I hope you are enjoying the change in weather. My update this week is briefer than usual but please hold the date for my next town hall: Wednesday, June 10, at noon in Keller auditorium (and also virtual). A lot has happened since our last town hall in March, and the June 10 town hall will occur after our last board meeting of the fiscal year, so I will have a lot to report. Please attend if you can, and I invite you to submit your questions for my leadership team and me to thquestion@uchc.edu.

Legislative session wrap up: As you know, the legislative session ended on May 6, and as I communicated in my May 1 update, our main agenda item was that UConn Health (and UConn) receive funding to offset the 4.5% SEBAC (State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition) negotiated wage increases for FY 26 and FY 27. For UConn Health this increase totals $55.7 million (to cover both FY 26 and FY27), and for UConn Storrs $37.1 million. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the funding we requested, which leaves a gap we must fund in FY27. The senior team and I will meet shortly to discuss our “Project Thrive 2.0” (cost and revenue approaches) to balance the budget for FY 27. I want to emphasize here that even though we did not receive what we requested, we are extremely thankful to the governor and the legislature for the great support they provide to UConn Health, and the UConn Health Community network. An example of this, announced by the governor last week, was the $35 million (allocated to UConn and UConn Health) to offset federal research cuts. Another example is the $390 million provided for the UConn Health Community Network. Thank you, Governor Lamont and the legislature!

Still on the topic of support, one piece of good news from this legislative session is that the legislature approved moving previously authorized bond funds for FY24, FY25, FY 26, and FY 27, from the usual state process to the successful and well established UConn 2000 Act (now in its 36^th year).

Just as background, “bond funds” are state funds allocated for non-salary purposes such as building deferred maintenance, renovations, information technology security, infrastructure and equipment. Without going into too much detail, when the general assembly approves bond funding requests for UConn Health, UConn Health must then request the state administration place the approved projects on a state bond commission agenda for allocation and authorization. If placed on an agenda, the State Bond Commission then approves the item. The State Bond Commission has been meeting between three and four times per year and there is no guarantee if or when a UConn Health request will be placed on an agenda for action.

Among the benefits of moving these funds from the standard state bonding pipeline to the UConn 2000 program, which is a pre-authorized programmatic bonding framework with an annual approval (through the University Board of Trustees, the Governor and Treasurer’s offices), are that it simplifies the process, eliminates the need to return repeatedly for project-by-project approval; streamlines approvals under an already-established governance and oversight structure specific to UConn 2000; shortens the timeline between authorization and access to funds; and provides greater predictability and flexibility in meeting our capital needs.

Switching gears, this week Tom Vaccarrelli, VP of facilities development and operations, and I presented to the Building and Grounds Subcommittee of the Board of Directors. We talked about some recently completed projects such as our Torrington multispecialty clinic, which opened on March 4, and our new Central Sterile Supply Processing area that was completed on April 27, but we also discussed plans for the future, which include a space master plan that is being developed with consultants from HKS. This space master plan will incorporate a space utilization study and the many departmental and enterprise-level strategies from our recently concluded strategic plan.

Our UConn Health Community Network is progressing well. The recent Waterbury Regional Chamber Mayoral Luncheon included a celebration of the University’s growing presence in Waterbury, including remarks from UConn Health Waterbury Hospital President Deborah Weymouth, UConn Waterbury Dean and Chief Academic Officer Fumiko Hoeft, and Mayor Paul Pernerewski. The message was one of growing programs, job creation, and investments in the future of the community, and we’re proud to be a part of it.

As for Bristol Hospital and Day Kimball Hospital, we have signed letters of intent and expect they will join the UConn Health Community Network by the end of this calendar year.

If you’ve been following world news, you’ve heard of growing concerns about a rare strain of Ebola virus in Africa. While the World Health Organization does not see this outbreak as a threat in our part of the world at this time, I think it’s important to know that we at UConn Health have been taking steps to ensure we are prepared in the unlikely event we get a patient suspected of carrying any such pathogen that is highly contagious and requires specific measures.

Our leaders in infection prevention have been monitoring the situation and discussing regularly. We’ve had ongoing training in donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE) for full barrier isolation. Our respiratory program and emerging infectious diseases coordinator, Erica Gomez, works closely with our regional contacts at the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center, and was among those representing UConn Health at a regional tabletop exercise along with the Department of Public Health, Farmington Health District, Hartford Hospital, emergency medical services, Mass General, and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the federal agency that coordinates public health and medical preparedness, response, and recovery for emergencies and disasters.

We also have held some secret patient drills, in which an employee disguised as a patient with measles symptoms (including with makeup to mimic a measles rash) presented in our ED and urgent care. Erica reports that about a week later, a patient in the ED was being ruled out for measles and “the staff felt very prepared.”

Kudos to Erica and our infection prevention team!

I have a patient letter to share with you that tells of UMG telecom operator Pam Veilleux’s extra effort, which went a long way to help a patient (edited for length and privacy):

Dear Dr. Agwunobi,

I wanted to share with you a recent experience regarding one of your employees.

My mother is a patient of Dr. Alam in the Geriatric Division. I recently looked up her name on the internet and called the number listed. The employee who answered was Pam.

I had two questions for the office. One was regarding a form I needed signed, which she directed me what to do and even offered to have the office fax it to the appropriate place. Secondly, I needed help transitioning a prescription my mother had gotten from a previous provider. Pam looked everything up and answered all my questions regarding the prescription process, and even sent the request to the provider.

In the course of our conversation, it came out that I had inadvertently been routed to the Internal Medicine Division, and Pam wasn’t even an employee of the geriatric office.

My interaction with Pam and her help exemplifies why UConn has been such a positive experience for my mom.

As my mom has gotten older, we have transitioned all of her care to UConn because of its proximity to us and the convenience of having everything in one location.

It is employees like Pam that only solidify what a great choice it was. She could’ve easily said, “You’ve gotten the wrong department,” but instead she went above and beyond, and I greatly appreciate it. Please share with her supervisors how helpful she was.

Indeed it would have been very easy for Pam to just pass off this caller, but she took the time to help this patient’s daughter even though it wasn’t necessarily “her job.” The result? Further validation of this family’s decision to bring all this patient’s care to us.

Thank you to Pam for being a shining example of service. Your interaction with this family member had such an impact she took the time to write me about it, which is a tremendous compliment.

And thank you to everyone reading this for the work you do every day.

Andrew C. Agwunobi, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
EVP for Health Affairs
UConn Health

Dear Dr. Andy

Since you’ve returned to UConn Health my colleagues have noticed wonderful recognition of providers/staff in the departments of Surgery/Orthopedics/Hem-Onc/OB-GYN. Noticeably, these are all providers with inpatient services that have gotten visibility from your office. Is there any reason that internal medicine (hospitalist section) seems to get overlooked?

