Nancy L Beverly

Nancy L. Beverly is an Associate Professor of Physics at Mercy University, affiliated with the School of Health and Natural Sciences. She has led physics education at Mercy for over two decades, focusing on integrating physics with health and life sciences. Her work emphasizes making physics accessible and relevant to pre-health students through innovative curricula and pedagogical reforms.

Dr. Beverly holds a Ph.D. and has a background in biochemistry, which drives her interdisciplinary approach to physics education. She has developed six physics courses tailored for pre-physical therapy (PHYS160/161), pre-medical (PHYS180/181), and pre-veterinary students, emphasizing lab components and project-based learning. She has served as Principal Investigator (PI) on three National Science Foundation (NSF) grants focused on Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) education reform.

Her research and outreach include organizing national IPLS workshops, co-developing lab equipment commercially available for educational use, and co-founding the Living Physics Portal, an online resource for physics educators. Dr. Beverly has delivered 15 invited talks, including plenaries at UCLA and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) meetings, addressing topics like student-driven inquiry and competency-based IPLS courses.

Leadership roles include chairing the AAPT Committee on Laboratories twice and serving on Mercy’s committees such as the Learning Environment and General Education Curriculum. Her contributions span pedagogical innovation, national curriculum reform, and educator resource development.