When people think about the Month of May in Indiana, they usually think about fast cars, race day traditions and the excitement of the Indy 500.
But behind every lap is an entire team of people working across Indiana’s advanced industries to develop and test the technology, make and move things around the country (and the world), analyze data and make decisions that bring race day to life.
Modern racing depends on advanced industries — and many of the careers that help power race day are the same careers helping shape Indiana’s future every day.
Whether you’re interested in hands-on work, problem-solving, creativity or technology, there are many ways to be part of industries like these right here in Indiana.
Engineering
From designing vehicle systems to improving performance and safety, engineers help turn ideas into reality. Engineers across disciplines use creativity, problem-solving, and technology to design, test, and improve systems people rely on not just on race day, but every day.
Some careers in this field include:
Mechanical Engineer
Industrial Engineer
Electrical Engineer
Systems Engineer
Engineers often work with advanced technology, testing systems, solving problems, and helping improve performance and safety in fast-paced environments.
Advanced Manufacturing
Careers in advanced manufacturing combine hands-on work with advanced technologies and precisions tools that help drive innovation across Indiana’s economy. Advanced manufacturing professionals help build the parts, materials and systems used across industries including transportation, life sciences, aerospace and motorsports.
Some careers in this field include:
CNC Machinist
Automation Technician
Quality Engineer
Robotics Technician
Indiana is a national leader in advanced manufacturing and logistics, with companies across the state helping design, produce and move products around the world.
Technology + Data
Technology plays a major role as its own sector as well as across Indiana’s advanced industries, from software development and cybersecurity to data analytics and artificial intelligence. In the context of racing, teams rely on software, analytics and real-time data to make decisions quickly and improve performance.
Some careers in this field include:
Software Developer
Data Analyst
Cybersecurity Specialist
Data Scientist
TechPoint’s Careers in Tech platform helps you uncover some of the top career paths and opportunities across Indiana’s technology sector. Visit techpoint.org/careersintech to learn more!
Logistics
Getting materials, tools and equipment where they need to go takes planning, coordination and teamwork. Logistics and operations professionals help coordinate the movement of products, materials, and equipment across complex systems and supply chains.
Some careers in this field include:
Supply Chain Specialist
Logistics Coordinator
Operations Manager
Transportation Analyst
Indiana’s advanced manufacturing and logistics industries play a major role in moving products and materials across the country and around the world.
Media + Communications
Race day also depends on creative professionals who help tell stories and connect with fans. Photographers, videographers, marketers and communications teams help bring events to life both in person and online.
Some careers in this field include:
Videographer
Graphic Designer
Social Media Manager
Communications Specialist
These careers combine creativity, storytelling and technology — and opportunities exist across Indiana’s advanced industries.
Finding Your Path
There’s no single path into advanced industries careers. Explore more opportunities at SeeYourselfIN.com.
Whether your interests are in technology, engineering, manufacturing, logistics or creative work, Indiana’s advanced industries offer opportunities to explore careers that help power innovation every day — on and off the track.
We’ve all heard those stories about engineers who started out as little junior engineers. When they were kids, they were always building things with Legos or tinkering with machines.
Braxton Bragg says that wasn’t him.
The future Product Innovation Engineer with Evansville’s Berry Global was more into sports.
As he got older, though, the foundation for a career in engineering took shape. At New Albany High School, along with participating in athletics, Braxton found that chemistry, physics and math interested him, and that he wasn’t half bad at those subjects. His junior and senior years, he took a job working on a farm and discovered that the mechanics of the tractors and other equipment fascinated him. As these factors pulled together, he recognized where his path was leading. When he headed off to college at the University of Southern Indiana, he majored in engineering.
And when an opportunity for an internship at Berry Global came up during his sophomore year, Braxton jumped on it. He was familiar with the plastic container and product company, but didn’t know much about its operations. What he learned hooked him in a hurry.
“I was blown away by how much goes into making a plastic drinking cup or plastic lid or the container that holds your products in the grocery,” Braxton says. “The kind of technical crew it takes to pull off efficient production of something like that, it took me for a shock.”
Hired on as a full-time employee in 2019 and promoted to his current position in 2020, Braxton says he enjoys being a part of the company’s global headquarters because that gives him a front-row seat to everything from product ideation to seeing items he worked on come off the production line. He currently has five or six projects on which he serves as project manager, he says, all in different stages. He enjoys the variety of the work and the fact that every day can be a little different.