Thank you for writing and for sharing this perspective.

My sincere apologies for any oversight on my part in terms of giving hospitalists well-deserved recognition. I deeply value and appreciate the work of our internal medicine hospitalist teams. Your physicians provide extraordinary care for some of our most complex patients and play a critical role in the day-to-day care, continuity, and quality of care across UConn Health. Also many may not be aware of this, but my wife is a hospitalist (Kaiser Permanente) and over the years I have come to appreciate that hospitalists are the heroes behind any hospital’s inpatient success. I recognize the tremendous dedication, professionalism, hard work and impact of your teams, particularly given the demanding nature of inpatient medicine.

As you may recall, earlier this year we opened a short-stay unit on CT-7. A short-stay unit is a combination of inpatient and observation patients who are admitted for three days or less. The launch of ours has been a significant achievement for our team and reflects our commitment to improving patient flow, throughput, and quality of care. Transitioning from an overflow unit to an established short-stay unit has allowed us to better serve our patient population by providing timely, efficient, and patient-centered care while supporting safe discharges and reduced length of stay. Our hospitalists are an especially instrumental part of this. I’m happy to say that CT-7 was one of the areas that got a surprise visit from Channel 3’s “Great Day CT” during Healthcare Week last week.

Thank you again for reaching out and for all that you and your colleagues do in service to our patients and institution.

Have something you want to ask Dr. Andy? Submit your question on The Hub.

Hub Highlights

You may think you’re allergic to penicillin even if you really aren’t. Our infectious diseases experts explain.

Plus, watch a video about our recent memorial service to honor those who donate their bodies to our Human Anatomy Lab.

The event was part of NURS 1150: Introduction to Healthcare Innovation. Taught by Tiffany Kelley, Ph.D., MBA, RN, NI-BC, FNAP, FAAN, the course introduces innovation as a concept and its applications to healthcare, guiding students through design thinking methodology and prototype development. This was the first semester the course was offered. Thirty-nine students enrolled in the class, with half the students majoring in nursing and nearly all in their first or second academic year at UConn.

“Week by week, the students learned not only how to develop their own innovative behaviors and discovery skills but also how to work in teams to combine their collective areas of expertise and interests to address a healthcare challenge they identified through their own experiences,” said Kelley, professor in residence and co-director of the Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center.

PitchFest gave students the opportunity to apply what they learned throughout the semester by developing their own healthcare innovations and potential inventions. Each team identified a healthcare problem and, through discovery and design thinking, developed an initial prototype as a solution. The students presented a semester’s worth of work in five-minute presentations to a panel of judges—an impressive feat noted by both Kelley and the judges.

The judging panel included Leila Daneshmandi, Ph.D., assistant professor in residence in the College of Engineering and co-director of the Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center with Kelley; UConn Nursing Assistant Professor Christina Ross, Ph.D., RN; and Michael McGuire, MBA, director of strategic growth and innovations at Beekley Medical.

“UConn is a pillar in our state for education, healthcare, and innovation, and bringing these three disciplines together—while providing students with mentorship, guidance, and a creative outlet—continues to produce commercially viable ideas in an impressive timeframe,” said McGuire.

Beekley Medical sponsors the InnovateHealth PitchFest, and to celebrate the students’ hard work, two awards were presented: Greatest Impact Potential, awarded to Smart Queue Health, and Most Innovative, awarded to Pill Bright.

SmartQueue Health — Kyle Orzolek ‘29 (NUR), Alana Williams ‘29 (NUR), Emma Leonardo ‘29 (NUR), Paityn Caron ‘29 (NUR), and Kate Dannenberg ‘29 (NUR) — prototyped a real-time queue app designed to close the communication gap between patients and clinics around appointment wait times.

“It’s a problem that everyone faces,” said McGuire, noting its relatability and potential impact across a large population.

Pill Bright — Ryann Barba ‘29 (NUR), Aubrey Estrada ‘28 (NUR), Kaitlin Cannavaro ‘29 (NUR), Marisa Anderson ‘29 (NUR), and Anna Stratidis ‘29 (MCB) — took a different approach, designing a watch that lights up in specific colors or shapes to remind older adults which pills to take and when. Their goal was to address both medication non-adherence and health literacy gaps among older patients, particularly those recently discharged from the hospital.

Further recognizing the students’ hard work, every team received a $500 award to continue developing their prototypes, along with the opportunity to meet with McGuire to discuss their projects further. The winning teams each received an additional $500 to advance their ideas.

“Several of this year’s innovations, if brought to fruition, could meaningfully improve the lives of patients and healthcare providers alike,” said McGuire.

Kelley commented on the partnership with Beekley Medical, saying, “Having this academic-industry partnership offers students the opportunity to learn and apply the science while also forming a strategy that aligns with current and future industry needs and established practices.”

A common theme across all seven presentations was patient privacy and accessibility to easy-to-understand medical information.

“What was unique about this group of students was how they all focused on the person side of healthcare. They also identified new categories of information needs that we could now address in 2026 and beyond,” noted Kelley.

Many teams focused on health literacy gaps and built their prototypes around solving them while keeping HIPAA compliance and patient-centered design at the forefront. As one student put it during their presentation, “Our role as innovators is to put the patient first.”

“At its core, innovation is about making the world a better place, and that purpose was evident in every pitch presented,” said McGuire. “The students and faculty should be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished through this program, and I look forward to seeing many of these ideas make a real difference in the years ahead.”

The lab’s opening on May 18 brought together university leaders, researchers, community partners, and athletes on campus in recognition of a new chapter in a national effort to ensure no one dies from a preventable heat-related illness.

The Perry Weather Heat Lab at UNF is KSI’s first expansion beyond UConn, driven by Jacksonville’s year-round heat, large military presence, growing professional sports ecosystem and significant outdoor labor workforce.

“This expansion to the University of North Florida is a defining moment for the Korey Stringer Institute and for the future of heat safety,” says Doug Casa, KSI CEO and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. “We are deeply grateful to the University of North Florida for their partnership and shared commitment to protecting lives. Together, we are ensuring that no one suffers or dies from a preventable heat-related illness.”

First established in 2010 at UConn through a partnership between the University, the National Football League (NFL), and Gatorade, KSI honors the legacy of Korey Stringer, a Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings who died from exertional heat stroke in 2001. His wife Kelci Stringer and agent Jimmy Gould partnered with Casa to create an institute focused on advancing science, education, and policy to prevent heat-related deaths.

