College Honors BME Graduate Student for Excellence in DEI
Sophie Orr has received the 2024 Excellence in Graduate Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion award from the College of Engineering for her outstanding contributions to DEI across the University of California, Davis, campus.
The honor is part of the annual College of Engineering Graduate Student Excellence awards that celebrate student contributions to research, service, safety and DEI.
As a fourth-year Ph.D. student, Orr provides DEI training to the campus community and pursues research in addition to her dissertation on musculoskeletal tissues to best address equitable access to orthopedic care and education. She challenges her colleagues to think critically about producing science that is grounded in equity.
Orr has also developed a first-year seminar with Professor Blaine Christiansen, her advisor and chair of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group, that explores the origins of anti-fat messaging in today's society and has presented on topics such as weight bias in orthopedics at national symposia.
She is currently the co-chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering's Health, Equity and Wellness, or HEW, committee and is chair of the HEW Department Climate subcommittee.