He also enjoys the constant drive to make better products more efficiently. “Coming up with a better way to make a better widget that nobody else can make, that’s always the process,” Braxton says. “Innovation as a whole is consistent on the product and process side.”
And he’s delighted to have landed a job with all those features just a short drive from his hometown. Married to his high school sweetheart, Braxton enjoys staying in touch with friends and family and taking advantage of Southern Indiana’s hunting and fishing options. And while engineering ultimately took up a larger part of his life than the sports that he focused on as a kid, he hasn’t given up athletics completely. He’s taken up running, and he’s preparing to run his second marathon.
You could call Carter Burnett’s career a turn-key operation.
When he turns the key in the ignition of the truck he drives, Carter is on the job, piloting a $250,000 piece of equipment carrying a payload likely worth a lot more and tracking an endless parade of variables to make sure he gets products where they need to be, when they need to be there.
It can be tiring and stressful, but Carter enjoys the independence that comes from not having a boss looking over his shoulder. Best of all, when he turns the key to shut off the engine, he leaves the job behind … unlike people who constantly worry about workplace responsibilities.
“Once I step down from the cab, I’m no longer at work,” he says.
Carter hadn’t always planned this career. When he left high school in Owensboro, Ken., he headed off to college because that’s what people said you needed to do to be successful. But that didn’t go the way he planned. After a while, he was back home working construction.
Then he got an unexpected opportunity: He could learn to drive trucks like his dad and grandad, for the company that employs his dad. Although he had never imagined following in his father’s footsteps, Carter was encouraged by the fact that his dad had made a rewarding quarter-century career out of driving a truck. And the company, Evansville’s JR’s Expedited Freight, was offering to pay for the training Carter needed to get a Commercial Driver’s License. In exchange, Carter signed a two-year contract.
That was about 18 months ago, so now you’ll find Carter on the road a few days each week, driving hundreds of miles at a time, usually between Henderson, Ky., and Virginia Beach, Va. It’s a job that requires sharp time-management skills and trustworthiness – after all, you’re in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment and cargo – and you have to balance the time away from home with the freedom you get when you are home.
As unexpected as a career in the trucking industry was for Carter, he plans to stay, albeit not always on the road. He hopes someday he’ll find a role to play that keeps him closer to home, where he can be with family and spend more time tinkering with cars.
Regardless, though, he is confident he’ll consider himself a success, despite what he thought when he left high school.
“Success isn’t defined by what degrees you have and what colleges you went to,” Carter says. “Success is, ‘Am I doing something I enjoy?’ Because if I go home every day and hate what I’m doing, I’m not going to think I’m successful.”
The 2025 See Yourself IN High School Summit brought together hundreds of high school students, educators, and industry leaders for a day designed to spark possibility and illuminate real pathways into Indiana’s advanced industries. From the moment students arrived at the AMP at 16 Tech on November 13, the energy was unmistakable: curiosity, excitement, and a genuine eagerness to explore what’s possible for their futures.
Learning from the Leaders Who Shape Indiana’s Economy
We kicked off the 2025 See Yourself IN Summit with an opening from Kristen Lampkin and Latoya Botteron of CICP, who encouraged students to think boldly about their futures and to go into this day with an open mind of what is out there in Indiana.
We then welcomed Olivia West, in-game host for the Indiana Fever and Indiana Pacers, to the stage, where she shared an inspiring keynote about the importance of values – our GPS system – and how those values lead us toward decisions that affect our future. She inspired all of us to think big and to stay curious, both at the summit and in life.
Across the Summit, speakers from CICP’s branded initiatives and partners — TechPoint, AgriNovus, BioCrossroads, Conexus Indiana, and Ascend Indiana — shared insights into the future of work and the incredible opportunities emerging in technology, life sciences, agbiosciences, advanced manufacturing and logistics, and beyond. They were also able to share opportunities for students to get plugged in and get a jumpstart on their careers, whatever that path may be.
The morning session ended with two valuable panel discussions that exposed students to real stories of success and validation that it’s okay to not know your next step. We first welcomed a group of current students who are tied to CICP’s various talent programs, including Field Atlas, Xtern, and the Modern Apprenticeship Program (MAP). These individuals – Mackensi Schneider, Megan Van Dyke, and Rex Cole – were joined by AgriNovus Indiana Career Success Manager Karis Witte to discuss their respective programs as well as their advice for students who may be interested in following in their footsteps.
