WORK HISTORY

Nov 2020 – Present

Engineer II

Nicoya Lifesciences Inc.

Healthcare and drug-discovery is the existential problem I want to deal with so that future generations have access to high quality care. My experience at Nicoya has been a bit of a mixed salad: I began in thermal testing and thermal characterization of a drug-discovery device, Alto (16 channel SPR device), then began performing software level testing on this device as well as rolling out agile test strategies and working with the Regulatory manager to ensure 21 CFR and ISO13485 specifications are met in these new strategies and now I focus on a mix of automated software testing (using Cypress – a javascript framework), root cause analyzing any major software/hardware issues that come about on the device and I carry out “three in a box” product management meetings. The “three in a box” product management meetings comprise of 1 product manager, 1 product designer and 1 technical individual. I am the technical individual in these product management meetings as I have knowledge of both hardware and software. In my past experiences, prior to Nicoya I have worked on getting products from ideation & design to market using user-centred design concepts. Biggest project to date at Nicoya: forming stakeholder and functional requirements for an entire software re-architecture using the knowledge I have gained previously on user research and user needs. As of January 2021, I have begun self-learning ML and AI concepts , which may be applied in the coming years to the Alto drug-discovery device to help scientists run more meaningful experiments!

May 2017 – Present

Software Developer

Suzana Vukovic Inc.

I am a freelance software developer however being an Electrical Engineer I also am always up for new engineering challenges that involve either software or hardware. I have carried out hardware R&D for clients, carried out web-development projects, assisted in API development, worked on UI/UX design and everything in-between. More recently, since the start of 2021 a few of my projects have involved elements on AI and Machine Learning. One of my most notable projects have been the development of a platform that remotely controls fish farming compressors overseas (in Chile, Portugal etc.), this project involved creating a smooth front end application for operators and ensuring that data would be stored on a secure database for later analysis. The dashboard listed plenty of details pertaining to the performance of the compressors (fuel consumption, operation hours, shut down periods) which became vital for the operators and farm owners.

Nov 2016 – Sep 2020

CEO & Co-Founder

IntelliMED Solutions Inc.

The company was started in 2016 at Startup Weekend Canada where Best Overall Startup and Best Overall Medical Startup awards were granted. Following that, in 2018 the company was awarded 3rd place in Communitech’s Fierce Founder Pre-Accelerator program. IntelliMED is a startup that researches topics within preventative healthcare, primarily how staff inattention in the ER waiting areas can be minimized. Due to several COVID related setbacks, the research project has been put on hold. At intelliMED my primary responsibilities were: carrying out user research to gain a better understanding (and empathy) of our user’s needs, carrying out market research to better understand how to position our product and to clarify the market needs for a product like ours and collaborating with engineers on our team to see what could be done and how we could plan ahead in a sprint format.

May 2020 – Aug 2020

Software/Electrical Engineer (Co-Op)

Poseidon Ocean Systems Ltd.

I worked with a small team of engineers in order to build out an IIOT system that will serve as a platform for automating fish farming. This platform involves both hardware (sensor interfaces) and software (remote control web dashboard) components. I worked on data modelling for OPC UA information exchange, created real-time plotting applications that used sensor data, carried out customer interviews in order to develop UIs and developed “emergency alarm” infrastructure (software architecture & hardware design included) for the system as a whole. During the course of this work term, I also formulated stakeholder, functional and design requirements in order to carry out the project and meet user needs adequately. I worked closely with those who understood the user best in order to gain more empathy and form better requirements which would result in a better end-product.

Apr 2019 – June 2020

Startup Incubator Coach/Mentor

GeneratioNeXt – Sponsored by RBC

I worked as a startup coach for the programs that are run by Rideau-Rockcliffe Startup centre in Ottawa,ON. These programs are offered to immigrant entrepreneurs between the ages of 16-29 and the mentorship that is offered provides guidance to these individuals with respect to but not exclusively: adapting their business to the Canadian environment, assisting in finding market fit (product requirement evaluation) & assisting in marketing of their services and products. I absolutely wholeheartedly loved this experience.  I remain as a listed mentor at this centre, in order to provide pro-bono services to any startup founders moving forward.

Sep 2018 – Dec 2019

Student Ambassador- Engineering & Entrepreneurship Mentor

University of Ottawa – Liaison Office

I worked as a part of a group of 32 student ambassadors of varying academic backgrounds and led campus tours, answered peer questions and offered guidance to these incoming students. I was also the resident-tinkerer which meant when there was a last-minute need for UI/UX design work to be done for a slide deck and/or a stand for a sign has broken down and needed a 3D printed part, I was the one to get that request completed. I also implemented laser cut and cnc’d DIY sustainable name tags for all of the administration on the University of Ottawa campus – they are still using them today and more faculty members continue to request these DIY sustainable name tags!

Sep 2017 – Dec 2019

Infrastructure Engineer

LT Inc.

I worked as a co-op for a sister company called VPNFarm as an Infrastructure Engineer (May 2018-Aug 2018) and assisted in creating docker images to run an IPsec VPN server with IPsec/L2TP. The server was based on Linux with Libreswan (IPsec VPN software) and xl2tpd (L2TP daemon). Prior to the co-op and after the co-op, I worked as a software developer on an as-per-needed basis and worked on several projects. Some tasks included: carrying out UI/UX designs (using Adobe XD and Balsamiq) and assisting with cross-browser compatibility of VPNFarm, YoutubeQ and Loudtronix- using ReactJS. I managed a small team of junior developers and over this work period we managed a peak of 400,000 daily unique visitors on Loudtronix.

EDUCATION

2020

Electrical Engineering

University of Ottawa

• Fourth year option in: Power & Sustainable Energy
• Minor in Engineering Management & Entrepreneurship
• Capstone Project (8-months) was called WaveVolt: a floating device capable of harvesting wave-energy generated electricity for use of charging electronics and/or emergency devices on-board boats
• Awards: (StartUp Weekend Canada on-campus) Best Overall Startup & Best Overall Medical Startup, Canadian Diabetes Association Regional Youth Award, Best Overall Difference Makers Startup Award, Toronto Thinks Public Health Competition 3rd Place, Fierce Founders 3rd Place Startup (Startup Bootcamp)
• Projects: Built oversized 3D printer from scratch (has 300 x 300 x 400mm build volume!), Parkes-Webber Syndrome (Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome) Collaborative Medical Research, Development Hospital Bed Pressure Logging System – Bruyère – Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, Mechanical Trash Bin lid to sort recyclables,  Carbon Nanotube Sponge Development Research project, Genetic Manipulations on a Variation of Gene CCR5 research related to HIV