How Career Role Models Inspire and Aspire First-Semester Science Students Toward Their Future?
Our data suggest that students in my department appreciate the opportunity to question, realign, and/or confirm their field of study at the earliest stage of academic journey.
Preamble
The first semester is a defining moment for all college students. It’s when they begin shaping their goals, confidence, and identity as future professionals. Yet, many first-year students entering biology and chemistry programs are uncertain about their career paths beyond traditional roles in healthcare and academia – or worse, doubting whether they belong in science at all. At the same time, major economic sectors like biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, consumer selfcare products, healthcare system, and business consulting hire scientists. For example, in New Jersey, biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies generated $131B for the state economy in 2023, representing 16% of the New Jersey gross domestic product. These rapidly evolving industries search for motivated, critical thinking, problem-solving and career ready graduates who can tackle complex challenges. The problem – many students don’t see themselves in these careers because they lack direct exposure to professionals who have walked this path before them especially at the start of college experience.
How Can We Change
Over the past three years, my colleagues (Jeffrey Lam, M.S.Ed and Patricia Muisener, Ph.D.) and I have connected three cohorts of our first-year students to career role models – professionals who not only inspire, but also spark students’ own aspirations, as part of our curriculum. We’ve seen firsthand how this structured approach empowers students to assess career options, build confidence, and take ownership of their future. As we share our rationale, approach and data in this article, we propose to the higher education community that:
Career role models inspire students to envision broader applications of their degrees beyond traditional roles and develop a more holistic view of their future.
Such experiential learning will be greatly appreciated by first-semester students.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers an opportunity to scale career exploration experience to many students – no matter background or location – access to inspirational role models for tailored career aspiration.
Why Career Role Models Matter
Science degrees open doors to countless career paths, yet many students fail to see the possibilities early on because they:
Lack direct access to professionals in the workforce.
Have misconceptions about what science careers actually involve.
Struggle to visualize a clear path from their coursework to real-world impact.
This is where career role models play a transformative role. Unlike career mentors or career coaches, who provide long-term personal guidance or job-specific training like resume writing, career role models inspire students’ aspiration by showing them real-life stories.
By meeting professionals who were once in their shoes, students see what’s possible—and more importantly, who they can become. In our exploration, we didn’t just introduce career role models—we embedded them into the first-semester curricular experience, ensuring that students start aspiring from day one. We did not do this in isolation, but with strong support from and engagement of our external advisory board. The board has been instrumental in modernizing our curriculum with constant advice and counsel, with many board members volunteering as career role models.
What We Did and Found
We launched BIO/CH 179: Career Pathways in Biological and Chemical Sciences – a one-credit course designed to embed career exploration from week 1 of the first semester. This seminar course is designed to:
Introduce students to career role models who share their own real-world successes and challenges.
Cover many economic sectors, including biotechnology, business, dentistry, environmental science, forensic science, healthcare system, higher education, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and secondary education.
Provide structured networking opportunities that extend beyond the classroom.
Guide students in mapping out a 10-year career vision, aligning their academic choices with their aspirations.
Each week, students are guided to:
Engage with career role models across many economic sectors to gain insights into career paths they may never have considered before.
Reflect on and/or adjusting career aspirations, based on what they learn.
Develop an online professional presence thorough LinkedIn and Handshake workshops conducted by professionals in communication and career coaching.
We found that:
36% of students changed or expanded their career goals, with the others had a chance to reaffirm their original goals. Overall, students reported a stronger sense of motivation and direction.
Some students realized they had more options than they originally thought and broadened their aspirations (e.g., a student focused on medical school starting to consider other health professions).
Others completely shifted career tracks after gaining exposure to paths they had never considered (e.g., a student focused on graduate school, changing interest completely toward business).
Students greatly appreciated and enjoyed the experience with overall course evaluation rating of 4.74 to 4.89 out of 5. Kudos to Jeffrey Lam who has executed BIO/CH179 as Staff Instructor to three student cohorts! Of course, many thanks to 25+ career role models served as volunteers and interacted with our students over the past three years!
Can We Transform First-Year Science Education
Our results suggest that the curricular approach provides students with an important opportunity to question, realign, and/or confirm their chosen field of study at the earliest stage of their academic journey. By adapting social cognitive career theory, we plan to ascertain our hypothesis that the structured experience, for increasing self-efficacy and aligning outcome expectations, lead to increased career preparation and readiness.
Our experience suggests a fundamental shift is needed in how we approach first-year science education. Traditionally, science education has relied on rigid curricula, heavy coursework, and academic and faculty advisors who may not have direct industry experience. We need to rethink this model – by integrating career role models into the student experience from the start. Fostering career aspiration and confidence rather at the earliest stage than leaving it until the latter years.
Can We Scale Career Exploration with AI? How did you first discover your career path? Did you have a career role model who influenced your choices? The next challenge is scaling our structured approach to reach more students across institutions. The solution? Digitalizing student experiences with career role models through AI-driven learning platforms. Can we imagine? AI-powered career exploration tools that inspire students through personalized interactions with career role models, based on students’ interests and aspirations – regardless of location or resources.
We would love to collaborate with founders and investors and hear your feedback: wlee@stevens.edu
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to my colleagues (Jeffrey Lam, M.S.Ed., Senior Academic Advisor, and Patricia Muisener, Ph.D., Associate Chair of Undergraduate Education) in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Actually, I must disclose that they have done most work to carry out my nascent idea into actions, when I joined the Department as Chair five years ago. Also, I would like to note intellectual contributions from Emily Atieh, Ph.D. and Valerie Guerrero Williamson, Ph.D. in developing the education research framework based on social cognitive career theory and introducing the powerful notion of “career role models.”