The new Perry Weather Heat Lab is designed to advance the science of thermoregulation, performance, health, and safety through controlled environmental testing. Lab technologies enable researchers to simulate extreme heat conditions and precisely measure the body’s physiological and biochemical responses to physical activity under stress, then translate those findings directly into real-world protocols and policy recommendations.

The lab is led by UNF researchers Michael Szymanski ’23 (CAHNR) and Gabrielle Brewer ’24 (CAHNR), whose work spans methodologies ranging from gut microbiome analysis and nutritional supplementation to wearable technology validation. Szymanski is an assistant professor of kinesiology and Brewer is a post-doctoral associate.

UNF graduate and undergraduate students are training alongside the faculty team, gaining hands-on experience in physiological data collection, biological sample analysis and scientific communication at the regional and national level.

Brewer and Szymanski’s research places particular emphasis on sex differences in thermoregulation. Additionally, Szymanski has secured a principal investigator grant to validate commercially available wearable heat monitoring devices, with the study commencing in fall 2026.

Brewer and Szymanski are also working with UNF Army ROTC cadets, providing educational guidance and physiological support ahead of demanding training events and helping cadets safely maintain military readiness standards. The team is also collaborating with UNF’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, providing nutritional recommendations and body composition tracking to professional athletes, with plans to expand those services across the university.

Additional research underway and planned at the lab includes heat acclimation and adaptation strategies; nutritional interventions, including antioxidant and hydration strategies; validation of commercially available wearable devices in heat conditions; occupational heat safety protocols for Jacksonville-area employers; and additional military performance and safety in extreme environments.

“This partnership reflects UNF’s commitment to research that improves lives,” says Angela Garcia Falconetti, UNF interim president. “We are proud to contribute to groundbreaking science that will shape heat safety practices, and we are honored to help carry forward a mission rooted in preventing tragedies before they occur.”

The lab’s naming partner, Perry Weather, brings its real-time Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) monitoring and data logging platform to field research, enabling scientists to pair physiological findings with precise, moment-by-moment environmental data. That combination is central to the lab’s mission of producing research that translates directly into actionable safety guidance.

“We’re proud to partner with KSI and UNF to advance the science of heat safety in one of the most demanding climates in the country,” says Colin Perry, CEO and Founder of Perry Weather. “Jacksonville’s heat and the concentration of athletes, warfighters, and laborers in the region make it the right place to do this work. Deploying our real-time monitoring platform alongside KSI researchers will produce science-backed strategies that help policymakers and organizations nationwide protect the people most exposed to heat stress.”

This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Advancing Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate and Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.

Follow UConn CAHNR on social media

De received her Bachelor of Pharmacy in Pharmaceutical Sciences from West Bengal University of Technology in West Bengal, India, in 2020. After that, she received her Master of Pharmacy in Industrial Pharmacy from Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in India in 2022.

In 2023, De began her studies at UConn in the Bahal laboratory where she develops nucleic acid analogs for targeting DNA/RNA in cancer treatment.

“My research focuses on developing a new approach to treat cancer by selectively targeting oncogenes, which are the genes that drive cancer, using nucleic acid analogs,” De said. “The broader goal is to develop next-generation therapies that can eventually improve survival rates in patients while minimizing side effects.”

The research De is working on is currently in the preclinical stage, which evaluates the drug or therapy’s safety, toxicity, and potential effectiveness.

In 2025, De won the Academic Research Award for Best Oral Research Presentation at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Northeast Regional Discussion Group (AAPS-NERDG).

In 2026, she received the Karl A. Herzog Fellowship from University of Connecticut, as well as the Meritorious Abstract Travel Award at the ASGCT Annual Meeting. ASGCT is a highly prestigious conference in the field of gene therapy.

When De found out she had received the travel award, she was ecstatic.

“It was a mix of gratitude, excitement, and fulfillment for all the hard work and time I have dedicated to this work,” De said. “I felt truly honored that my research was recognized through such a prestigious award.”

The ASGCT travel award was very competitive.

“I think what helped me stand out was the translational potential of my research and clearly communicating the scientific significance of the work through the abstract,” De said.

De was very thankful for the opportunity to present her research in Boston earlier this month.

“It was truly an honor to present my work during the poster session of the conference and to interact and discuss my research with scientists from around the world,” De said.

“You can’t replace humans,” she says.

For Ivakhiv – who has performed solo and chamber music in venues around the globe and who says that, for her, music is as essential as breathing – there’s no string of code that can replicate the interaction between an artist and their audience.

“When you ask me why I am a musician, it’s because it’s a way for me to express my emotions,” Ivakhiv explains, “and I feed off the emotion that I feel from a person who is listening to me play. When the audience responds to my feelings, to my interpretation of the masterworks or of new pieces, I feed off that energy.

“You can’t substitute that. You can’t replace that experience.”

That experience is just a part of what Ivakhiv exposes her students to as a professor of violin and viola with the Department of Music at the UConn School of Fine Arts.

Her students, she explains, are performers, but also academics and scholars, composers and creatives, communicators and entrepreneurs. And they’re citizens of the world and members of communities as well – roles she tries to remind them of while they’re engaged in the demands of their studies.

While UConn might be better known for research and athletics than the arts, it’s the University’s multidisciplinary nature that Ivakhiv says sets it apart in the competitive world of music and helps her send not just accomplished but also well-rounded musicians out into the world after graduation.

“There is more to life than music, and this is what I encourage my students to experience: to take classes outside of their discipline and to engage with other fields,” Ivakhiv says. “It is neither necessary nor desirable to be only a violinist, only a performer, or only a teacher. A meaningful artistic life requires many dimensions and layers.

“This is one of the strengths of the University of Connecticut. Students have the opportunity to explore different departments and be exposed to a wide range of disciplines beyond music, which enriches both their personal growth and their artistic development.”

Ivakhiv and two of her current students – graduate teaching assistant and doctor of musical arts student Yi Charice Tang and undergraduate violin student Antonio Avilés Figueroa ’27 (SFA) – recently joined Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Pamir Alpay at the von der Mehden Recital Hall at UConn Storrs for a conversation about music, education, and their own successes as performers, entrepreneurs, and educators.

******

Pamir: You’re an amazing artist and performer. How do you balance teaching and performing? How does all of that come together?

Solomiya: Thank you. I do not balance. I run on empty, like every person who does many jobs at a high level.

I’m thrilled to be teaching here at the University of Connecticut, because I truly have wonderful students who inspire me. And I learn from them what not to do and what to do when I perform. I’m very proud of these young people and their dedication to music and art, and also their dedication to making a difference in communities.

Because here, we are not simply training musicians. We are helping shape thoughtful human beings, engaged citizens, and advocates who will go back into the world and use their artistry to create positive change.

I perform a lot, because without performing, I don’t know who I am. It’s like breathing for me. But I think that’s also good for my students, because they see what being an active musician and professional is. They get first-hand experience in what it’s like to be a performer, a professor, an educator, and also a community member.

Pamir: What keeps you excited about music and performing? What makes you do what you do?

Solomiya: It’s a way for me to express myself and to bring the community together, because there is something truly wonderful about seeing people connect through music, art, and shared experiences. I haven’t played a concert yet where there wasn’t someone in the audience whom I knew. People travel to hear me perform, and my students come to support me as well. It is always deeply moving to see familiar faces in the audience and to know that so many people made a special effort to be there for that performance.

I recently performed in New York City, and two former students came to the concert. At Carnegie Hall, four students attended – not only my violin students, but students from across the music department. They come to hear me play, to say ‘hello,’ and to stay connected, and that means so much to me. I’m truly very grateful.

I think UConn needs to rent Carnegie Hall, or Lincoln Center, and showcase what we have here. Jazz bands, marching bands, symphony orchestra – I think there is a community in New York City that is starving to get back to its UConn roots.

Pamir: Carnegie Hall is one of the legendary settings, right?

Solomiya: The acoustics are actually spectacular. It’s just one of a few in the whole world that has acoustics like that. You performed at Carnegie, Antonio, isn’t that right?

Pamir: Yes, tell me about that, I’d love to know more about that.

Antonio: It’s definitely an amazing experience. When I went for the first time, it was junior year of high school. It was part of a summer program where they select people from around the U.S. to perform in Carnegie. It’s called the National Youth Orchestra.

Solomiya: The NYO auditions in every major city of the United States, and pick the best students, and then bring them to Carnegie to work with fantastic artists.

By the way, Antonio travels every Saturday to Boston, taking a bus from Hartford in order to rehearse and perform with the prestigious Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. The ensemble is made up primarily of students from the New England Conservatory, along with some students who travel from New York from Juilliard to participate. Antonio is proudly representing the University of Connecticut in this outstanding orchestra.

Pamir: Speaking of your wonderful students who are here with us today. You’re an undergraduate student, Antonio. Charice, you’re a doctoral student. What do you look for in your students? What sorts of qualities?

Solomiya: I look for potential and for a genuine desire to improve. I think those are very important qualities, because many people are talented – and these are exceptionally talented young musicians. But beyond talent, I look for eagerness to grow, to learn, and to become part of this wonderful world of music and of education.

Many of my students aspire not only to become performers, but also educators who will inspire the next generation.

Pamir: Another question for you, based on that – music education, it’s very rigorous. You have to be super disciplined, and you have to work, have to study, have to practice. How do you help your students? Because I’m assuming there’s a lot of burnout as folks go through it.

Solomiya: That’s an excellent question. My students will attest that I strongly encourage them to go outside the music department, to build friendships outside the music department, and to engage with other disciplines. Life is not one dimensional, and neither should their education be.

I encourage them to socialize, go on dates, and not to become isolated in practice rooms. They need real-life experience in order to bring depth, perspective, and humanity into their artistry.

I also encourage them to go and listen to other artists. It’s not easy to travel from Storrs to New York or Boston, but we are ideally positioned between these cultural centers, with access to so much artistic life. It’s one of the many reasons I believe so strongly in the University of Connecticut and the state of Connecticut. Our geographic location places us in a uniquely advantageous position to grow, to engage with major artistic communities, and to remain competitive with institutions in both New York and Boston.

Burnout happens not just to the students, but to faculty as well, and I think the best way to cope is to take care of yourself. Self-care is very important. I encourage them to always reach out if help is needed, but also to go and have a life, experience life.

Pamir: Charice, you’re from China, you studied in Germany. What brought you to Storrs?

Charice: I did my master’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One day, one of my favorite faculty from Longy School of Music of Bard College, where I did my master’s, reached out to me and said, there’s this amazing faculty at UConn, and her name is Solomiya Ivakhiv, and the school is in need of a teaching assistant for American pop music history. And Dr. Ivakhiv is a great violinist, and she is looking for doctoral students, would you like to go there and have an audition?

I came here, I met Dr. Ivakhiv, and I just finished the second year of my DMA [doctor of musical arts].

Solomiya: We do talk to other institutions to try to recruit the best students, to get the best talent to the University of Connecticut. We don’t have many graduate assistantships, we would love to have more students, but it’s wonderful because the students who are in the graduate assistantships bring a lot of value and expertise and knowledge. Charice is not only a very good musician, but she’s a very good academic, so she will be a perfect professor, someone who can do it all.

Pamir: So, you teach as well?

Charice: Yes, American popular music history.

Pamir: I would have loved to take that.

Charice: You’re very welcome to take my discussion section. I’m just assisting the professor, so the professor teaches lectures twice a week, and I lead the discussion sections of 50 students per week.

Pamir: That’s a pretty good crowd. So, tell me a bit more about your doctoral studies. How does it work, and how do you combine research and scholarly work with your creative work?

Charice: The degree is actually very tough, but also very exciting. I spend a lot of time on my computer, researching. I write academic papers. I also spend a lot of time in the library reading, focusing on music history and theories.

I haven’t decided on a specific thesis topic, but I have some ideas. I’m very interested in modern violin repertoire by living composers, because there hasn’t been so much light shed on their works.

Solomiya: For three years, [DMA] students take coursework, and then at the end of the third year, they determine the focus of their dissertation. They are immersed in advanced music theory, music history, and the analysis of major musical works. In the middle of the third year, they formally select their dissertation topic. And in the meantime, they have to play recitals, be in chamber groups and symphony orchestra. Charice also works in a music school.

Charice: Yes, I work as a chamber coach and band instructor at two music schools in Boston.

Solomiya: And you also founded a quartet with four women.

Charice: Yes, the GAIA Quartet. We play compositions by living composers, which is my passion.

Solomiya: They had a very successful tour of Canada last year.

Pamir: So many different dimensions.

Solomiya: Yes, so she’s an entrepreneur as well. And this is what we teach our students, that you can’t just wear one hat. You’re a scholar, but you’re also a performer, you’re a teacher, and you’re an entrepreneur.

Pamir: That’s a very good point.

Charice: I think for modern musicians, you really need to be open minded, and you have to work in diverse fields. And especially, I don’t think you can just stick in a classical repertoire. I mean, classical music is amazing. But the music industry has been evolving, and musical repertoire has also been evolving. If we only play the so-called ‘standard reps,’ the modern voices by modern composers will never be heard.

I think it’s really, really important to bring these works to a modern audience and to make modern classical music accessible. So, we don’t just come out and play a concert. We collaborate with modern composers, reach out to them.

Pamir: That’s so exciting. So, speaking of exciting – Antonio, you’re far from home also, from Puerto Rico. Tell me about your journey to Storrs.

