ROCKVILLE, MD – The Biophysical Society (BPS) is pleased to announce that it has selected two outstanding candidates, Luyi Cheng, PhD and Elmer Zapata-Mercado, PhD, to serve as the BPS Congressional Fellows for the 2022-2023 policy year.

Cheng, a graduate of Northwestern University with a PhD in Molecular Biology, and Zapata-Mercado, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a PhD in Biophysics, will spend a year working in a congressional office on legislative policy areas requiring scientific input. Cheng and Zapata-Mercado will join other STEM professionals in the AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship Program, which includes an orientation on congressional and executive branch operations and a year-long seminar series on issues related to science policy.

“This will be the first time that the Biophysical Society has selected two candidates to support in a year-long fellowship program on Capitol Hill,” said Eric Sundberg, Chair of the Public Affairs Committee. “We are extremely proud to present these two candidates as representatives of biophysics and the scientific community at large.”

The Biophysical Society has offered the congressional fellowship since 2015 in recognition that public policy increasingly impacts scientific research, and basic science literacy is needed to develop responsible policy. Through the fellowship, the Society’s leaders hope to provide a bridge between scientists and policymakers, and make sure that Congress has access to scientific expertise within its staff.

Cheng and Zapata-Mercado will begin their fellowship in September 2022.