We then transitioned to a panel of early-in-career professionals who have been able to make an impact and find success (and their voice) in various advanced industry careers. Susie Cox, an Automation Leader at Corteva Agriscience, Katie Murphy, a Manufacturing Engineer at Arcamed, and Lilia Sanchez, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana Biosciences Research Institute joined moderator Emily Kitterman, Director of Careers in Tech at TechPoint on the stage. These individuals were able to share advice to students about finding their path and ways to find success in the advanced industries, as well as offered some perspective on what the “advanced industries” really mean and why they are so important, not just to our state but to our world.
Beyond the stage, the Summit’s industry activations transformed career exploration into something students could touch, test, and experience. From learning about life sciences through VR to extracting strawberry DNA, coding alongside tech mentors to learning about how to use AI, students had a chance to see these advanced industries come to life in very tangible ways. A special thanks to the following groups who volunteered their time and talent to provide these hands-on demos to our students:
Corteva Agriscience: Strawberry DNA Extraction
EMC2 – Facility and Lab Tour
Ivy Tech School of IT and Gaming: Coding Activity
iXplore: Virtual Reality Experience
Machyne at 16 Tech – Tour of Machyne Makerspace and Welding Demo
Telabotics: Robotics Demonstration and Activity
TechPoint – AI Workshop
Many students were eager to share that this was their favorite part of the day, the moment careers felt tangible, accessible, and exciting.
In addition to these hands-on activities, we had several partners who set up booths at the AMP where students could learn about opportunities to take the next step. Butler University’s Founder’s College, IU Indianapolis, Purdue University, Ivy Tech, and each of our branded initiatives – Ascend Indiana, AgriNovus Indiana, BioCrossroads, Conexus Indiana, and TechPoint were able to share opportunities for our high school students to get plugged in and turn today’s excitement into an actionable step forward.
Student Takeaways and Outcomes
Throughout the day, one message came through clearly: There is a place for every student to see themselves IN Indiana’s innovation economy.
As students got their ice cream and headed home for the day, they left with an idea of their values, a new awareness of growing career paths and opportunities, direct connections to mentors, employers, and continuing education, and insights into the skills needed for today’s (and tomorrow’s) jobs.
Perhaps most importantly, they left with a greater understanding that their strengths, interests, and values can help shape their decision-making and influence their path to a fulfilling career, right here in Indiana.
The learning doesn’t stop when the Summit ends. Students, families, and educators can continue exploring resources, career pathways, and videos throughout the year at SeeYourselfIN.com.
A Community Coming Together for Students
None of this would have been possible without our incredible network of partners:
Panelists and speakers who generously shared their time and stories
Exhibitors and activation partners who brought advanced industries to life through hands-on demonstrations
Educators and school leaders who championed their students and made participation possible
CICP’s five branded initiatives who collaborated to create a seamless, meaningful experience for students across the state
This collective effort is what makes the See Yourself IN Summit so powerful. It represents the very best of Indiana’s commitment to developing its future talent.
For Bryce Maxwell, ‘25, the decision to attend Indiana State University was rooted in family and practicality. Born and raised in Terre Haute, Maxwell chose to pursue a degree from Indiana State because of stories he had heard from family members.
“My mom, my dad, and my older brother all went to Indiana State,” he shares. “I had three great examples of success stories, so I thought I’d stay in my hometown. The tuition was great, and I knew Indiana State was a nice school. I could find my way and figure out what I wanted to do.”
Finding that way, however, took time. Maxwell entered college unsure of his future career plans, initially majoring in finance. “I knew I liked numbers, so I thought, ‘What do numbers go into? Finance,’” he says. It wasn’t until he discovered the business analytics minor—and the mentorship of Dr. Concetta DePaolo—that his path began to take shape.
“I was sitting in her class one day and realized I enjoyed it a lot more than my finance classes,” he recalls. “She showed me how analytics overlapped with supply chain, and that same day, I switched my major.”
Switching majors late could have been challenging, but Maxwell found the supply chain management program to be a welcoming, supportive environment. He quickly built connections with faculty and peers, and through collaborative projects, he gained confidence that he had made the right decision.
“I had no idea what supply chain management was,” he admits. “But supply chain management is in every business. It follows products through the whole production line, and there’s so much you can do.”
