Designing Career Identity in the Age of AI

Designing Career Identity in the Age of AI Reflective and Identity-Sensitive Mediation for Marginalized Youth

PhD researcher Salena Burke argues that design can reframe career identity for marginalized youth from a problem of choice to a process of reflective wayfinding, with technology serving as a deliberately constrained mediator that broadens exposure without narrowing interpretation.

Through design-based workshops with high school students, this research investigates how creative design activities, reflection, cultural representation, and peer dialogue shape students’ perceptions of careers and their future selves. The findings illustrate how students move from skepticism and perceived irrelevance toward greater agency, autonomy, and expanded career possibilities when they are given opportunities to imagine and reflect on potential futures.

Burke’s research introduces the Career Identity through Design and Reflection (CIDR) framework and the NorthStar© career exploration platform, tools designed to help students move from externally defined career expectations toward self-directed career discovery. This work contributes to the fields of learning sciences, design research, and educational technology by proposing an alternative framework for designing career exploration systems that support identity development rather than simply optimizing career recommendations. Her research prototype, NorthStar©, was recognized in Fast Company’s 2025 Innovation by Design Awards, helping the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech become the only design school recognized outside the Students category that year.

Salena Burke is a technology entrepreneur, researcher, and social impact leader working at the intersection of design, technology, and career opportunity. Her work focuses on expanding access to meaningful career pathways for historically marginalized students through research-informed learning technologies and community-centered programs. She is the founder of JIL Software Solutions, a technology firm that builds digital platforms and software systems for private firms, nonprofits, and education organizations. Through this work, she helps organizations implement technology that improves access, engagement, and long-term impact.

Burke is also the founder and president of the Jerome Burke Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for African American youth. The foundation develops mentoring programs, career exploration initiatives, and innovation labs designed to help students connect their interests to real-world opportunities.

Her research is conducted through L.E.T. Design Innovate, where she examines how design and learning technologies can support the development of career identity among marginalized students. Her work integrates career development theory, participatory design, and reflective learning practices to create systems that help students explore, reflect on, and design their future career pathways.

Across her work in research, technology, and philanthropy, Burke focuses on one core mission: building systems that expand opportunity and help the next generation navigate their futures with clarity, confidence, and purpose.