Antonio: By the end of my junior year, I decided that I wanted to study violin performance, but I wasn’t sure where. I didn’t want to stay in Puerto Rico, because there are more opportunities on the mainland. There’s only one music school in Puerto Rico, and I wanted to explore more. That’s why I decided to come here.

I emailed Dr. Ivakhiv for a lesson, because when you apply to music schools, you have a process of auditions. You have to send videos, résumés, everything, and then you can have trial lessons with professors before you get your decision.

Solomiya: Professors offer complimentary trial lessons, which is a way to recruit students.

Antonio: The trial lesson helps see if there’s a match between the student and the professor, because that’s a really big part of music school, that the teaching style of the professor matches the student’s needs.

So, I was looking for music schools, and UConn came up. And to be honest, I had never heard of the school before I applied. I didn’t even know it was a basketball school. My classmates, when I said where I was going, they were so excited for me, like, you’re going to see all the basketball players.

Pamir: You had no idea?

Antonio: I had no idea.

Pamir: So, for you, the attraction was working with Dr. Ivakhiv.

Solomiya: He was very determined. He kept emailing and asking for lessons, and I saw the passion and the drive. And that’s who we look for, people who are dedicated and want to learn, because it’s important that they have the desire and the talent and the desire to push themselves forward.

Pamir: That’s remarkable. So, you’re on a national stage as well. How is the education you’re both getting now, and your interaction with your advisor, helping you to become a presence on the national stage?

Antonio: I want to pursue a career as an orchestra performer in the future, and all of the orchestras that I play in currently, I approach the conductors, talk to them about what I’m learning, and they’re eager to hear about it. I feel like that’s pretty important. Beyond performance, UConn is teaching me a lot of the social skills that I need, that we all need, for music. It’s really important to have social skills and be able to talk to people.

Charice: The classes that are offered by UConn have helped me a lot. I would say they changed me. They reshaped me as musician.

I remember the first semester when I was taking a class with our wonderful history faculty, Dr. Janie Cole – she introduced us to world music, to early medieval music in Africa, which I’d never heard of. It was so inspiring. It really, really touched the deepest spot of my heart.

And it opened my eyes and made me realize that there is so much diversity out there in the world, not just Western music, but also world music. There’s wonderful music in Asia, Africa, everywhere in the world. Music has been a part of us since our earliest days, and it just helped me see how meaningful my job is, to bring music to the world.

Solomiya: If I may add, coming from the conservatory background, where my focus was music from the age of 6, what I love about the University of Connecticut is that I’m constantly inspired by my colleagues, my non-musical colleagues, because every time I go to a meeting or interact with someone from a different department, I realize that I’m surrounded by very intelligent people who care about their work, care about society, and are very good at what they do.

There is more to life than music, and this is what I encourage my students to experience: to take classes outside of their discipline and to engage with other fields. It is neither necessary nor desirable to be only a violinist, only a performer, or only a teacher. A meaningful artistic life requires many dimensions and layers.

This is one of the strengths of the University of Connecticut. Students have the opportunity to explore different departments and be exposed to a wide range of disciplines beyond music, which enriches both their personal growth and their artistic development.

Pamir: You guys are just amazing. Thank you for finding UConn, and thank you for all that you do.

This research was published in Physiological Reports. This work was led by Jacob Bowie, Ph.D., a UConn postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Elaine Choung-Hee Lee, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology, and in collaboration with Douglas Casa, Ph.D., Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology and CEO of the Korey Stringer Institute.

Heat tolerance is a measure of how well someone tolerates exercise-heat stress. Researchers and practitioners use changes to heart rate and internal temperature over time to determine when someone has become acclimated.

Heat tolerance tests involve participants exercising in high heat and humidity over days to weeks. When a person meets a specific threshold for temperature and heart rate, they are considered acclimated.

These tests are often implemented in military and athletic populations to determine when it is safe for someone to return to duty or play following an exertional heat illness.

Heat tolerance tests are used across the board for females and males. However, heat tolerance tests were developed based on the male body and there had been little research on how well these tests actually measure female heat acclimation.

“When these tests were developed only using male data, we could expect the results to be biased towards men in terms of their interpretation, and that’s what we found,” Bowie says.

In this study, the researchers used a heat tolerance test that has been widely used for military and athletic assessments. The test consists of walking on a treadmill at a slight incline for two hours in 40 degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature with 40% humidity.

By the test’s standards, a person is considered heat tolerant if their core temperature stays below 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and their heart rate below 150 beats per minute for the duration of the test.

The researchers found that female participants started the test at a higher temperature and heart rate. But they also stabilized at a higher temperature as they acclimated to the heat.

“The average for females is actually above that threshold,” Bowie says. “In the broader picture, when we don’t account for those sex-based differences, we could be limiting participation in military training or missions, or we could be tagging athletes as not ready to return to play but they actually are.”

While there are no health risks, an overly conservative heat tolerance standard for female athletes, for example, could lead to excess heat acclimation training sessions for professional athletes, such as those going to the Olympics, who are on very tight schedules.

“In one way it’s great because we’re protecting their safety to prevent exertional heat illness,” Lee says. “But they’re very limited in their training schedule leading up to competition.”

This project is part of a larger U.S. Department of Defense grant looking at how to better determine when someone is acclimated to the heat and hence ready to go on the field, into active duty, or to work.

“We’re answering fundamental questions about how you measure tolerance,” Lee says. “There are lots of gaps that we’re trying to fill.”

Bowie is now working on a study using a heat tolerance test that requires participants to run on a treadmill until they reach an internal temperature of 39.5 Celsius (103.1 Fahrenheit). This temperature is a critical threshold; beyond it there are serious complications including the body losing its ability to cool effectively, denatured proteins, and damage to neurons.

This work will help develop better standards for athletes.

“Those [tests] are more akin to the environment we can expect an athlete to be in,” Bowie says. “We don’t expect an athlete to be mowing the lawn. We expect them to be at a high level of exertion for a sustained period of time.”

This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health.

Follow UConn CAHNR on social media

“It’s much more common for people to report a penicillin allergy than it is for them to truly have one,” says Dr. Jessica Abrantes-Figueiredo, an infectious disease physician at UConn Health. “In reality, less than 1% of patients are likely to have a true penicillin allergy.” 

Penicillin is a class of antibiotic medications. Penicillin treats bacterial infections like strep throat, ear infections, and urinary tract infections. They work by attaching to and damaging the cell walls of bacteria. Types of penicillin include penicillin V, penicillin G, amoxicillin, and ampicillin. 

