BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Yadilette Rivera-Colón, of Bay Path University, USA , has been named the recipient of the 2027 Emily M. Gray Distinguished Educator Award. Rivera-Colón will be honored at Society’s 71st Annual Meeting, being held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from February 20-24, 2027.
Rivera-Colón will receive the Emily M. Gray Distinguished Educator Award for distinguished service to biophysical education through pioneering outreach initiatives, innovative curriculum development, and tireless mentorship that has broadened participation and inspired the next generation of biophysicists, particularly those historically excluded from science.
“Yadilette, throughout her career, has provided significant contributions to biophysics education and mentoring, her promotion of scientific outreach. Her commitment to fostering an environment that is exceptionally conducive to not just education in biophysics, but to the broader STEM fields reflects her conviction to supporting education at every institutional level,” said BPS President Karen Fleming of Johns Hopkins University. “From her initiative to create the Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Network to foster a larger, community teaching-intensive scientists within the Biophysical Society, to her endeavors to create STEM educational initiatives within her community and provide mentorship and support for young female and underrepresented students, Yadilette embodies the values of the Emily M. Gray Award. It is an honor to recognize someone striving to make substantive change within the community.
About the Award – The Emily M. Gray Distinguished Educator Award honors significant contributions to education and mentoring in biophysics, demonstrated through a distinguished record of excellence in classroom instruction, mentoring scientists at any level, developing novel educational methods or materials, promoting scientific outreach efforts to the public or to youth, attracting new students to the field of biophysics, or fostering an environment exceptionally conducive to education in biophysics.
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The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific society established to lead an innovative global community working at the interface of the physical and life sciences, across all levels of complexity, and to foster the dissemination of that knowledge. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its Annual Meeting, publications, and outreach activities. Its 6,000 members are located throughout the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry .