Rafael Bernardi, College of Sciences and Mathematics Faculty and Staff

Short Bio

Rafael C. Bernardi is an Associate Professor of Biophysics in the Department of Physics at Auburn University. His research combines molecular dynamics simulations, computational biophysics, mechanobiology, and artificial intelligence to understand how proteins respond to mechanical forces and how molecular structure and dynamics determine biological function. He is also a developer of the widely used NAMD and VMD molecular simulation and visualization platforms and associated computational tools. His research has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2026 Biophysical Society Early Career Award in Theory and Computation and a 2022 NSF CAREER Award. Bernardi leads the Computational Biophysics Group at Auburn, where his team develops new computational approaches for studying protein mechanics, molecular interactions, and structure-function relationships.