Role models and mentors inspire career awareness and increase youth interest in, positive attitudes toward, and identification with STEM (Maltese & Tai, 2010).
Research demonstrates that career role models are particularly effective in engaging youth from underserved groups (Bell, Chetty, Jaravel, Petkova, & Reenan, 2017).
—
Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy028