Victoria Augoustides

She was advised by faculty members Praveen Kolar, Sanjay Shah and Ryan Sartor. She worked within the Waste Applied in Science Technology & Engineering (W.A.S.T.E) Lab in the BAE department. During her time here she focused on sustainable technologies, spanning from valorizing natural materials for environmental remediation to enhancing bioenergy crop production. This work involved creating biochar from pine bark for waste treatment and saccharide extraction for biofuel. This led to a TEDx talk, multiple conference presentations and a publication.  

Life in BAE

“At NC State’s BAE department, I was deeply engaged in extracurricular activities, serving in leadership roles within the Alpha Epsilon Honor Society and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). As Vice President and then President of Alpha Epsilon, I organized volunteer events and social gatherings to foster community among our members during the pandemic. In ASABE, my roles progressed from Social Director to Vice President. This allowed me to spearhead events that integrated professional development with scholarship and service. Additionally, as a BAE Ambassador, I showcased the department’s diverse opportunities to prospective students, highlighting the close-knit community BAE offers. My involvement culminated in receiving the Roger and Laura Yoerger Preprofessional Engineer of the Year Award and the BAE Senior Award for Scholarly Achievement.”

Career path

“The decision to go to graduate school came about after an industrial internship at Merck where I worked with the BCG team improving vaccine manufacturing processes and outcomes. While I appreciated the scope and meaning of my work, I felt like I was doing the same thing every day already in the early stages of my career. I realized I wanted to have more creative authority in my work and pursue things that had never been done before like I did when I was a researching as a BAE undergrad. While working with Dr. Sartor who has appointments in Biochemistry and BAE, I realized I couldn’t choose between doing basic sciences or engineering; I wanted to do both.

Immediately after graduating BAE and working with Ryan Sartor over the summer, I joined the biophysics and biochemistry program at UNC, and am working in Dr. Wesley Legant’s lab. We build and design new super resolution microscopes and apply them to visualize biological systems in ways previously inaccessible. My thesis work uses AI, advanced optics and data science to push the limits of optical systems. I get to work with microscopes that can navigate biology like a self-driving car does, and the images we produce take my breath away.”

To Current BAE students 

“A BAE degree is one of the most valuable degrees there is. You get access to real world experience, a breadth of different fields, and world-class faculty that care about you and your growth as an engineer. It’s hard to find that level of support and development elsewhere, and I wouldn’t be where I am without it.”