WPI Podcast Explores Mentorship Program for Students Interested in Sustainability

In a new WPI podcast, we highlight the university’s Sustainable Career Mentorship Program that gives students who are interested in sustainability an opportunity to connect one-on-one with professionals working in green jobs or sustainable fields.

Podcast guest Elisabeth “Lisa” Stoddard, one of the program organizers, is an associate professor of teaching of environmental and sustainability studies and in The Global School.

Listen to the episode. You may also read the transcript below.

 

Jon Cain:

It is a journey to choose and find your way into a career, so it can be really helpful to have people with you on that journey. That's one of the ideas at the heart of the Sustainable Career Mentorship Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It launched in the fall of 2024, and it's a resource for students interested in exploring careers in green and sustainable industries. Today we'll explore the program, so if you're a student, you can decide if it's right for you. Hi, I'm Jon Cain from the Marketing Communications Division at WPI. This podcast brings you news and expertise from our classrooms, campus and labs. I'm here at the WPI Global Lab in the Innovation studio, and I'm excited to be joined by an organizer of the mentorship program. Elisabeth "Lisa" Stoddard is an associate professor of teaching in environmental and sustainability studies and in The Global School at WPI. Lisa, thanks for being here. 

Lisa Stoddard:

Hi. Thanks so much for having me. 

Cain:

Why don't we start right off the top. I'm going to ask, what is the Sustainable Career Mentorship Program at WPI? 

Stoddard:

So the Sustainable Career Mentorship Program, pairs, WPI students who are interested in careers and sustainability with WPI alumni and professionals in green jobs or sustainable fields. 

Cain:

So you've got mentors and mentees. How often do they meet and what are some of the topics that they discuss? 

Stoddard:

We ask them to meet at least twice a year, one in the fall semester and once in the spring semester, but through the pilot program this year, we found that our mentors and mentees often meet more often and that can range from maybe once a term to once a month. 

Cain:

Do they meet in person or virtually or some combination thereof that sort of works for them? Is there any sort of format or template to it? 

Stoddard:

Yeah, so we have some folks who meet in person, and that's really for people who live either in Worcester or Boston in terms of the employers or the mentors, and they can meet the mentees on campus or somewhere in the Worcester area. For others, they're going to be meeting via Zoom just because it's much more convenient and they can do that more frequently. We also have some who do a little bit of both, so they might meet more frequently via Zoom and then on occasion meet off   campus. We also have at the end of the program a lunch where everyone is invited on campus, all of the mentors and mentees to celebrate and recognize the mentors and to talk with them a bit about what’s going well with the program and where we might improve.

Cain:

That's great. It sounds like there's a lot of different opportunities to check in along the way. 

Stoddard:

Yeah. And you also mentioned what topics are they covering? So we have mentees that range from first year students to seniors, and so for some of our first year students, they're thinking about maybe they have an interest or areas that they're really passionate about, but they don’t know what jobs match with that passion or those areas of interest. We have seniors who already have a job secured after graduation, but those jobs might not be in a sustainable field, so they want to know how can they approach that job, do well in that job and that position, but shift towards a more sustainable career. We have some other students who might be interested in learning about types of internships or research opportunities and getting some really detailed guidance from somebody in that field who might be able to tell them about those opportunities, but also to make some connections for them, maybe some first introductions. We have other students who might want an expert from that field to review their resume and to help them to think about what they might highlight for a particular job, and also to practice some interview questions. We also have some folks who, some mentees who are really hoping for the opportunity to maybe work with their mentor on site, and that doesn't happen for everybody. It may not be a fit, but we have some mentees who might join a mentor at a conference and be able to get exposure to expertise or discussions or conversations, organizations and people who they might not have had a chance to meet before. So the topics range, the opportunities range. We try to find a balance of having a structure that people can work in where the goals are clear. There's some guidelines around when folks should meet and how often they should meet, but then we allow that relationship to develop and for that mentor to kind of bring to the mentee the resources and assets that they each have. 

Cain:

Lisa, how many WPI students are part of the program and how many mentors are there? 

Stoddard:

So we currently have 17 students who are part of the program as mentees, and we currently have 25 mentors. And of those 25 mentors, 14 of them are WPI alumni. 

Cain:

What types of jobs or fields do the mentors come from? 

Stoddard:

So the mentors come from quite a diverse range of fields. They range from conservation to renewable energy, battery storage, sustainable metals, green architecture, green entrepreneurship or business, climate resilient design, urban planning, water waste management, sustainability consulting, and some others. 

Cain:

So I wanted to talk a little bit about who's able to participate. Are there any requirements that WPI students need to meet to join the mentorship program? Do they have to come from a specific major? 

Stoddard:

So we've designed the program so that any student on WPIs campus can participate in the program. So it's open to every major every year, and we've recently had some requests for graduate students to join the program. So we're happy to welcome undergraduates and graduates into the program. The real requirement is that they have some interest in sustainability or interest in a green field. It doesn't have to be a full commitment. It could be an area that they want to explore. They have to be willing to commit at least to meeting with their mentor twice a year and to doing the preparations needed for that meeting. And that's really up to the mentor and mentee. So if they decide that the student is going to develop their resume or a cover letter or look for particular job opportunities or internship opportunities, they would do that in advance. 

Cain:

So have you found that you've got a pretty wide breadth of students from different majors since it is open to everyone with that interest? 

Stoddard:

Yeah, it's really exciting to see. We have students from robotics, data science, mechanical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, environmental and sustainability studies. We have students in robotics who are interested in designing robots to remove pollution and waste and trash from the ocean. We have a student who is a civil engineering student who's interested in conservation and she's interested in figuring out different ways that we can build corridors for wildlife to go through. We have some students in data science who are interested in using data science to create climate models or to predict where animals and plant species might move in a changing climate to see how those ecosystems might be disrupted, but then also what interventions we can do to support those animals and those ecosystems and the human communities that are reliant upon them. 

Cain:

Really an important reminder of the breadth of the sustainability challenge and also the fact that people can come at this from a lot of different ideas and areas of expertise. So it's great that there's that opportunity for folks to sort of explore what interests them and not be restricted. 

Stoddard:

And it's been great because we've had some students who might have an interest, let's say in urban sustainability or green architecture, climate resilient design. And when we, at first, if we don't have a mentor that we see as a fit, we then will reach out to our alumni and then even a broader network. So our alumni start to connect us to people in the field. We, at first didn't have somebody to really match with our student who was interested in taking civil engineering and conservation and looking at how to get into a career and creating wildlife corridors. But our alumni network helped us to identify somebody to bring into the mentoring program, and so now we have a match for that student and they've really hit it off and are making a lot of progress. 

Cain:

. Lisa, why do you think it's so important that WPI students who have an interest in working in sustainability have this type of program available to them? 

Stoddard:

It's really fascinating for me to learn about how these different students from different majors and mentors from different fields, how they all look at sustainability, climate resilience, how they look at it differently. And when you look at the environmental and climate problems that are out there, they're complex. And so to see that we have a cohort of students developing expertise and knowledge and becoming ready for the job market to tackle these global problems that are at a crisis level, it's exciting and inspiring to see that because we need that diverse set of knowledge, majors, minds, insight to address that kind of problem. At the same time, I see that as a real asset to WPI and to the workforce. 

Those students, in terms of their majors, they travel really differently around our campus. So if you have a student in mechanical and robotics and social science and humanities, they're taking classes often quite separately from each other. They're not all in the same labs, they're not doing all the same projects. And so, there's been a request from students who are interested in sustainability to be able to develop a cohort, to get to work and collaborate together, to learn what each other are doing, to become part of a network, both at WPI, but then beyond with alumni and with employers and professionals in the field. So, because of our conversations with students around this, we decided to create this mentorship program, but also the annual event for Careers for Sustainable and Just Communities as ways to bring students together to help to enhance and form that community in that cohort. 

Cain:

It sounds like there's a lot of benefits to the mentorship program that go beyond just the career preparation. 