When asked what he enjoys most about his major, Maxwell struggles to pick just one thing. “I really enjoy all of it. There are so many parts to supply chain management that once you find a part you like, you can have a completely different experience than someone else. There are so many opportunities and routes you can go down.”
Mentorship played a pivotal role in Maxwell’s Sycamore journey. He credits Dr. DePaolo for her guidance and support, recalling how she spent an hour with him discussing career paths and helping him make the switch from finance to supply chain management. “My favorite class was solving with Excel sheets – taking real-world situations and optimizing them, saving companies money,” he says.
That academic preparation paid off during an internship at Cummins, Inc., in Columbus, Indiana. At Cummins, a global leader in power generation products, Maxwell worked in supply chain planning and analytics – helping set up a new engine line and ensuring all parts were brought in properly. That internship experience led to a full-time job offer after graduation in December.
Maxwell credits Indiana State’s curriculum for preparing him well, especially with its emphasis on analytics and real-world problem-solving. “I felt like from day one, I had a better grasp on what we were doing,” he says. “The real-world examples we worked on in class taught me to think quickly, problem-solve, and adapt – skills that are crucial in supply chain.”
Outside his major, Maxwell found community through club volleyball, playing all four years and forming friendships across the University. “Joining that club took up a lot of time, but it was definitely worth it. I made friends I never would have met otherwise,” he shares.
He describes Indiana State as a community that truly invests in its students’ success – both during college and beyond. His advice to future Sycamores is simple: take advantage of every opportunity.
“Attend networking events, career fairs, and speaker sessions,” he says. “Even if you never talk to someone again, you never know where a conversation might lead. Build your network, build your skills, and be open to learning.”
As Maxwell prepares to graduate and begin his career at Cummins, he reflects with gratitude for the mentors, friendships, and experiences that shaped his Sycamore journey at Indiana State.
“Indiana State cares a lot about its students. Professors give you countless opportunities to learn and grow. They want you to leave here ready to succeed.”
When Eric Wildeman was wrapping up his degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication at the University of Southern Indiana, he didn’t know what he wanted to do next. So, he interviewed with a variety of organizations, one of which happened to be a logistics firm. But it wasn’t what the company did that won him over. It was the way the company did it.
“It was more of the atmosphere that intrigued me,” he says. “It was a true sales floor. Everyone’s on the phone talking out loud, thinking out loud. It reminded me of a mini Wall Street.”
That was half-a-dozen years ago. Now a business development representative at Evansville’s PFL Logistics – which takes care of warehousing and transporting goods for companies – Eric says he continues to get a rush from the high-energy, fast-paced logistics environment.
Days go by quickly, he says, as he helps customers meet their needs and solve problems. For example, he recently helped a customer with a refrigerated product after the delivery truck was turned away at its destination. As scheduled, the shipment was picked up on a Thursday and delivered by 9 a.m. on Friday, but the receiving dock wouldn’t allow it to unload. Keeping the product refrigerated while waiting for a later delivery slot would cost the client a lot of money, Eric says, so he went into action. Juggling phone calls, pulling together documentation and aligning everyone’s objectives, he got the truck a delivery slot before things got too heated.
It was an achievement that leaned a lot on attributes Eric says are important to his job: problem-solving, communicating clearly and frankly, and managing your time while responding to multiple clients’ needs. Eric credits his family upbringing with giving him a work ethic that allows him to enjoy such challenges, along with an ability to communicate with people with varying roles – from the accounting office to the warehouse floor.
It helps that he gets to do this work in familiar territory. The Evansville native is happy that he found a job that allows him to settle with his wife in his hometown, where he now helps to coach the football team at his alma mater, Mater Dei High School.
Despite stumbling into logistics, Eric says he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. He loves the energy at PFL and in his industry. “It’s something different every day,” he says. “You never do the same thing all day or every day … it’s definitely what I was looking for.”
The path that brought Alex Goebel to her job as a lean digital data analyst at AstraZeneca was not a straight one, but it sure seems to have been the right one.
Alex (short for Alexandra) laughs as she describes the course that brought her to where she is today. Coming out of Mount Vernon High School, she considered medicine – helping patients appealed to her – but didn’t like science. She loved math but couldn’t imagine what she would do with a math degree. (Teach, maybe?) In college, she briefly leaned toward actuarial sciences, but an internship diverted her toward accounting.
