The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Padmini Rangamani of the University of California, San Diego will be the next Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s education journal, The Biophysicist.
The open access journal was launched in 2019 under the vision of the founding and current Editor-in-Chief, Sam Safran of the Department of Chemical and Biological Physics of the Weizmann Institute of Science, to highlight and nurture biophysics education, and its scholarship and development. Through academic Articles and more informal Reports (including a Student Forum), The Biophysicist brings fundamental concepts and techniques in biophysics education and related disciplines to a broad worldwide audience, as well as evidence-based pedagogical practice accessible to individuals at any level. After five years of establishing a successful trajectory for the journal, Safran will be passing the leadership baton this summer. The Society is immensely grateful for his contribution to the publications program.
After a search process in summer and fall of 2022 conducted by the BPS Publications Committee, Rangamani was enthusiastically recommended as Safran’s successor and confirmed by BPS Council at the Annual Meeting in San Diego in February. She currently studies the biophysics of endocytosis, theoretical developments in membrane-protein interactions, and the biophysics of dendritic spines. She credits luck and serendipity for helping to bring her to biophysics, when she was looking for a place where she could apply mathematical principles to biology. She will bring to the position the perspective of a researcher and educator in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who considers the Biophysical Society her professional home. She also currently serves as an Editorial Board Member for Biophysical Journal and on the Society’s Committee for Professional Opportunities for Women (CPOW).
When asked for her vision for the future of the journal, Rangamani said, “More than ever, now is the time for an education journal such as The Biophysicist to steer the conversation towards what matters most, creating a forum for best practices in education at all levels, and separating the information from the noise.” The journal’s readership and the biophysics community look forward to seeing The Biophysicist continue to grow and evolve under Rangamani’s guidance.