Stoddard:

Yeah, absolutely. There's one other thing I wanted to mention about the benefits of the program. I think when our students are looking at the job market and at careers that are out there, I think they can really see, and we can all see a growth in green jobs and in the sustainable career industry. When we look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it shows that there's an increase in over 25,000 new jobs between 2020 and 2030 in the area of green jobs or sustainable jobs or jobs that are in sustainability. So, one of the benefits is that we're preparing our students for a job market that's actively looking for qualified people. So, if we can take student passions and interests and we can prepare them through these programs, through the mentorship program and career event to be able to show up for those jobs, qualified, excited, and prepared, we're enhancing their ability to get those jobs that they're passionate about and to be able to help fill positions to address the climate crisis. And when we're looking globally, the World Economic Forum shows that green jobs are growing twice as fast as workers in green fields. So we are globally having twice as many jobs as we have workers to fill them in the kind of green and sustainability sector. 

Cain:

It sounds like there's a great opportunity for this program to kind of connect the dots between the student interests and the market demands. 

Stoddard:

Absolutely. 

Cain:

We talked a little bit about this earlier when we talked about the types of jobs or fields that the mentors come from, but I wanted to sort of dive in a little bit further on that. Can you give me some examples of the types of work that might fall under the umbrella of sustainable careers? 

Stoddard:

So, we're really seeing green jobs pop up in the fields of urban planning about how do you design cities to be able to manage flooding, to be able to manage wildfires or extreme heat? How do you design cities so they're much more efficient so we're using less energy sources, so we're sharing resources better? As I mentioned before, there's a lot of interests and a lot of need to pay attention to ocean ecosystems. So that can range from students looking at ocean ecosystems and biology to robotics and cleaning the ocean of trash to finding innovative ways to manage ocean acidification and rebuilding corals. WPI is really strong and data science and in computer science, and so there's a lot of interest in the climate world of figuring out how do we get large data models that can help us to understand and to predict what might happen in a certain city, a certain region in terms of climate change impacts. Also being able to use those large data sets to make some predictions and to understand if we change some things, if we make some things more resilient, if we move away from coastal areas, what are the ways that we would need to do that? I think that data science and computer science have a lot of power in terms of being able to address the climate crisis by using large data model sets. We also have a lot of attention right now to PFAS, a chemical, and a large number of areas that are working on the removal of PFAS from waterways. We’re seeing a lot with students who are interested in mechanical engineering looking at urban resilient design, renewable energy. We're seeing students in biology where organizations are interested in the intersection between biology and biotechnology, climate change and health, and where those three come together. For students in chemistry and chemical engineering, looking at green chemistry, how can we still meet certain needs that we have, but do those in a way that is less harmful to the environment?  I think the largest growth that we're seeing in the job market right now is coming around renewable energy, and that also links to jobs in battery storage and also sustainable mining. And so we're seeing in the Boston and Worcester area, a lot of really innovative startups that are thinking about how can we recycle metals for increased and more sustainable battery storage, and then how can we mine metals more sustainably so that as we shift towards more renewable energy and climate resilience, that we're thinking about the communities where those materials are made, where they're disposed of, so that we're doing that shift in a socially responsible way that addresses issues of environmental justice. 

Cain:

What have you heard from the students who are mentees? What type of feedback have you received from them about how the experience has been so far since the launch in the fall? 

Stoddard:

So, from our students, we're hearing that they feel like they're really making progress, they're connecting with their mentors. So I think that that's really important that they are finding people that they feel like they can relate to, people that are inspiring them, that are motivating them. I've heard from students that they're working on resumes and cover letters. They've had the opportunities to practice interviews. They're joining their mentors at conferences, that they're learning quite a lot. They've had a certain understanding of what green jobs are out there, but this has really expanded their knowledge and understanding of what the opportunities are. And I've heard from a number of students who say that they love their mentors, that they're really enjoying the relationship that they're building with them, and that it's having a lot of benefits in their ability to connect and network with those outside of WPI as well as inside of WPI. 

Cain:

What's the data that you're going to be collecting along the way? What types of information? 

Stoddard:

We're collecting both qualitative and quantitative data through surveys, emails, and then interviews. So, a lot of the data that we started collecting at first was asking the mentors and mentees what their goals were for participating in the program. And then research shows us that mentorship programs are most successful when there's some clear goals that are set out. So, we had students use multiple choice survey and scale to note what things that they're interested in particular. So, we had students select those types of things in addition to, are you interested in attending a conference with your mentor or joining them at their job site for a particular day? So we handed that information over to the mentors so that they could understand that better. And then collectively, the mentor and mentee can come up with a plan for their time together. So that time is used most wisely. Midterm, we've collected some data about what's working well and what's not working well, and what kinds of support do you need from the program. And then we'll collect some data at the end, both in terms of what's working well or what's not, get some ideas from the mentors and mentees about how we can modify the program, grow the program, offer additional opportunities. 

