2026 SIVB Fellow Award

DR. MARGARET YOUNG

2026 SIVB Fellow Award

DR. MARGARET YOUNG:
Receives the 2026 SIVB Fellow Award

Dr. Margaret Young was honored with the 2026 SIVB Fellow Award in recognition of her exceptional contributions to in vitro biology, her unwavering commitment to mentoring undergraduate students, and her dedicated service to the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB). Margaret has been an active member of SIVB (and former TCA) for ~30 years, joining during her graduate studies at Mississippi State University. Throughout her career, she has been a passionate advocate for undergraduate education. She has served on the SIVB education Committee for 20 years, including two years as its elected Chair. On behalf of that committee, she secured external funding and kits to facilitate hands-on workshops for students and educators at three In Vitro Biology meetings.

Margaret participated in 17 In Vitro Biology meetings/World Congresses where she (and many of her undergraduate students) presented posters, convened sessions and delivered an invited presentation. She served on the Local Organizing Committee for the two recent In Vitro Biology meetings held in Norfolk, VA (2023, 2025). As testament to her commitment to SIVB, she received two Distinguished Service Awards (2012, 2023). Margaret is quite active in the Plant Biotechnology Section as well, and served as Secretary/Treasurer (2024-2026) and currently serves as Vice Chair (2026-2028).

Margaret Young accepts the 2026 SIVB Fellow Award

Margaret has served on the faculty of Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), a primarily undergraduate-serving institution, since 2003 and is a Professor of Biology. She has been recognized for excellence in teaching, receiving the Departmental (Natural Sciences) Teacher of the Year award three times and won a university-wide award from students, the Student Focus Staff Award. Always an ardent advocate for undergraduate research, Margaret was named the first Director of Undergraduate Research at ECSU in 2016. In this role she initiated Undergraduate Research Week that continues to be held each spring semester highlighting student researchers at the university.

Margaret’s overarching goal has been to advance the field of plant biotechnology through teaching, research, and outreach efforts. What sets her apart from other faculty members at ECSU and elsewhere is her conscious effort to combine those three facets to create meaningful undergraduate research education/experiences. She incorporated lab experiments/exercises into many courses offered for Biology majors at ECSU, long before it was coined “CUREs” (course-based undergraduate research experiences). These experiences aid students in developing, demonstrating, and expressing scientific knowledge in classroom and lab settings while learning technical, analytical and communication skills; these experiences will help promote and support future career paths, including graduate studies. Beyond the classroom, Margaret has also invited, and mentored, more than 50 undergraduate researchers in her laboratory where they designed and conducted plant tissue culture and transformation experiments. Under her guidance, students have presented 28 posters, to date, at scientific meetings, providing them with valuable professional development and exposure to cutting-edge science and the scientific community.

Nancy Reichert congratulates Margaret Young.

To accomplish her focus on undergraduate research education/experiences, Margaret has secured more than $1 million in external funding as Principal Investigator, primarily from the U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation (NSF). Her success in obtaining competitive funding has significantly expanded research opportunities for students in the field of plant biotechnology.

Beyond her commitment to teaching and mentoring young scientists, Margaret also served as an Advisory Committee member for the NSF-funded Plant Genetic Engineering Network (PlantGENE), a community-driven initiative advancing global capacity in plant transformation and gene editing through research, training, and knowledge sharing. Margaret continues to participate in PlantGENE to promote training at all levels, from students to teachers to scientists.

Through these contributions and continued commitments, Margaret has consistently advanced the Society’s mission by fostering excellence in research, education, and professional development, while strengthening the plant biotechnology community.

Submitted by Nancy Reichert and Veena Veena