Tina Dekker graduated from the Nanotechnology Engineering Program at the University of Waterloo in 2017. During her high school years, Dekker was deeply intrigued by the chemistry and physics of atoms. After discovering that studying nanotechnology engineering (NE) involved exploring matter at the atomic and molecular level, she became very interested in the program. The field of nanotechnology was rapidly developing when she began the NE program, which made her even more enthusiastic about learning new and emerging technologies.
Dekker is currently a technology lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and patents. She is currently employed at BLG, a law firm in Ottawa, and is also undergoing training to become a licensed patent agent. Her goal is to help inventors with the drafting and procurement of patents to safeguard their inventions. Dekker also conducts research on the legal and societal implications of quantum technologies. She writes and speaks on this subject with the aim of encouraging responsible innovation practices within Canada's quantum ecosystem.
Tina Dekker
An unexpected turn
Dekker’s career journey took an unexpected turn from obtaining a degree in NE to being a lawyer. However, according to her, the interdisciplinary nature of the Nanotechnology Engineering Program has been an important backdrop to her career decisions. The NE Program utilizes science and engineering fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, and computer programming to study and manipulate matter at the nanometer scale.
“NE students learn to bridge and connect concepts from these different disciplines, and the ability to synthesize information is an important skill in the practice of law, too”, says Dekker. “This is especially true in the field of intellectual property law, where technical concepts in any field need to be understood and translated into the language of a patent or interpreted in a legal dispute.”
In Dekker’s experience, employers who have hired Nanotechnology Engineers from the University of Waterloo are satisfied and are willing to hire people from the program again.
Modern industries have an increasing demand for interdisciplinary professionals who can innovate in various fields. She believes that the Nanotechnology Engineers from the University of Waterloo possess a unique set of skills and knowledge that enable them to connect ideas and leverage problem-solving tools from diverse disciplines. As a result, they are adept at addressing challenges in any industry or field.
“When I started working with the Institute for Quantum Computing,(IQC) I was the only engineer among physicists in my research group”, says Dekker. “While I didn’t have all the same knowledge as a physics graduate, I was able to apply my complementary nanoengineering knowledge in microfabrication and materials science to essentially become a “quantum engineer”.
Strong sense of community
Dekker believes that the smaller cohort sizes in NE foster a strong sense of community that has resulted in some lifelong friendships. Dekker's husband was also in her NE cohort! She found that the program was simultaneously quite specialized yet broad enough so that graduates ended up in a diverse array of careers.
For prospective NE students, Tina would encourage them to keep an open mind and try to find what really interests them as they advance through the program. Don’t be afraid to try new things and learn to engage in self-reflection. Dekker feels that if she could go back in time to when she was an NE undergraduate student, she would have made a better effort to explore her interests.
"Some of my most interesting opportunities arose from unexpected places or at unexpected times, and they often required me to leave my comfort zone," says Dekker "When I started my graduate studies at IQC in 2019, I had no idea I was going to pursue a career in law, and I was apprehensive to change my career path when I first considered it. I put in a lot of effort to learn about a career in intellectual property law and thought about what I would hope to achieve in making the career switch."
Dekker plans to continue to hone her skills as a technology lawyer. She aims to bridge law and tech, providing specialized knowledge to nanotechnology and quantum industries.