Cain:

I often think about the mentorship programs, and I immediately think about the benefits that the mentees get out of it. I'm wondering what you have sort of seen so far or heard from the mentors, in many cases our alumni, about what they're taking away from the experience so far. What have you heard? 

Stoddard:

Yeah, so it's been really interesting to see that our mentors and our alumni have talked about it being really exciting and inspiring to see who's coming into the field. They've been working on these really difficult issues for a decade or so. And I think seeing students coming in who have new ideas, who have new experiences and insights, who are coming to the field with a fresh sense of what's possible, what's most urgent and important. And so, it's, from what the mentors have told me, it's been really kind of a bright part of their day, week, month to be able to talk to the mentees and to get excited and inspired. Others have told me that supporting young people who are entering into careers in stem and in particular one mentor referenced that there's not a lot of women in her field. And so, supporting mentees who identify as female coming into her career has been really exciting for her and to be able to support that particular person in ways that she wishes she had had that kind of support earlier on. I think like our mentees; our mentors get excited about making a connection and finding someone who has a similar passion. And so, they really enjoy spending the time talking to each other and they feel really rewarded with seeing the progress that their mentee is making. And to be able to help their mentee make connections that their mentee may not have had before was a really rewarding feeling for them. 

Cain:

You mentioned earlier that 14 of the mentors are graduates of WPI. I'm wondering what you think it means to the current students to have connections with WPI alumni? 

Stoddard:

From what they've told me, I think it's helpful and inspiring for them to see people who are once in their position out on the ground in a field that they're excited about. I think all of our mentors are wonderful and our students find connections, but I think when a student can see an alumni who had some of the same classes, some of the same professors, some of the same experiences, they also went on IQP and MQP and had those really rewarding and life-changing experiences, and then can see them out on the field, can see the ways in which employers really value A WPI degree and what WPI students bring. So, I think it's that there's already that connection. There's already that relationship that exists, and I think it helps students to envision themselves in that particular career. And I think also for the mentors seeing themselves in the students a bit really motivates them to want to help that student to succeed. 

Cain:

Lisa, this mentorship program began as a spinoff of sorts from another program at WPI that you help organize. You had mentioned it earlier, the Careers for Sustainable and Just Communities Networking Events that happen here on campus. What happens at these events and how frequently are those held? 

Stoddard:

This event again came from student interest and student requests. And so I think one of the really cool things about WPI is that student voices are heard. And so, if students want to see growth in a particular area, want support in a particular area, they can advocate and work with faculty and staff and organizations on campus to get that done. So that's really what happened here. That sparked this whole programming area of programming around sustainable careers where two students coming and talking with an alumni and coming to us saying they want more opportunity around these areas. And so, at this particular event, we have about 30 to 35 employers come. And again, they're coming from a diverse set of areas, from conservation to energy to green architecture, et cetera. We have about maybe five employers in each of those areas sit at a round table. And the intent of this design is for students to be able to come in a casual setting and sit down at a table with folks in the energy industry and the renewable energy industry and ask questions, what's your job like day to day? What is the organization that you work for? What are the goals of your organization? How much money do you make? What do you like about your job? What do you not like about your job? And so, it's a much more casual way to get to know folks from those events. We've had students get internships, we've had them make connections, we've had them identify new mentors. We usually have a hundred to 120ish students come to the event each year, and we host it for about three to four hours. Students and employers come in, they grab a snack, and then they'll sit down at their tables and students rotate throughout the tables with an opportunity to talk to one or more people from each of the different career areas. So it's really intended to be a networking and kind of a one-off mentoring event where students can ask questions, get advice, and meet a diverse group of people from a diverse set of green fields and jobs. 

Cain:

I'm wondering what drives you or motivates you to work so hard to keep the networking events and the mentorship program going on top of everything else that you're doing in terms of teaching and advising? 

