Aspiring STEM Students Get Immersive Experience Through NJIT-Stryker Career Day
Students in NJIT’s Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP) summer offering saw first-hand what a career in STEM looks like thanks to Stryker opening its doors to its medical technology and manufacturing facility.
Stryker showed off its half-million square-foot Mahwah campus and the innovation within developed by its engineers and technologists: new-material implants getting people back on their feet in hours instead of days, additive-manufacturing processes unlocking the full potential for design and its state-of-the art Mako surgical robot.
“Students cannot fully appreciate science, technology, engineering and mathematics without having hands-on experiences with these subject areas,” said Jacqueline Cusack, CPCP executive director. “Seeing, hearing and touching the application of a STEM education not only helps to bring STEM careers into focus for pre-college students, but also within their reach.”
A Dynamic Corporate Club
Stryker’s presence at NJIT is strong thanks in part to its robust corporate club at the university, which helped organize the career day. Over 100 NJIT alumni are making an impact at Stryker, and the company frequently participates in on-campus career fairs, Albert Dorman Honors College colloquium and sponsors regional STEM activities.
Joe Racanell serves as co-chair for the NJIT-Stryker corporate club. A two-time alumnus in ’83 and ’89 in mechanical engineering whose work has spanned from the elevator to the aerospace industry, Racanelli credits his NJIT education with equipping him with the necessary problem-solving skills that enabled him to be flexible in his professional endeavors.
“My background and educational experience gave me the technical competence to not only excel early on, but change jobs with confidence and then build my career,” Racanelli said. “[My advice] to these students is if you have an interest in the sciences, pick a direction, move forward and keep adjusting as you go.”
Racenelli and other NJIT alumni were on hand during breakout sessions to share their experiences, field questions from students and offer suggestions on paths forward to pursue their STEM interests.
Committed to Diversity
While showcasing the next generation of medicine played a leading role during the day, a pivotal partner in planning the event was Stryker’s African Ancestry Network (SAAN). Its mission, to drive diversity, equity and inclusion to make Stryker a career destination for Black employees, aligns squarely with NJIT’s pursuits, with diversity both a core value and one of four pillars in its strategic plan.
Darryl Saunders has dual roles at Stryker: he’s a senior project engineer with the advanced operations a metrology department, and also vice president of SAAN East. Saunders took the opportunity to make sure he was seen and heard throughout the day. With three-quarters of the pre-college group students of color, Saunders and other diverse members on the Stryker team offered tacit encouragement for these students to pursue a career path in which there is still substantial racial disparity.
“I wanted to intertwine that someone that looks like me and someone that looks like them has this opportunity,” Saunders said. “Some students may come from an environment where they don’t even think an opportunity like this exists.”
Affecting Inspiration
Hayden Wilson, a student at James Caldwell High School, attended the event and is interested in biochemistry. Seeing Stryker’s facility and employees work helped connect the dots between people, machines and end products.
“They explained that they employed people of different educational levels. It's really important work that they do, and I'm happy to know that there are opportunities at all levels to learn and grow in such an important and growing field,” Wilson said. “I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into how the fields come together to create prosthetic body parts.”
Furthering her interest was seeing workshops run by women and people of color.
“Seeing workshops run by women and people of color made me feel like that could be me, and their position is achievable, and that we can strive to be and do anything that we set out to do, regardless of gender, race or academic level.”
Robert Cohen, chair of NJIT’s Board of Trustees and President of Digital, Robotics and Enabling Technologies at Stryker, is emphatic in his belief of the role that industry partnerships can play in introducing and encouraging students to pursue STEM paths.
“We need to create more opportunities to show students like these a STEM education in action, to give real examples of career possibilities and to inspire,” said Cohen. “Events born out of collaboration like this, between industry, alumni organizations and universities, truly demonstrate the power of leveraging partnerships for the benefit of students who are our future STEM workforce.”
