Otero was a recipient of the 2019 Excellence in Physics Education Award of the American Physical Society (APS). She was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021, after a nomination from the APS Forum on Education, "for the creation and broad dissemination of innovative physics curricular materials, pioneering contributions to physics teacher education and professional development, and for the development, implementation, and wide dissemination of the Learning Assistant Model across diverse institutions".