3D Nanofabrication Research Assistant | Rene

Rene Lam was a 3D nanofabrication research assistant at Irradiant Technologies, a start-up leveraging this technology for optical applications in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Keep reading to learn more about the different research positions she held before, skills that were helpful for this job, and her tips if you’re interested in academic and industry research.

How did you get to where you are today?

When I was younger, I was really interested in knowing how things worked and how things were made. In high school, I always liked science class the most since we got to do labs, and learned about how things that we use in our everyday life worked. This led me to the Nanotechnology Engineering program since it was a combination of all the sciences, and I got to figure out what interested me the most. We learn about a little bit of everything! I took the same approach with co-op, taking it as a chance to try out many different jobs to figure out what I wanted to do post graduation.

One of my first jobs was working at an Intellectual Property Law Firm called PCK IP, where I was a process engineer, designing workflows and adding automation to make the jobs of the IP clerks easier. At this job, I learned a lot about communication and how to articulate my ideas in a way such that anyone no matter what their background was, could understand. This is a really important skill in any industry since you will often work in large groups of different people.

My next co-op was at the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab at the University of Waterloo. This was my first job in a research lab, where I learned a lot about additive manufacturing and metallography. This is where my interest in additive manufacturing (AM) began. Leading me to my next co-op at the National Research Council of Canada, where I worked on a different AM method called volumetric printing. This method uses polymer resins and a projector to create 3D objects with fine details, which is very inline with what I learned as a nano student. I got to plan my own experiments and analyze data and draw conclusions to design the next set of experiments.

All these roles helped prepare me to get to where I am today, where I work as a 3D Nanofabrication Research Assistant at a start-up called Irradiant Technologies. In this job, I make use of all the skills I learned in my previous roles, and being at a start-up allows me to take on more responsibilities and make a bigger impact on the company.

What are the main responsibilities of your job? What project(s) have you taken on?

The day to day of a Research Assistant consists of planning and executing the experiments to test the effect of changing a certain parameter of the process and determining whether or not it is beneficial for the outcome. Especially with technology that is so new, there is not much background information that we can rely on, so sometimes we never really know what to expect when you change certain things. I spend most of my hours in the lab, making samples, characterizing them, and organizing the data to allow me to determine the outcomes of my experiments. A project that I have taken on recently is figuring out how to consistently shrink hydrogels while keeping them transparent and flat.

What’s your favourite part of the job?

My favourite part of the job is that I get to be in the lab most of the time, making samples and doing experiments. I enjoy doing work in the lab since it is exciting and I get to see things happen in real time. It is also really rewarding when your experiments work the way you expected them to, or something that you were trying to make, actually works!

What skills do you need for this job? What skills did you learn in your job?

For my job, some skills that I needed were experience in the lab and being comfortable with handling hazardous chemicals. This is an important skill because in a lab, knowing how to safely handle and dispose of chemicals is vital for your own safety but also the safety of the environment. Another skill that I needed to do this job was to be able to understand how to read and interpret literature, extract the main concepts and apply them to the work that I am doing. Being detail oriented is also important because I need to notice small changes in my work. I also need to take detailed notes in the lab since when I go back to look at the work I did or need to troubleshoot why something isn’t working, I likely won’t remember every detail, so it is good to have it written down as soon as it happens.

What are you planning on pursuing after graduation? Do you need a postgraduate degree for your job?

After going through many different co-op jobs at different places, I am planning on pursuing a career in Research and Development. After graduation, I will be pursuing a Master’s Degree in a field related to nanotechnology. My research assistant positions showed me that doing research is something that I find really interesting and rewarding. I am interested in the additive manufacturing and fabrication industry as I believe that it has the potential to change how we make things in the world and opens the door for countless possibilities to make things that we never imagined possible. Although you do not necessarily need a postgraduate degree to be in Research and Development, I think that it is very helpful for getting a job post-graduation since having a more in depth knowledge in a specific topic is an asset to many companies looking to do research and be innovative. Most of my coworkers at all the companies that I have worked at have Masters or PhDs and I can see how it can be useful in the job.

Any tips for getting a similar position to yours or entering a similar field to yours?

Some tips that I can share for anyone looking to get a similar position as me or enter a similar field is to join clubs, teams, and labs that interest you and are related even a little bit to what you want to do. To get into research, I would recommend reaching out to some professors that are researching something you want to do, and ask to volunteer in their lab. This will give you a sense of what it is like to work in a lab environment, and a sense of the tasks you would get if you worked in that position. This also allows you to network with the grad students in their lab and get their insight on what they think of the job. Another tip I would give is to not be afraid to ask questions! This is something that is easier said than done in my opinion but what I have learned is that people love talking about what they are passionate about, so if you are curious about how a concept or technology works and have questions, they will be more than happy to discuss it with you!