Hi, I'm Keegan Mark

An undergraduate student in pursuit of a nanotechnology engineering degree.

me

Work Experience

A diverse work experience is one of my specialties as I have adapted to all sorts of career pathways and while some I definitely enjoyed more than others they all have their applications in the Canadian economy.

Discovery Optometry


Working as an optical lens technician and a pre-tester led me to learn how to operate diagnostic instruments and edging machinery, and to develop interpersonal skills. As a lens edging technician I used various precision instruments to obtain accurate measurements to fabricate glasses lenses. Then during pre-testing I operated diagnostic equipment to perform tests on patients such as topology, retinal scans, eye pressure, and more, which is all quite fascinating! Pre-testing also required collaborating with staff members significantly to manage patient flow while balancing multiple other tasks.


AIM Development Management & Marketing


Landscaping during summer break was one of my favorite experiences during high school; while it was labor intensive, it was the most rewarding job I've had. The opportunity to have more creativity with my work, along with actually creating something, led to a better sense of accomplishment. This job entailed leading a small team to perform various outdoor tasks, including wall-building, leveling, and irrigation. These tasks taught me the importance and act of constant quality checks with meticulous attention to detail, all in order to maintain consistent standards. Another thing that I constantly make note of is that clear and concise communication is key when dividing and adjusting tasks, especially to make sure projects stay on schedule.


Tutoring


I tutored various students in classes ranging from freshman to senior during my final year of high school. Starting with the fundamentals and working your way up is one strategy I've discovered to help your students grasp the material more easily, especially if it's a difficult subject. After making sure they have general knowledge of the subject, it is best to work with them on examples and address any questions they may have. Encouraging students to ask more questions might help them succeed in this way since sometimes they are too scared to do so, which hinders their learning and deters them from engaging with the subject matter. I incorporated this by providing a supporting environment, through validating their questions and being patient even if they do not understand immediately.

Music

My fascination with music has led me to many instruments, and after a few missteps into piano and harp, I finally landed on violin. I have been playing violin for over a decade, and I was never interested in the competitive aspect of it, more for the enjoyment. I have not taken any RCM exams; I have been playing around with grade 9 pieces in my more recent excursions. Moreover, during my last year of high school, I started practicing electric guitar to expand my knowledge of music. After years of playing violin, it was freeing to play all of my favourite songs, including Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas, Buried Alive by Avenged Sevenfold and countless others.

Fitness

The gym was one of the core places that initially led me to being outside of my comfort zone and pushed me to improve myself. It has also led to a major impact on my mental health, which I am thankful for every day. My original gym goals were to just be able to stick to a routine, along with bench pressing 135 lbs by the end of the year, which was about 25 lbs above my body weight at the time I started. One of the core reasons why I think I'm still going to the gym today is because I was so adamant about going 3-4 times a week no matter what. My bench press has, of course, increased since these initial goals, and I am now striving to bench press 185 pounds, which I hope to complete at least by the end of 2026. My friend and mentor Cisco, who was spotting me in the video to the left, always pushed me to be better, and I am forever grateful for his influence in my journey. A principle that he made me realize is that no matter how bad you are at the beginning, hard work and dedication will always surface, and it is important to stay consistent and never be complacent.


Skiing is an activity I have been doing my entire life, and while I am not the kind to send some crazy tricks, I have been doing technical runs as long as I can remember. For example, the photo on the left is of me around the time I finally skied all 131 runs on the mountain. The number of days I skied went down after this year a considerable amount as I finished my grand childhood goal. Nevertheless, affording the luxury to ski is now one of my career goals, along with being able to eventually move back to my hometown to start a family once my career is off the ground. However, this year I want to try to land a backflip finally and be able to do the majority of the ski park; however, due to the limited accessibility at university, it seems a little ambitious.

Python

MATLAB

SolidWorks

Sketchup

HardHaQ

In November 2025, I participated in the North American Quantum Consortium (NAQC)'s quantum hardware hackathon, HardHaQ. My team and I won first place in the Trapped Ion Challenge after a week of hard work. Over the course of the event, we designed, built, simulated, and optimized an advanced surface ion trap entirely in COMSOL Multiphysics. Taking a concept from scratch all the way to a working, optimized trap was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. My personal involvement was aiding the development of the Python-based optimizer interfacing with COMSOL to refine the trap parameters, while also helping on some of the COMSOL models that went into the website the team made.

The website for our project is tqetchs.xyz.

e-Nable

A core part of the University of Waterloo engineering culture is the various design teams funded by the university. The one that grabbed my attention was e-NABLE, where you make accessibility devices, usually off the Making Makers Change website. On this website there are requests for specific accessibility devices, and people like myself fulfill said requests. A project that my friend Ruby and I took on was creating a keyguard for WordPower 60 that was tailored to the user's exact iPad model. Firstly, we researched the specifications needed to fit the iPad correctly, along with how it will actually attach to the iPad. Next, we proceeded to make a SolidWorks model of it with the measurements we found and finally used the University of Waterloo's laser-cutting facility to bring the keyguard to reality. I particularly enjoyed this project, as it did not take too much time away from schoolwork and even reinforced the SolidWorks skills I learned in one of my courses. It also tested our ability to research, design, and implement all within a given time frame, which is almost always applicable in jobs centered around engineering design.

This Website

Making one's own personal website initially intrigued me after I saw other students in my program doing the same. Developing a site then became a bit of a running joke with one of my close friends that we would both be doing the same and never getting around to it. Then after several months, I finally had some free time to start learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. After a few tutorials on the very basics and just trying different things over and over again in HTML, I got the hang of it, and it led to the creation of this site as you see now. Additionally, this website is authentically me; by that, I mean I did not use a tutorial about making a personal website or use any AI in the development whatsoever. Hopefully, the nature of this site showcases my ability to adapt and learn quickly, which I will undoubtedly apply to my future jobs.