When she got a scholarship from AstraZeneca, a conversation with Lean Digital Director Keith Rawley led to an internship working in the company’s warehouse. At first, this only muddied the water. “I had no idea how I would fit in there,” Alex says. “I thought, ‘What am I doing in the warehouse?’”
As it turns out, she was defining her path – a path that, in a way, had been there all along.
Growing up, Alex had always known the hometown pharmaceutical manufacturing operation as Bristol-Myers Squibb (it was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2014). She also knew it as the place where her dad worked. “Honestly, I’d hear my dad talk about it and I’d think, ‘That’s cool,’ she says with a chuckle. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
The internship changed that, shattering misperceptions she had about manufacturing and logistics as low-tech and dirty operations. She found a clean, exciting facility where even a math major could contribute.
Still, Alex wasn’t certain AstraZeneca was for her. But as she finished her bachelor’s degree in math and accounting at University of Southern Indiana (USI), she interned at a couple of other places, and soon realized that she liked the people, the culture and the work she found at AstraZeneca. She signed on full-time in 2020 and hasn’t looked back.
That’s not to say she settled into a job and stayed put. In her time with AstraZeneca, Alex has explored new opportunities and received promotions. Encouraged to continue learning, she’s taken advantage of classes and training supported by AstraZeneca and also earned her MBA from USI.
Happy to find such a good job in her hometown, where she enjoys hanging out with familiar friends, boating and spending time with family, Alex likes that being with a pharmaceutical firm takes her back to her early passion (“I’ve still got a way to help patients,” she says), and concedes that it is fun to work where her dad works.
So, she plans to stay with AstraZeneca … but not necessarily on a clearly defined path. “I have a career path that I see myself going down, but it’s changed every couple of years,” she says. “One thing about AstraZeneca is, they just surprise me all the time.”
Mackenzie Mulherin went off to college planning to heal people. It turns out her destiny was to heal the planet.
A sustainability project manager in consumer packaging at Evansville’s Berry Global, Mackenzie spends her days working with teams seeking to increase the sustainability of things like plastic drink cups and lids, food packaging and beauty and personal care tubes. Recently, for example, she was excited to announce that her division had just introduced a Wendy’s drink cup made with 20% recycled material, a product that is a trendsetter in the industry.
Consumer packaging was not where Mackenzie saw her future when she entered the University of Southern Indiana. “I started out in nursing,” she says, “but learned that I love marketing. I really love to do that.”
Mackenzie wasn’t out of college long before she set her sights on a job at Berry Global. Growing up in Evansville, she was aware of the company and its reputation as a good employer, and she had some friends who worked there. So, after getting jobs in marketing for smaller firms in the area, she started connecting with people on LinkedIn and networking with colleagues who knew people at Berry Global. The approach worked. She got hired in 2021.
“I just did some things that stood out,” Mackenzie says. “I was able to build up work experience and relevant skills through my past roles, but my network of professional relationships and ability to follow up helped set me apart.”
Sustainability is a multifaceted career, Mackenzie says, that includes everything from the technical engineering of products to the kind of work she does, which often includes working with Berry customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals and provide products that are meaningful to their consumers.
With Berry Global, there are a lot of those customers of customers, Mackenzie points out, as the company makes such a wide range of products. In fact, it is estimated that the average consumer touches a Berry Global product as many as five times a day. It’s not uncommon, she adds, to see Berry Global employees in the grocery store looking at the bottom of yogurt cups and lotion bottles to check for the Berry Global logo.
Citing her career path as an example, Mackenzie encourages other young people to keep open minds, pursue their goals and take risks. She never imagined she would end up in sustainability when she was in college, and she’s delighted to have a job that allows her to help provide for her family and make a real difference in the world.
“I get to do both,” Mackenzie says. “I get to contribute to my family’s income and positively impact the environment.”
When you’re in high school, it can feel like everyone is asking the same big question: “What’s next?” But the truth is—you don’t need to have all the answers yet. What you do need is a chance to see what’s out there, to start imagining what’s possible, and to begin connecting your interests to future opportunities.
That’s exactly what the See Yourself IN High School Summit is all about. On November 13, 2025, students from across Indiana will come together for a one-day event designed to spark curiosity and open doors. You’ll get a chance to hear from people who were recently in your shoes, explore industries you may not have thought about before, and begin to picture where your future might take you.
