Orisa is a Ph.D candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She specializes in heat transfer, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. Her research investigates solar-powered electrochemical techniques to recover valuable resources from wastewater. She hopes this work will contribute to a more sustainable and energy-resilient future. Prior to Stanford, Orisa attended MIT where she received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Numerical Computation. During this time, she also served as a teaching assistant for Classical Mechanics Physics and performed freelance test prep tutoring in the Boston Area. She holds several prestigious awards, including Stanford’s Knight Hennessy Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and National Merit Award Semi-Finalist.

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Orisa believes a comfortable and open environment where students can be themselves is key to effective mentorship. She encourages any and all questions, whether big or small, to build a judgment-free and trusting relationship. She is happy to share her own experiences and hopes to be an asset in any way she can. She believes that the basis of great teaching is learning how a student ticks. Orisa tailors her mentorship style to fit the unique ways students process and make sense of the material, whether it be the STEM subjects, English, the ACT/SAT, or the GRE. She draws on a number of tools, including visualization, metaphor, and proof-based methods to teach concepts in a variety of ways.

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Outside of school and mentorship, Orisa loves to stay active and outdoors. As an undergraduate student, she was a member of an Afro-beats dance group and now participates in the Roller Dance Academy in the Bay Area. She also loves to analyze critically acclaimed literature and movies but balances these with a healthy dose of reality dating shows.

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