Dana Zottola: Academy of Distinguished Engineers - 2024

Before starting her undergraduate coursework at Oregon State, Dana Zottola was unfamiliar with what an engineering career entailed.

“Despite not having a clue about what to do with an engineering degree, I was able to thrive in the College of Engineering,” Zottola said. “It turned out that the years I spent there catapulted me into a long and fulfilling career that revolves around engineering and innovation.”

In 2022, Zottola crowned her education with a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Zottola did, in fact, start off as an engineer — interning at Intel several times before joining the company full-time. But then she found a new calling in intellectual property, including patent prosecution, which involves helping inventors develop and protect their inventions and navigate the intricate U.S. and international patent systems. With such a robust engineering background, Zottola proved ideally suited for developing diverse and highly technical patent portfolios.

“I have the pleasure and honor of working directly with inventors to develop their intellectual property and advocate for them to receive the most valuable patents possible,” she said. “That, in turn, drives innovation and the development of valuable assets.”

Zottola adds that her work requires versatility and the ability to smoothly shift her intellectual focus among a variety of advanced and emerging technologies.

“I dive deep into a technology so that I can describe it and distinguish its often-intricate details from other solutions, then quickly move on to the next matter, which may involve a completely different technology,” she said.

That could mean particle physics one day and deep neural networks the next, says Zottola, who attributes her engineering education at Oregon State as an important factor in helping her navigate, understand, and convey complex and diverse science and engineering concepts. Indeed, clients seek out Zottola for her engineering prowess and sharp technical communication skills for patent prosecution as well as intellectual property litigation.

“One thing I have come to appreciate is that the sky’s the limit with an engineering degree, which will always prove valuable no matter what career one might ultimately pursue,” Zottola said.