Here are seven reasons you’ll want to be part of it:
1. Discover careers you didn’t know existed
There are so many career options beyond the ones you usually hear about. At the Summit, you’ll get to see some of Indiana’s fastest-growing industries in action:
Agbiosciences: From food and farming to sustainability and innovation.
Life Sciences: From creating new medicines to improving everyday health.
Technology: From apps and software to cybersecurity and data.
Advanced Manufacturing & Logistics: From robotics and aviation to moving goods across the globe.
Each of these fields is full of opportunities for people with all kinds of strengths – whether you like problem-solving, being creative, working with your hands, or exploring new ideas.
2. Hear from people who were once in your shoes
In the morning, the Summit will feature panels with current students and young professionals in Indiana who are now building careers in these industries. They’ll share their journeys—what they liked in high school, how they explored their interests, and what led them to where they are today.
You’ll get to hear real stories, not just polished success highlights, and ask questions that could help lead you to your next step. These conversations will show that career paths are rarely straight lines, and that exploring your options in high school is a valuable first step.
3. Get a taste of different industries
In addition to panel discussions, you’ll also have the opportunity to learn through hands-on demos and activities that give you a simple, hands-on way to learn what these industries are all about. Think of it as “test driving” different fields—you’ll get just enough to spark curiosity without needing to know all the details. Each experience is designed to give you a small glimpse into what careers in that field could look like.
4. See Indiana in a new light
It’s easy to think that the most exciting careers are in big cities far away. But the truth is, Indiana is full of innovation and opportunity. Right here at home, people are working on things that impact not just our state, but the entire world.
The Summit will help you realize that whether your interests lean toward science or tech, computers to hands-on work, there’s a place for you in Indiana’s future. You don’t have to go far to make a big impact—you can start right here.
5. Explore different paths after high school
There isn’t just one path forward after graduation, and the Summit helps you explore the different options that are out there. Some careers do require a four-year degree, but many others start with apprenticeships, certifications, or even direct-to-work opportunities where you continue learning on the job.
The industries represented at the Summit value all kinds of training and education. That means no matter what path you choose, there are ways to connect your strengths to a career. High school is the perfect time to explore those options and think about what fits you best.
6. Get inspired by real stories
Throughout the day, you’ll hear inspiring stories from people who turned their everyday interests into careers. Maybe they grew up with a love for helping others and now work in agbiosciences, helping to feed our planet. Maybe they loved tinkering with computers and now work in tech. Maybe they liked their science classes and found their way into life sciences – in a career that didn’t require med school. Or maybe they enjoyed learning how things are made and moved around the world and now thrive in a career in logistics.
These stories prove that your unique passions and skills can lead to real opportunities—and that Indiana has a place for your talents.
7. It’s all about YOU!
The See Yourself IN High School Summit is designed with high school students in mind. You don’t need to know your career goals or even have a plan yet. The goal of the day is simple: to give you exposure, spark your curiosity, and help you start asking new questions about your future.
You’ll leave with more ideas than you came with, and hopefully with a clearer picture of the many directions your next step could take.
Ready to See Yourself IN?
The See Yourself IN High School Summit isn’t a career fair – it’s a day of meaningful exploration. It’s about discovering new possibilities, meeting people who have walked the path before you, and seeing how your own interests could connect to Indiana’s future.
So, whether you’re curious about a specific industry or are simply figuring out what comes next, the Summit is for you. Join us on November 13, 2025, and take the first step toward seeing yourself in a whole new way.
Whether you’re early in your high school journey or are heading towards whatever is next, now is a critical time of exploration and change.
When you think about your future career, do you want to do something that matters? Would you like to help people? Protect the planet? Solve problems that actually impact the world around you?
If this sounds like you, those careers are out there. And, the good news is, they’re right here in Indiana. Whether you’re into science, technology, hands-on work, or creative problem solving, there is a path out there to for you.
Here are 8 careers where you can do meaningful work, right here in Indiana.
8 Careers that Make a Difference
1. Precision Agriculture Technician
Precision Agriculture Technicians use advanced tools like drones, GPS, and data software to help farmers grow more food using fewer resources. As the world’s population continues to grow, it’s becoming increasingly important to meet the increased demand for food. Agricultural technicians use technology to be more precise and efficient when it comes to creating better food (and more of it). On the job, they might install or operate high-tech farm equipment or even fly drones to collect insights on fields. At the end of the day, they help farmers make data-driven decisions that increase supply and reduce waste. This ensures that our communities have the food they need both now and in the future.
