2026 Social Impact Lecture Award |
Deadline: March 31, 2026
About:
The BMES Social Impact Award honors an individual, project, organization, or institution for impactful contributions toward broadening access to biomedical engineering education, career pathways, and opportunities to communities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds that biomedical engineering has not typically drawn from. The award seeks to recognize lifetime achievements and high-impact activities (i.e., research, academia, and service) that are innovative and improve biomedical engineering academia and industry by bringing different voices and participation from individuals who might not currently represent a majority.
The recipient of this award will have the chance to deliver a plenary lecture at the BMES Annual Meeting and publish an article in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. The lecture should address both challenges and opportunities that result from innovating and improving biomedical engineering academia and industry by bringing different voices and participation from individuals who might not currently represent a majority.
Application Requirements:
1. The Nominee's CV for individual nomination, or the representative's CV for project, organization, or institution nominations.
2. The nomination summary, on letterhead, should not exceed five pages and should include:
a. A detailed description of the nominee's work.
b. The objectives of this innovative effort.
c. Examples to show how the work supports the goal of
this award.
d. The differentiators between this endeavor and existing
programs.
e. A description of the community served by the work, including
background/history and evolution if appropriate, by identifying
what groups participated if the groups' educational level
or age is known and if the work crossed cultural, departmental, or
institutional boundaries.
f. The impact the work has had so far.
g. Plans for continuing this vital undertaking.
Award Eligibility:
About:
The BMES Social Impact Award honors an individual, project, organization, or institution for impactful contributions toward broadening access to biomedical engineering education, career pathways, and opportunities to communities and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds that biomedical engineering has not typically drawn from. The award seeks to recognize lifetime achievements and high-impact activities (i.e., research, academia, and service) that are innovative and improve biomedical engineering academia and industry by bringing different voices and participation from individuals who might not currently represent a majority.
The recipient of this award will have the chance to deliver a plenary lecture at the BMES Annual Meeting and publish an article in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. The lecture should address both challenges and opportunities that result from innovating and improving biomedical engineering academia and industry by bringing different voices and participation from individuals who might not currently represent a majority.
Application Requirements:
1. The Nominee's CV for individual nomination, or the representative's CV for project, organization, or institution nominations.
2. The nomination summary, on letterhead, should not exceed five pages and should include:
a. A detailed description of the nominee's work.
b. The objectives of this innovative effort.
c. Examples to show how the work supports the goal of
this award.
d. The differentiators between this endeavor and existing
programs.
e. A description of the community served by the work, including
background/history and evolution if appropriate, by identifying
what groups participated if the groups' educational level
or age is known and if the work crossed cultural, departmental, or
institutional boundaries.
f. The impact the work has had so far.
g. Plans for continuing this vital undertaking.
Award Eligibility:
1. The nominee must be an individual, project, organization, or institution demonstrating outstanding contributions to improving accessibility to BME education and opportunities.
2. The award recipient will need to accept the award in person and deliver a 20-minute lecture at the BMES Annual Meeting.
3. The awardee will be asked to publish an article regarding their work in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
4. The nominee is required to be a BMES member. If an organization is nominated, at least one representative must be a BMES member.
Award Rubric:
To view the award rubric, please click here.
2. The award recipient will need to accept the award in person and deliver a 20-minute lecture at the BMES Annual Meeting.
3. The awardee will be asked to publish an article regarding their work in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
4. The nominee is required to be a BMES member. If an organization is nominated, at least one representative must be a BMES member.
Award Rubric:
To view the award rubric, please click here.
ALL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY MARCH 31, 2026. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.
Questions? Please contact communications@bmes.org.