I am Catherine Toppin, and I graduated from Princeton in 2002 in electrical engineering,
and IÕm currently a patent attorney at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in Boston, Massachusetts.
ItÕs my job as a patent attorney to serve as an advocate for inventors and companies
who own intellectual property rights.
The framers of the constitution thought of this as something that was important:
Thinking of an idea, being innovative and then being rewarded for doing so.
To be an engineer means to be an analytical thinker, to approach problems in a very systematic
way, and to have a general level of comfort with technology in whatever form.
I definitely felt like I was at an advantage having an engineering background going to
law school.
Once you learn what it is that your legal professors were expecting of you and how they
wanted you to approach legal problems it was very, very easy to transition those analytical
skills to legal problems in law school.
I feel as though engineers can do any type of job.
ItÕs just that problem-solving mindset that is very useful in
a broad range of career paths.
The reason I keep going and come in to work hard every day is because I feel as though
my contribution is going to be extremely vital to the success of other people.
I have to admit that there are some personal goals and things I would like to obtain.
There are also siblings and people coming behind me whom IÕm kind of helping to pave
the way for.
I love walking to work because itÕs my personal time. Not only is it just great exercise,
but Boston is a beautiful city.
It provides me with a couple hours of my day thatÕs solely focused on me.
And I also call my mom from time to time and let her know how IÕm doing in the big city...
or the small city.
IÕm very involved in the Princeton alumni community. IÕm the president of the Association
of Black Princeton Alumni, vice president of the Princeton Association of New England
and IÕm on the national board of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations.
IÕm not sure that any Princeton volunteer exactly knows all the reasons they do as many
Princeton functions as they do.
But I have to say that Princeton is like a big family to me. I have mentors and colleagues
who are Princetonians. Some of my best friends are Princetonians.
And I just find that the network continues to produce a number of high quality people
that you donÕt just come across every day.
IÕm Catherine Toppin, and IÕm a Princeton engineer.