The International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE) has awarded the prestigious ISDDE Prize for Excellence in Educational Design, or “Eddie”, to Dr. Okhee Lee, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, New York City, USA. The prize, funded by the Bell Burkhardt Daro Shell Centre Trust, is given annually to recognize excellence in design for education in mathematics, science or technology.

Dr. Lee received the 2026 Eddie in recognition for more than three decades of work at the intersection of research, policy, and design in which she has championed science and language learning for all students, particularly multilingual learners. Dr. Lee’s impact stretches from the classroom to the highest levels of policy. As a leader of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Diversity and Equity Team, she ensured that ‘all standards’ truly meant ‘all students’. The work of her Science And Integrated Language (SAIL) project has included designing instructional materials that received the prestigious NGSS Design Badge and demonstrated how rigorous, three-dimensional science learning can be made accessible to multilingual learners. But perhaps her greatest “design” is the community she has built. As her colleagues and students attest, she is a ‘rare gem’ and a mentor who has fostered deep and enduring relationships across multiple communities within the educational system.

The award was announced on May 19, 2026, at the Society’s annual conference, hosted this year at the University of Chile in Santiago. For more information about Dr. Lee’s research and design efforts visit https://www.nyusail.org/

About the International Society for Design and Development in Education

ISDDE was founded to bring together outstanding designers and developers from around the globe. The society aims to promote excellence in educational products and materials, particularly for science, mathematics, and technology by creating a professional community that shares knowledge, research, approaches, and critiques. ISDDE advances these goals through annual conferences, an e-journal, Educational Designer and annual prizes. For more information about ISDDE and its awards, visit www.isdde.org.

Contacts:

Prize Winner – Dr. Okhee Lee ()

ISDDE Chair – Dr. Leslie Dietiker ()