Experts say many penicillin allergies are identified in childhood, often after a rash or illness that may have had nothing to do with the antibiotic itself. Others are based on family history or side effects that are not actually allergic reactions. 

“One of the most common misconceptions is that if your parent had a penicillin allergy, you automatically have one too, and that’s simply not true,” Abrantes-Figueiredo says. 

The issue is more important than many people realize. When patients are labeled as allergic to penicillin, providers often have to avoid an entire class of antibiotics and turn instead to broader-spectrum medications. Those alternatives can be less effective, more expensive, and carry greater risks of side effects. 

“Patients often think, ‘If I’m allergic, just give me something else,’” says Dr. David Banach, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at UConn Health.  “But those alternatives may not be the best treatment for the infection and can contribute to antibiotic resistance.” 

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria adapt and become harder to treat with existing medications. It is a growing concern both nationally and globally. Infectious disease specialists emphasize the importance of antibiotic stewardship using antibiotics only when necessary and selecting the most targeted treatment possible. 

Banach, who has helped lead antibiotic stewardship efforts at UConn Health, says the work ties directly into the issue of penicillin allergy labeling. Earlier this year, he discussed the growing importance of antibiotic stewardship and the dangers of antibiotic resistance in a separate UConn Today story. 

“When we use antibiotics that are broader than needed, we can unintentionally encourage bacteria to become resistant,” Banach says. “Good antibiotic stewardship helps protect both the individual patient and public health.” 

In addition to resistance concerns, alternative antibiotics can sometimes cause more serious complications. Certain medications may carry higher risks for side effects such as tendon injuries or Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections. 

To help address the issue, UConn Health is developing a specialized clinical service focused on evaluating and potentially removing inaccurate penicillin allergy labels from patients’ medical records. 

The planned service would include detailed patient history reviews and, when appropriate, supervised oral amoxicillin challenges performed in a monitored clinical setting. In many low-risk patients, newer research suggests testing can safely determine whether a patient truly has an allergy. 

“Sometimes, just taking a detailed history is enough to determine that a patient likely isn’t allergic,” Abrantes-Figueiredo says. “Other times, we can safely test patients and potentially remove that allergy label.” 

During an oral challenge, patients receive a small dose of amoxicillin and are closely monitored for any reaction before receiving the remainder of the medication. Severe reactions are considered extremely rare, and the testing is performed in a setting equipped to manage allergic responses if needed. 

The effort also includes educating healthcare providers and staff on the difference between true allergies and medication intolerances. 

“A lot of medical records simply say ‘penicillin allergy’ without any details,” Banach says. “Improving documentation and helping patients better understand their own histories is an important part of the process.” 

The team hopes the future service will help patients gain access to safer, more effective first-line antibiotics while supporting broader efforts to combat antibiotic resistance. 

For now, experts encourage patients who believe they may have a penicillin allergy to speak with their primary care provider about their history and whether further evaluation may be appropriate. 

Lalla received the Samuel Charles Miller Award for outstanding scientific contributions to the field of oral medicine. The award is the highest scientific award given by the AAOM, and is named after the founder of the academy.  As the award winner, Lalla gave a one-hour plenary talk during the scientific program. In his talk, Lalla shared findings from multicenter clinical research studies (OraRad 1 and 2), that he has led over more than ten years. These studies have been funded by NIH grants on which he is a Principal Investigator. These landmark studies have resulted in several novel findings related to oral side-effects after radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, with direct impacts on clinical practice. Lalla has published more than 120 scientific articles and is among the top 2% of scientists worldwide, based on the frequency of his work being cited.

Chirravur, a board-certified oral medicine specialist, received the Saudi Society of Oral Medicine Award for Outstanding Contribution and Excellence in the Field of Oral Medicine for her oral presentation on recent findings from the OraRad 2 study. Chirravur is mentored by Lalla, who has included her in collaborative OraRad research efforts as a co-investigator and enabled her to present research findings at the AAOM conferences. Last year, at the 2025 AAOM conference, which was held jointly with the European Association of Oral Medicine (EAOM), Chirravur gave an oral presentation on selected results from the OraRad 1 study. She received the Best Oral Presentation Award, which was jointly awarded by EAOM and AAOM. Her involvement in these projects has led to other scholarly collaborations, manuscript submissions, and participation in international initiatives.

The awards were presented by the president of the AAOM, Dr. Sunday Akintoye, during the conference’s awards dinner.

“Dr. Rajesh Lalla is fully deserving of the prestigious AAOM Samuel Charles Miller Award. His outstanding mentorship skills have also been recognized through the multiple awards received by Dr. Prazwala Chirravur,” said Akintoye.

But the speakers were not outside experts or public health professionals. They were fellow students, using what they had learned in an organic chemistry lab to help their peers better understand the science behind those issues.

The presentations were part of a service-learning project built into an organic chemistry lab course taught by Priya Shah ’09 Ph.D., associate professor-in-residence of chemistry at UConn Hartford. In partnership with UConn Student Health and Wellness (SHaW), students in Shah’s course used chemistry concepts to create educational materials for their campus community while gaining hands-on experience in research, communication, and real-world problem-solving.

“Our goal is to spread awareness about how these things affect your brain and your body,” says Shah. “I came into it asking, ‘How can I have my organic chemistry students, who are trained to understand molecules, help people understand how these chemicals affect them in the real world?’”

For students — many of whom plan to pursue careers in health care fields — the project offers a chance to practice explaining complex scientific ideas to a broad audience while learning how chemistry can shape public health conversations in their own community.

“I love hands-on learning, but I didn’t expect to love this project as much as I did,” says Josiah Mansfield, a nondegree student who took the course to complete prerequisites for dental school. “I didn’t realize how much I loved the research until I was in it, and I learned I would love to do more of it in the future.”

Connecting Chemistry to Student Well-Being

Shah says she first began incorporating service learning into her introductory organic chemistry courses during the 2016-17 academic year. Working with the Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Coalition, students in her classes created outreach materials on health-related topics for community audiences.

After becoming a service-learning fellow through the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2024, Shah adapted that model for her more advanced organic chemistry lab course and looked for a partner with a direct connection to the UConn community, eventually establishing a partnership with SHaW.

Because students in the lab course have either completed or are concurrently taking related biology coursework, Shah says they are better prepared to connect chemistry to broader questions about health and the body.

“If you say this drug molecule is working this way in the body, that’s not organic chemistry alone. It’s organic chemistry with biochemistry,” she says.

For SHaW, the course has become a way not only to create outreach materials, but also to engage students in conversations about health through peer-to-peer education.

“Having the chemistry background, the students are not just seeing the clinical manifestation, they’re seeing the impact at the molecular level,” says Dax Sousa ’16 (CLAS), ’17 (NUR), a regional nurse navigator at UConn Hartford, who advised the projects.

