Bradford Orr

​Brad Orr serves as Associate Vice President for Research in Natural Sciences and Engineering in the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR). In this role, Orr supports faculty research in the natural sciences and engineering and helps lead strategic initiatives that foster interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. He serves as a liaison to schools and departments in these disciplines and works closely with other members of the OVPR leadership team to advance the university’s research enterprise.

Orr provides institutional leadership for several major research programs, including the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS), where he currently serves as interim director; the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery & Engineering (MICDE); and the Quantum Research Institute (QRI). He also oversees the Artificial Intelligence Institutes at Michigan (AIIM) and the Office of National Laboratories (ONL). Orr was instrumental in launching the University of Michigan–Los Alamos National Laboratory partnership, which was honored with the 2025 Economic Development Project of the Year Award by Ann Arbor SPARK.

An Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Orr’s research focuses on the study of surfaces and nanostructures using ultra-microscopies. He holds a B.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota.