I interviewed Dr. Yasaman Soudagar because I wanted to explore the world of young researchers who are interested in both the science and the practical application of photonics technology—and who are entrepreneurs. Dr. Soudagar grew up in Iran and emigrated with her family to Canada after the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war.
She graduated with a Ph.D. from École Polytechnique de Montréal in the field of Quantum Optics in 2011, and went on to intern at Attodyne, in Toronto, on an Industrial Research and Development scholarship (the Canadian NSERC IRDF). Recently she took on another teenage love, biology, in the field of neuroscience and founded Neurescence Inc. to develop a fluorescence microscope to visualize biological tissue in vivo.
Milton Chang: Tell us about your internship experience.
Yasaman Soudagar: The experience was really positive. This scholarship program is co-sponsored by the Canadian government and the hiring company, and there is also a highly respected non-profit organization, MITACS, that offers a similar program. I took on a project working on the delivery system of a high-energy mid-IR picosecond laser at Attodyne.
It was a two-year program relevant to my expertise, so I was able to learn and also help the company meet its milestones. The exposure to industry enabled me to decide whether I wanted to get into industry or academia.
MC: Anything else you got out of this work experience?
YS: I would have been a much better graduate student had I done an industrial project first. I would have known how to better manage both my time and the project. For example, the culture in physics is to take on an ambitious project that takes a long time to conclude, and the publication has to describe a major advancement. One can actually divide an ambitious project into smaller publishable milestones—meeting milestone goals is a good psychological boost to know you are on the right track.
Another benefit of working in a small company is getting exposure to the excitement and challenges that a post-startup encounters, which gave me the confidence to start my own company. People I worked for, like Darren Kraemer, still help me out and give me pointers. I am very happy with the experience.
MC: What is your first product?
YS: It is a miniature microscope for fluorescence imaging of biological systems in vivo. The microscope can image multiple regions of a biological sample simultaneously and has been successfully tested in a laboratory setting as a neuroscientist would use it.
Because of the idea, I started working in a neuroscience lab as a research fellow to learn the research culture and methodology of my clients. I have recently managed to secure some investment to get Neurescence off the ground.
MC: Why did you choose a biotech company?
YS: I loved both physics and biology, but in Iran I had to pick a field to specialize in during my first year of high school. I decided to become a physicist because I wanted to show that women can do physics.
When we came to Canada, I could decide what I wanted to do instead of reacting to doing what I was allowed to do. That is a luxury! Now that I have proven that I can be a physicist, I am back into biology.
MC: Getting seed funding for hardware products is difficult in the U.S. What is it like in Canada?
YS: It is also very difficult in Canada. There are some government funds, but even those go to very specific types of start-ups—mostly software. I got lucky because I found my angel while trying to sell him a beta prototype.
Instead, I ended up selling a piece of the company in exchange for not just the investment, but also for invaluable expertise, inspiration, support, and credibility this person brings to Neurescence. Now I know why they are called "angels."
MC: What have you learned in the transition?
YS: Working in a small company, I am broadly exposed to talking to customers and business people. I am learning subjects I never thought I would need to know, such as corporate law, finance, and accounting. That experience has resulted in personal growth, expanded my comfort zone, and given me the courage to be multidimensional. I just have to do what I have to do!
MC: Is graduate work on quantum computation and cryptography time wasted?
YS: I have not used the theories, but the training I got in experimental quantum optics makes product design and development so much easier. The Ph.D. training in quantum optics is so rigorous that it prepared me to do anything with self-confidence.
I am surprised to find people in business to be open and honest, which is not different from the way we interacted to critique ideas honestly in group discussions to foster intellectual integrity. Tough and rigorous graduate work prepared me for the tough path of getting a startup off the ground.
MC: What are the trends in Canadian photonics research?
YS: Budget cuts. There is a lot of emphasis on working with industry; doing more industry-oriented projects and less fundamental research. This is great for engineering schools, but we need to work on fundamental sciences because that is the basis of technology 20 or 30 years down the road.
MC: Tell me about your OSA activities—you were a local chapter president.
YS: I did a lot of outreach activities for OSA simply because I enjoyed it. I learned to communicate effectively because I was teaching difficult concepts to young people who have no idea about these subjects. That helped me a lot later in industry, having to bring the point across to clients who know nothing about nonlinear optics.
Another benefit is that it opened doors for me to network with great people like Dr. Tom Baer, who encouraged me to start a company, and Dr. Janet Fender, who provided the leadership to get the OSA Foundation fellowship program going.
I encourage students to get active in the student chapters of their professional organizations to network because doors will just open for them, and also to take advantage of the OSA Foundation fellowship program.
MC: What other advice do you have?
YS: My advice to students is to work a few months in industry before starting graduate school, even if they want to have an academic career. Then, they will know what is going on out there and what is expected of them when they graduate. That does not mean the quality of the fundamental research they do will suffer.
MC: You are a karate black belt. What does that teach you?
YS: Yes, I have a black belt in a semi-contact style and one in a full-contact style karate. It is excellent physical and psychological training. One learns to persevere—to continue when you are beaten down. Another thing is to never attack first. Those are important philosophies to live by.
MC: That meshes perfectly with coping with the challenges you encounter in starting and running companies. Thank you for sharing your experience.
