ELIZABETH A. YATES, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the United States Naval Academy.  She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2008 with a BS in chemistry.  While an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Harry Gibson synthesizing and purifying phenanthroline intermediates. She earned her PhD in physical chemistry in 2013 from West Virginia University working with Dr. Justin Legleiter investigating how surfaces modulate beta-amyloid peptide aggregation associated with Alzheimer’s disease.  While a graduate student at WVU, she received the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant in Chemistry, Forrest Ferrell Award, and Outstanding Advanced Graduate Teaching Assistant in Chemistry.

Dr. Yates accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor faculty position in the Department of Chemistry at the United States Naval Academy in 2013.   She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020.  At USNA, Dr. Yates has served as the faculty representative for the Navy Women’s Soccer team since 2014.  In her department, Dr. Yates has been course coordinator for plebe chemistry, physical chemistry and upper level laboratory courses, developed a biophysical chemistry major elective course, been an active member of the assessment and outreach committees, as well as having served as the Midshipmen Group Study Program coordinator for chemistry.  In 2016, she was honored as the departmental nominee for the Apgar Award for Excellence in Teaching.  In 2023, she was the departmental nominee for the George L. Braude Award sponsored by the Maryland Section of ACS.  She is currently serving on the Admissions Board and is one of the departmental coordinators for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The best part of her work is interacting with the midshipmen in both the classroom and laboratory.

Dr. Yates has an active research program at USNA, having mentored thirteen midshipmen undergraduate research projects, including serving as primary advisor for one Trident Scholar and secondary advisor for two other Trident Scholars. Her research program focuses on examining protein-lipid interactions via biosensing vesicles and utilizing atomic force microscopy to study the nanomechanical properties of amyloid aggregation.  Her work has led to several research collaborations being cultivated with numerous labs. Since 2017, Dr. Yates has been working with Dr. Kathryn Wahl and Dr. Christopher So of the Surface Chemistry Branch at U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C. as part of the NRL-USNA Cooperative Program for Scientific Interchange.  Her work with NRL focuses on barnacle cement derived peptides and the biochemical aspects of barnacle glue.  Dr. Yates serves as the NRL midshipmen summer internship sponsor with the Surface Chemistry Branch and has worked directly with ten midshipmen summer interns while at NRL. 

Dr. Yates has received research support from Naval Academy Research Council Junior Fellowship Awards, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency - Service Academy Initiative, and the Office of Naval Research. Each of her midshipmen research students have presented conference posters at national meetings and three have earned the Chemistry Department Faculty Research Award Honorable Mention.  She has been an invited speaker at NRL, as well as an invited speaker for the 25th annual WVU Careers for Chemists Program in 2019.  She has presented at both the Office of Naval Research and in a Yard-wide seminar at USNA.  In addition, Dr. Yates has actively served on the Education Committee of the Biophysical Society for six years from 2017 - 2022.  She has been featured by the Biophysical Society as the "Biophysicist in Profile - October 2022", as well as the invited speaker for the Travel Awards ceremony.  She is a founding member of the PUI Network of the Biophysical Society.  Notably, she was recently was named the recipient of the 2025 PUI Faculty Award from the Biophysical Society.  She will be honored at the Society’s 69th Annual Meeting, being held in Los Angeles, California from February 15-19, 2025. The PUI Faculty Award, new in 2025, honors excellence in academic research and mentoring by faculty at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI).

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