As part of SHaW’s Regional Nurse Navigators Program, Sousa provides nursing education, triages immediate concerns, and helps students navigate the health care system. He says he drew on his current work with students, along with his previous experience in pediatrics and training in psychology, to identify issues most relevant to undergraduates.

In spring 2025, course projects focused on cannabis use and its effects on the body. In spring 2026, Sousa suggested several additional topics, including some with less established research.

“Vaping is newer, we don’t have all the same data as cigarette use and long-term impact on health. I thought it would be good for students to learn about how it can impact their well-being,” he says.

Students selected their topics and developed brochures and presentations, while Sousa served as a liaison to ensure the materials were clinically accurate. The resulting materials are now used at UConn Hartford and are available to nurse navigators at other campuses.

Students also presented their topics to peers at an event on April 22, drawing dozens of attendees.

“I overheard a lot of insightful conversations peer to peer about these particular issues,” says Sousa. “I think there’s a power in having that dialogue between students rather than from health care provider to student.”

Putting Concepts into Practice

For students, the project offered a chance to use chemistry in a way that felt immediate and personal.

Rayan Al Dulaimi ’28 (CLAS), a molecular and cell biology major, focused her project on e-cigarettes and vaping products and their effects on physical and mental health. She chose the topic because she saw how common vaping had become among young people and wanted to better understand the risks.

“As kids you hear all sorts of things about how bad smoking is, so I wanted to research and present to my peers to see if it changes their view of what happens to them,” Al Dulaimi says.

Her research examined different products, the contents of vape liquid, and how vaping and cigarettes affect the heart, lungs, brain, and other organs.

“You wouldn’t think that something that people inhale would be so bad for you,” she says. “The number of metals I found in vapes, like nickel and lead, is something many people don’t even know about.”

The course also attracts post-baccalaureate students completing prerequisite coursework for medical or dental school.

Mansfield, who previously graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a degree in community health education, chose to study Adderall misuse among people who are not prescribed the medication.

“A lot of students are looking for ways to perform better on exams and boost their cognitive function,” he says. “Looking at the performance of people who took it on exams versus people who didn’t, I found that even though Adderall is a heavily abused drug, there are no perceived benefits from it.”

Mansfield’s research also examined negative side effects, including anxiety, memory problems, and depression during withdrawal, which he says drew strong interest from students during his presentation.

“I approached it not from the idea of, ‘I’m going to convince you that you shouldn’t take drugs.’ I approached it from, ‘I’m going to try to convince you not to take this drug because it doesn’t actually help you in any way,’” he says.

Nathan Miller ’24 (BUS), who majored in marketing and an individualized major in humane technology design, brought another perspective to the course, having previously conducted research on social media. He is currently a research fellow in diagnostic radiology at UConn Health and enrolled in the lab as a prerequisite for medical school.

“Part of my project was using TRIBE v2, an open-source model that Meta released in March,” he says. “You can feed it social media content, and it will visualize how it predicts the brain will respond.”

Miller says part of the challenge was translating technical and scientific research into language and visuals that would be accessible to students.

“A lot of times when you’re in an organic chemistry class, you see the molecules but not the applicability, so it was great to connect it to a topic I was already passionate about,” he says.

Measuring the Impact

The project has also generated scholarship of its own.

Shah says it is unusual for a 2000-level organic chemistry lab to include a service-learning component, both at UConn and nationally. Because of that, she conducted a study examining how integrating service learning into organic chemistry can deepen student understanding and civic engagement.

In February, Shah published her results in the Journal of Chemical Education. She also presented her findings at the American Chemical Society Spring 2026 conference in Atlanta in March.

Shah says the students she surveyed showed stronger engagement, a deeper understanding of chemical concepts, improved communication skills, and a greater appreciation for the relevance of organic chemistry to health care and public health.

“Most students said it helped see the connection between the classroom and the real world, and they felt proud that they were able to present their research in such a large community of peers and faculty members, which they normally wouldn’t get to do,” she says.

The students agreed that presenting their work was one of the highlights of the project.

“I loved the science overall, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to present my research and conduct it in the first place,” says Miller.

Dr. Perry A. Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award – Tutita M. Casa

The Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award is awarded annually to a full-time faculty member in the Neag School. Alumnus Perry A. Zirkel ’68 MA, ’72 Ph.D., ’76 JD is a university professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University, where he formerly was dean of the College of Education and more recently held the Iacocca Chair in Education. The Neag School’s 2026 award recipient is Tutita M. Casa, an associate professor of elementary mathematics education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

A two-time Neag School alumna, Casa is a faculty member for the Neag School’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s teacher preparation program. Many people think of mathematics as something that you “do” by following a teacher’s step-by-step guidance about how to solve problems. Casa’s work in mathematical discourse counters this perspective and instead is aimed at supporting teachers to empower students to grapple with the mathematics and engage with the discipline in ways similar to how mathematicians go about their work. Rather than asking whether or not students can learn any given math concept, Casa guides her work by identifying ways in which teachers can get students to think about and ultimately understand it through oral and written discourse.

Casa’s teaching excellence is evident in the learning opportunities she creates for her students. Her yearlong master’s seminar has produced numerous published practitioner articles co-authored with her students. These publications demonstrate how she mentors preservice teachers through authentic research and writing processes, culminating in work that contributes to the field of mathematics education.

A recent former student, now a practicing teacher, emphasized that Casa was “the most impactful professor” of her academic career and credited her with shaping her instructional beliefs, understanding of mathematics teaching, and professional confidence as a new educator. This alum also noted that the resources and habits cultivated in Casa’s courses continue to guide her daily classroom practice and her own mentoring of new Neag School students assigned to her classroom.

Distinguished Researcher Award – Melissa A. Bray

This award is given to a full professor in the Neag School who, over at least the last 10-year period (at least five consecutive completed years at UConn), has made significant research contributions to their field of study. This year’s recipient is Melissa A. Bray, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and director of the school psychology graduate programs.

Bray is a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, and is an elected member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology. She is licensed as a psychologist in the State of Connecticut, holds national certification in school psychology, state certification in school psychology, and licensure in speech-language pathology.

Since receiving her doctorate in 1997, she has published or has in press over 225 articles, chapters, and reviews in the professional literature, along with many books. She has also presented over 175 scholarly papers at national and international conferences. In several studies on faculty productivity, it was determined that Bray was the first- or second-most prolific contributor to the five primary journals in school psychology. Further, she serves as associate editor of the International Journal of School and Educational Psychology, has served as an associate editor of School Psychology Quarterly, and is the co-editor of the first Oxford handbook of school psychology. She has also guest edited numerous issues of Psychology in the Schools, including topics on video self-modeling, behavior disorders, positive psychology, statistical reform, childhood obesity, counseling, social emotional disorders, equity-based practice, and autism spectrum disorder.

