I enjoyed watching every second of this, and yes it was easy to follow for me. Thank you for posting this. It's exactly the kind of content I crave here on KZbin. I loved watching the dislocations move around during the plastic deformations.

[@christiannorf1680]

You did a really great job explaining the topic and your work. It was very easy to follow for me as an organic chemist who never really liked inorganic chemistry (especially solid state). And even more so, I found it very interesting! Talks about crystal structures and such can be reeeeeeally boring sometimes, well done! I can vividly remember the huge relief after the Q&A when it's finally done and one gets the reward for years of work. Congratulations :)

[@ProblemChild-xk7ix]

You did a beautiful job explain your research. I was able to understand completely what you were trying to convey. Thank you and congrats.

[@billygamer3941]

The content is way outside of my background and expertise. However, I did learn about crystal growing and particularly the interface problem. As a frequent speaker on electronic topics and user of Power Point ;-( I learned how your animations of images can be much more effective than still images when suitably and gracefully executed. Congratulations upon achieving your PhD and I wish you a successful and happy career.

[@marianaldenhoevel7240]

Congratulations Dr. Haidet! I am pure science-consumer and I think you did a great job of explaining an extremely specific topic in a way that even interested public can feel they understood. I love to see how the sausage is made! Thank you.

[@moisesmontecillo7570]

Why stop at sausage?

[@ethanfisher7330]

I absolutely love your presentation videos! You have a knack for using just the right amount of energetic nerdy jargon. I just finished my first year in grad school and I'm looking forward to starting research into functionally gradient 3D printed metals using a DED metal printer. I can't help but feel a parallel between what I expect to learn and what you presented, albeit on a MUCH larger scale haha. I am currently doing a summer internship at a steel mill, so whereas you were working in a very clean room, I am working in a much more sooty environment. I really want to thank you because your channel has helped me feel confident in my choice to continue my education into material science and seeing that annihilation occur was truly breathtaking! Please keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing what else you put out into the world.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Awesome! I feel like i know quite a bit about plastic FDM, but almost nothing about the metal techniques. there were a bunch of my friends at ucsb working on (and some continued working on) 3d printing techniques. there were a lot of printed chunks of superalloys evaporated in the tribeam... What are you trying to gradient? grain structure, voids/microsctructure, composition, macroscopic things like latticing?

[@ethanfisher7330]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel right now we are working on stainless steel substrates and slowly transitioning them into inconel. One big problem with Directed Energy Deposition 3D printing is voids and surface finish so hopefully we can figure out some printing parameters which mitigate these issues. There's also some research my friends are doing with regards to residual strain and crystal growth directions in metal 3D printed parts so I'm excited to see what they come up with.

[@albinoninjamonkey8967]

Thank you so much for your work and your content, I am also pursuing a doctorate but this has reminded me once again that my passion is for learning and research and that is, ultimately, what is important. Your mine and the world's contribution to the wider spectrum of knoledge..... It's open sauce baby

[@pufthemajicdragon]

Still watching, and just interested in *science*. Also you have a really good way of simplifying complex topics and making them accessible - at least accessible to someone of my level of understanding. I'm really glad you shared this!

[@RasburryTe]

I haven't finished the whole video yet, but I've seen so far that you can explain these things that I could never understand in such simple ways. It really shows just how much you know about the topic. Just crazy.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

You have to aim the meteor where the flying echo unit WILL be, not where they are.

[@RasburryTe]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel you have to aim the meteor like 6 inches above where the echo unit will be

[@cirdiam1800]

I watched to the end - and found the whole thing interesting and the way you explained it was understandable to me, a generic KZbin viewer. I watched to the end, not because I’m interested in material science - but I was interested in getting a peek behind the curtain of what a dissertation was like. I think you did a great job.

[@Encysted]

I felt _excited_ watching this. Like, my excitement _grew_ as you described more and more. Super well done.

[@SiberCatLP]

As a (fairly) regular viewer of the channel for a couple of years now, I was absolutely blown away at how well several of your earlier videos prepared me for understanding this dissertation defense. I came away from this with just enough "how" and "why" knowledge that I could argue in favor of "hey, this thing is cool" with some of my science-minded friends. You did a wonderful job making this topic accessible, with the one misstep of not explaining what the roman numerals meant. Took me about 30 mins in to figure out they're periodic table groups (I think).

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Haha yep they’re columns - seems like I missed that for a lot of people

[@yachalupson]

Extremely well presented, I enjoyed every minute. Thanks so much for sharing your work - it's objectively fascinating. There were a lot of concepts in there that weren't unpacked but as a broad-minded engineer I could infer; and gain a ton of insight. Even with no background I think I'd have got a lot. Congratulations Dr PS: Those dislocation time-lapses and annihilation. Definitely worth coming for. Neat!

[@TheHackysack]

You thanked us for watching, but I'm thanking you for uploading this. Some friends and I watched this together and it was great! Thank you again.

[@benjaminbeard3736]

It must feel good to see this much genuine, outside interest in something you have spent so much time and effort building. Congratulations on everything. Keep up the good work and interesting videos.

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

It does! I’m kinda flabbergasted…

[@benjaminbeard3736]

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel I've been watching your channel for a while now and I like the technical nature of your stuff. I happened to be watching Steve Mould's channel where he gave you a nod and that's what brought me back. Thanks for taking the time to do what you do.

[@JeffreyOchoa8]

As a biologist who never took more than the required amount of physics, I must reiterate what others have said - this was very approachable and understandable! Bravo and congratulations Dr. AlphaPhoenix!