Bioinformatics specialists use computer science and biology to analyze data, especially genetic data, to understand diseases and develop treatments. By having a better understanding, scientists and doctors can develop new treatments and personalize medicine for patients, contributing to a healthier world. Bioinformatics specialists often find themselves developing and managing databases of genetic information and collaborating with biologists, geneticists, and researchers to turn insights into action. Whether engaged in cancer research, tracking infectious disease, or personalizing medicine, this career path makes an impact on peoples’ lives and well-being.
Cybersecurity specialists are responsible for planning, implementing, and monitoring hardware and/or software security measures that protect computer systems, networks, and sensitive data from cyberattacks. Think of this role as a digital bodyguard, protecting all kinds of businesses, like schools, hospitals, even government agencies, from hackers, viruses, and online threats. Day to day, cybersecurity specialists might find themselves setting up firewalls and security protocols or investigating breaches or attempted hacks. Additionally, they are responsible for educating employees on safe online practices. With almost everything we do today, from baking to healthcare to school records, relying on digital systems, cybersecurity specialists play an important role in protecting our data and information.
Mechatronics technicians work at the intersection of mechanical systems, electronics, and computer technology to keep advanced manufacturing machines running efficiently. These high-tech systems are used to produce everything from electric vehicles to medical devices. On the job, mechatronics technicians may install or repair robotic arms, troubleshoot mechanical or software issues, or program automated systems that help make factories safer, faster, and more efficient. By keeping the technology behind production lines running smoothly, mechatronics technicians play a crucial role in delivering the tools, products, and innovations our world relies on.
5. User Experience (UX) Designer
UX (User Experience) designers make technology more human by designing apps, websites, and digital tools that are easy to use and enjoyable to navigate. Their work is especially important in areas like healthcare and education, where accessible and intuitive design can make a big difference in people’s lives. UX designers often work with users to understand their needs, sketch layouts and wireframes for a new app, and collaborate with software developers to bring the ideas to life. This role combines creativity with problem-solving (and technical skills), so if you enjoy blending design with real-world impact, UX design could be a rewarding career path for you!
Public health program managers lead initiatives that improve the health and well-being of people at the community level. For example, they might organize vaccine clinics or mental health awareness campaigns, turning big ideas into real-world programs that help people live healthier lives. This role may find themselves managing budgets, coordinating with healthcare providers, overseeing outreach efforts, and even analyzing data. This role is a great way to blend an interest in science with project management, communication, and problem-solving skills, making it a great option for people who are interested in health and well-being at a community level, without an interest in becoming a doctor.
7. Supply Chain Analyst
Supply chain analysts help make sure essential goods (like food, medicine, and emergency supplies) get where they need to go, when they’re needed most. They work behind the sciences to analyze data, forecast demand, and solve logistical challenges so products move efficiently from manufacturers to customers. On the job, a supply chain analyst might study trends to prevent shortages, improve delivery rounds, or help a company efficiently respond to disruptions like natural disasters or weather events. This work also has a direct impact on everything from stocking grocery store shelves to ensuring hospitals have the equipment they need. If you’re interested in solving problems and are interested in making a difference in how the world works, a career in supply chain may be an option to explore.
8. Plant Geneticist
Plant geneticists work at the intersection of science and sustainability, developing crops that are more nutritious, resistant to disease, and able to thrive in changing climates. Their work plays a key role in solving global challenges like food insecurity, hunger, and agricultural sustainability, which is especially important as the world’s population grows. On the job, they might analyze plant DNA in a lab, breed new crop varieties in a greenhouse, or work with farmers in the field to test how new plants perform in real-world conditions. Thanks to their research and innovation, we now have drought-resistant grains, vitamin-enriched produce, and crops that require fewer pesticides. If you’re interested in biology and want to use science to make a real difference in the world, plant genetics could be your path.
Impactful careers are all around you. Whether you’re drawn to science, technology, design, or hands-on work, there’s a meaningful path waiting for you right here in Indiana. These roles extend beyond just a paycheck. They offer purpose.
As you think about your future, explore what matters to you, and where your interests lie. Are you passionate about protecting the planet? Helping people stay healthy? Building smarter solutions that are easier to use? The jobs highlighted here are just the beginning, and there are so many careers available that can help you make a difference.
So, ask yourself: what kind of impact do you want to make? Then, start exploring. Because Indiana’s advanced industries need problem-solvers like you.
