Meet Katie Frye, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Ph.D. student in Microbiology.
Katie grew up in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by nature and thought she wanted to be a vet. Instead, Katie was surprised by how much fun she had working in the research lab. She fell in love with UIUC when she met supportive, not competitive research peers. As a COVID-19 SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell team member, Katie uses her skills to keep the Illinois family safe. She thanks her mom for inspiring her curiosity and confidence to solve the world’s problems.