Katie Orr

Katie Orr is a BSE Senior from North Potomac, Maryland. She is pursuing the Biotechnology concentration as well as minoring in Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry. Katie hopes to have a successful career fulfilling unmet medical needs, researching new therapeutics for rare diseases and cancer. Sophomore year, she performed research in the Lu Microfluidics Lab within the ChemE department, helping optimize library yield of a portable microfluidic DNA/RNA library preparation device. Summer after sophomore year, she was an Upstream Bioprocessing Intern at Novavax, where she worked in the Upstream Process Development Department on the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. Working with two BSE alumni, she gained lab experience optimizing cell growth and spike protein yield by running bioreactors and performing cell culture.

This past summer, she worked as a Process Engineering Intern at AstraZeneca in the Dosage Form Design and Development department. There she used systematic studies to understand bulk drug substance thaw behavior.

Currently, Katie is an undergraduate researcher in the Allen Laboratory within the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, evaluating the immunomodulatory effects of irreversible electroporation on pancreatic cancer. Wanting to continue immuno-oncology research, she is planning on applying to PhD programs this fall. She also is an active member of her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, where she currently serves as Director of Standards of Excellence and was previously the community service chair. In the time she finds herself free, Katie loves to whitewater kayak, ski, mountain bike and hike.

Katie is thankful for the BSE ambassadors who sparked her interest in engineering while she was at a VT prospective student open house in high school. She is particularly grateful for the unique opportunities being a BSE student has provided her, including a solid foundation in science, a flexible schedule, personalized advising, and an excellent alumni network. She joined the ambassador program to get the word out about the diverse and unique department and help more students find their way to BSE.