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Abstract Science identity, or one's sense of recognition and competence as a scientist, is an invaluable tool for predicting student persistence and success, but is understudied among undergraduates completing preparatory work for later studies in medicine, nursing, and allied health (“pre‐health career students”). In the United States, pre‐health career students make up approximately half of all biology students and, as professionals, play important roles in caring for an aging, increasingly diverse population, managing the ongoing effects of a pandemic, and navigating socio‐political shifts in public attitudes toward science and evidence‐based medicine. Pre‐health career students are also often members of groups marginalized and minoritized in STEM education, and generally complete their degrees in community college settings, which are chronically under‐resourced and understudied. Understanding these students' science identities is thus a matter of social justice and increasingly important to public health in the United States. We examined science identity and engagement among community college biology students using two scales established and validated for use with STEM students attending four‐year institutions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used on two sub‐samples drawn from the pool of 846 participants to confirm that the factor structures functioned as planned among the new population. Science identity values were then compared between pre‐health career students (pre‐nursing and pre‐allied health) and other groups. Pre‐health career students generally reported interest and performance/competence on par with their traditional STEM, pre‐med, and pre‐dentistry peers, challenging popular assumptions about these students' interests and abilities. However, they also reported significantly lower recognition than traditional STEM and pre‐med/dentistry students. The implications for public health, researchers, and faculty are discussed. 

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.