Stoddard:

Two things, really. One is the students. So, I'm very passionate about sustainability, about climate resilience, about climate justice, and seeing students who have that passion as well. I see them in my classes where they'll write to me after a project where they're literally lighting up over their excitement about gaining deeper knowledge in an area and identifying innovative solutions to problems that are really important to them. And so having those students come and want more support and to be able to provide that for them in a way where I can see what they're studying at WPI, what they're passionate about, how that can connect to a career that not only will they be able to have a livelihood and a job, but also one that will make them incredibly happy and passionate, and also one that helps to address the climate crisis. So I think that's first and foremost, is that seeing our students, I love our students. I'm so impressed with their knowledge, and I'm so inspired by their passion that anything that I can do to help move that forward is wonderful to me. It's really gratifying. It's probably the best part of my job. And I think the second part of it is I have twin nine year olds who are growing up in a world where we're dealing with the climate crisis, and I think about their future, and I think about what can I possibly do to try to help address this and to create a livable, environmentally sustainable and just world for my kids and other people's kids to grow up in. And so, when I think about 25, 50, a hundred, more students that are coming from diverse fields from all across our campus who are tackling this issue in a number of different ways, by supporting those students, that's one way that I can help to address the climate crisis. 

Cain:

I know that there were a lot of people that have been working really hard to make these programs possible, these two programs at WPI. I'm wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about who some of your campus partners have been in this. 

Stoddard:

Yeah, absolutely. So, The Global School, in particular, Laureen Elgert, who's the head of the Department of Integrative and Global Studies; she and I used to run the environmental and sustainability studies program together when we really started thinking about this type of programming. So, she's been a really wonderful partner. And then her leadership in The Global School has helped to kind of amplify that along with the Dean of The Global School, Mimi Sheller and others that have kind of expertise in that area. And then in the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Rob Krueger and others, Rob helped to start the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program has been supportive of these ideas and this type of programming. Also, the Office of Sustainability with Paul Mathisen and Nicole Luiz have been really helpful in bringing some of their programming together with the programming that we're developing so that we're not working in silos and isolated spaces that we're all bringing things together to collaborate. The Center for Career Development: Brittany Taylor has really been our point person who's been helping us with, I'm not an expert in career services, so Brittany's been helping us with how do we recruit mentors, how do we bring people to campus, how do we bring employers to campus? And then how do we prepare students to have effective and efficient and productive and meaningful conversations with them? So, she's been really critical with that. And then Hannah Shick from The Global School, she's helped with developing and designing our website, and that's been an incredible resource because our students can go on there, see who's available for mentors. We also have a page that lists current opportunities for internships and employment conferences and other opportunities related to sustainable careers for students. 

Cain:

Lisa, if a student is interested in learning more about either of the programs, the networking events or the mentorship program, how can they get more information?

Stoddard:

They can reach out to me by email. My email is eastoddard@wpi.edu. They can also Google WPI Careers and Sustainability, and they'll see different tabs there that they can look through. One of them being the Sustainable Career Mentoring Program, one being events, one being green internships, and then the last being green job boards. So they can navigate that website. And on the Sustainable Career Mentoring Program tab, they'll see an application that they can fill out. I would encourage students who have any interest at all to reach out. I think that sometimes we worry if we have an interest in something and if we pursue it and we're not sure if that's the direction that we want to go to, we don't want to commit to that. And this is a really nice and safe space to students to be able to explore an interest, to have the opportunity to meet and talk with someone, to see if this is a fit, a potential fit for their future. 

Cain:

Well said. Lisa, thanks so much for being here and telling us more about the mentorship program and the opportunities available to students who have an interest in sustainability. It's been fantastic. 

Stoddard:

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you taking the time to help us to share this with students, and it's been a real pleasure chatting with you. 

Cain:

Likewise. Lisa Stoddard is an associate professor of teaching in environmental and sustainability studies, and in The Global School at WPI. You can hear more podcasts like this one at wpi.edu/listen. There you can also find audio versions of stories about our students, faculty and staff, everything from events to research. You can also check out the latest WPI News on Spotify, Apple podcasts and YouTube podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to open WPI. This podcast was produced at the WPI Global Lab in the Innovation Studio. Varun Bhat provided audio engineering help. Thanks for listening.