Alabamian rocket engineer Destin Sadlin’s first video, “How To Light a Bonfire With Rockets," went viral, so he used his charismatic nerd skills to fund his kids’ college education, creating Smarter Every Day, a YouTube channel that boasts 250 million views and 3.5 million subscribers. Often just Destin and a camera, the videos tackle everyday science (like “Slow Motion Cat Flipping Physics" and “Poop Splash Elimination") and more complex feats of engineering. In 2015, he joined other YouTube stars for the Project4Awesome challenge, which sent them on special trips for episodes that would showcase their favorite charities, with donations open through an Indiegogo campaign.