Emerging talent from Waterloo is accelerating innovation at Medra
By: Krista Henry (she/her)
To work on cutting-edge biotechnology, robotics company Medra needs the brightest emerging engineering talent. An outstanding Waterloo Engineering co-op student set a new bar for talent during their work term at the organization.
A United States-based startup, Medra applies state of the art robotics to the biotechnology industry. The company combines recent advances in robotics and computer vision to build lab automation technology that can perform protocols to the highest standards. The organization’s partnerships help them accelerate breakthroughs in science.
Medra recently began recruiting talent from the University of Waterloo to help drive their robotics projects.
Michelle Lee (she/her), CEO and founder of Medra, believes Waterloo co-op students have made a tangible impact on the company’s work.
Waterloo Mechatronics Engineering co-op student, Olivia Ye (she/her) is one example of the excellence the company has experienced. Ye has set new standards for co-op students/interns at Medra.
"We have a high talent bar for recruiting at Medra. Our engineers have come from some of the best engineering and robotics companies in Silicon Valley,” says Lee.
Michelle Lee
CEO and founder of Medra
We expect our interns to meet our high bar and Olivia not only completed very challenging projects, she did them independently and went above and beyond. We are still using internal tools she's built for the team, and some of her work is even on production systems.
Ye worked at Medra as an engineering intern creating internal tools for robotics simulations, interacting with customer-facing projects and working on various digital processes as well as product demos.
Ye completed an assessment project as part of the interview process for her role and had exemplary results comparable to an experienced engineer. For Albert Tung (he/him), robotics engineer at Medra and Ye’s mentor, the co-op student showcased impressive knowledge and an eagerness to learn.
“With her academic background at Waterloo, she was able to breeze through engineering problems. She took the initiative to manage her own projects and a lot of what she was working on was advanced,” he said. “I started to supplement her co-op with other coursework to give her a better idea and understanding of how robotics work.”
Co-op student and Medra colleagues
While Medra is new to recruiting Waterloo co-op students, they have demonstrated that they can offer capabilities similar to full-time team members.
Since hiring their first Waterloo co-op student last year, the company has seen the impact of their work and wants to continue hiring from Waterloo.
Waterloo produces some of the best engineering talents that I have seen. Our co-op students from Waterloo so far have been insatiably curious, hardworking, and collaborative. Everyone on the team has loved mentoring them.
Finding meaningful work at Medra
For Ye, her interest in applying to Medra came from a peer recommendation. She learned about the interesting engineering projects her peers had worked on and wanted to help find impactful engineering solutions herself.
“I learned more about robotics, including controls and artificial intelligence tools, but also how to communicate better. I learned what it's like to work in an intense startup environment and to have lots of responsibility and accountability,” says Ye. “I liked working with a smaller team and building relationships, which taught me how to be more professional. There’s a lot of potential for how robotics can change the world for the better.”
To attract and retain emerging talent, Ye recommends providing students with the opportunity to do meaningful work. For example, working on products that the company is building and planning to launch can be meaningful to students. Students can see the impact their work has on the company and on the consumer.
As Medra grows, the organization hopes to continue partnering with emerging talent like co-op students to tackle scientific discoveries.
Ye, a co-op student at Medra, on a ski adventure with Medra co-workers