As co-principle investigator, she has secured over $2 million in student training contracts. Bray was the 2003 recipient of the prestigious American Psychological Association Division 16’s Lightner Witmer Award, the division’s highest honor given to young scholars. She has also been involved in state, national, and international professional associations, including service as Vice-President, Social, Ethical Responsibility, and Ethnic Minority Affairs, and President of APA’s Division 16 Executive Committee. She has also served as Division 16’s convention chair, hospitality suite coordinator, chair of the Division’s publications committee, and as a member of the conversation webinar series. She currently is D16 VP for Membership. Her research interests are in the area of interventions for communication disorders mainly stuttering and selective mutism, mind-body health, integrated behavioral health care, and physical health and wellness, especially in the areas of asthma and cancer.

Outstanding Mid-Career Scholar Award – Saran Stewart

This award is given to an accomplished associate professor who over the course of their career (at least 3 consecutive completed years at UConn) has made significant research contributions to their field of study. This year’s recipient is Saran Stewart, an associate professor of higher education and student affairs in the Department of Educational Leadership.

Stewart’s scholarly work focuses on issues in comparative education, decolonizing methodologies, critical/ inclusive pedagogy, and problems of access and equity in higher education. She also serves as UConn Hartford’s director of academic affairs. In that role, she is the primary faculty partner in the campus director’s office to support and guide academic matters.

Stewart’s research doesn’t simply identify and describe inequity in higher education, it generates new knowledge, methodology, and policy frameworks to dismantle it. Her work focuses on three domains: transforming curriculum and pedagogy in higher education, advancing intersectional research for Black women and racially minoritized communities, and developing Caribbean decolonial and Black liberatory research methodologies. Across these domains, she challenges current knowledge, uplifts voices, and reimagines academia as a more inclusive space.

To date, Stewart has published or had accepted 29 peer-reviewed articles, 21 book chapters, and 6 books. She has also delivered 70 academic conference papers across the globe, and another 60 invited keynotes and presentations. She has been the principal investigator on 10 grant projects totaling over $5 million U.S. dollars and nearly $5 million in Jamaican dollars, and was co-PI on another six grant projects, totaling $394,000 (U.S. dollars). The reach of her work extends across borders, not only informing institutional reform in global higher education but actively transforming how equity is conceptualized and enacted in the Caribbean, where legacies of colonialism are acutely felt. She has significantly advanced scholarship on equity, pedagogy, and decolonial knowledge production in higher education, creating more just and inclusive educational systems.

Outstanding Early-Career Scholar Award – Jacqueline M. Caemmerer

This award is given to a pre-tenured faculty member in the Neag School who has completed at least two consecutive years at UConn. The 2026 recipient is Jacqueline M. Caemmerer, an assistant professor of school psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology.

Caemmerer joined the Neag School in 2020. Prior to UConn, she taught in Howard University’s school psychology program for three years. Her research interests are in psychological assessment and validity issues. She is interested in better understanding what frequently-used tests measure, the predictive validity of cognitive abilities on children’s math, reading, and writing skills, and developmental and cultural considerations of tests. Caemmerer is also interested in the influence of social variables, such as social skills and families, on children’s academic achievement. She often uses latent variable and longitudinal modeling to study large-scale datasets.

Caemmerer teaches or has taught courses in cognitive assessment, academic assessment, social-emotional-behavioral assessment, advanced practicum, and educational tests and measures. She is a licensed psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist. Her clinical experiences have spanned public and charter schools, juvenile detention centers, and private practice.

Outstanding Student Researcher Award – Taylor Strickland

This award is given to a student whose research during study with the Neag School of Education demonstrates a pattern of excellence and represents potential to make an impact in their field of study. The 2026 recipient is Taylor Strickland, a Ph.D. candidate in leadership and education policy in the Department of Educational Leadership.

Since starting her doctoral program, Strickland has worked on more than 10 research projects with Neag School professor Jennie Weiner, while also supporting projects for other faculty. In just her collaborations with Weiner, she has yielded four reports, four peer-reviewed journal articles, and a current revise and resubmit at the Review of the Educational Research. She has also collaborated with the state through work with the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration and on ARP-ESSER evaluations. She has also made more than ten conference presentations at the University Council for Educational Administration, the American Educational Research Association, and the Association for Education Finance and Policy – all leading organizations in education. AERA’s Educational Change special interest group named her their Outstanding Graduate Researcher in 2025 as well.

Valerie J. Pichette Outstanding Staff Award – Li He

Named in honor of the late Valerie J. Pichette, this award recognizes an individual or individuals who have gone above and beyond in their work at the Neag School over the past academic year. Pichette had a 30-year history of service to the state of Connecticut, including having served as executive assistant to the Neag School dean for nearly two decades. This year’s recipient is Li He, a financial analyst and Certified Research Administrator in the Neag School’s Business and Grant Services.

He has a deep understanding of UConn processes, procedures, and organizational structures. She consistently makes the post-award process smooth and clear, often catching issues before they become problems. The financial world of grants can often be daunting, but He makes the work a pleasure due to her diligence and professionalism. She manages budgets, reporting, and grant processes with impressive skill, often helping colleagues outside her immediate area. She consistently provides rapid and detailed responses to questions related to contracts, budgets, payroll requests, and purchasing requests, among others. She is extremely detail-oriented and proactively notices minor errors or points that could create future issues. He is a pillar of knowledge for post-award grant support and shares this knowledge widely with those that she works with, always willing to teach, support, and train colleagues on the many different intricacies of grant procedures.

The funding supports expanding student participation in study abroad programs and encourages travel to diverse locations around the globe, along with intensive language study and internship experiences.

The 15 UConn students, who will study in 10 different countries, will receive a total of nearly $47,500 in scholarship funds through the Gilman program. A total of 22 UConn students have earned Gilman awards in the last two cohorts – the current cohort and October 2025 – for a total of more than $75,000 in scholarship funding.

Six of UConn’s Gilman Scholars come from regional campuses, and the group also includes two students who received the Gilman-FLAD Portugal award, one who received the Critical Language Need Award, and one who received the STEM Supplemental Award.

Students applying for Gilman Scholarships work with advisors in UConn’s Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships (ONSF) and Experiential Global Learning (EGL). Raquel Kupstis, an advisor in EGL, and Michael Cunningham, assistant director of ONSF and UConn’s Fulbright program advisor, are UConn’s two Gilman certifying advisors.

“The beauty of the Gilman Scholarship is that it allows students to study abroad who might otherwise not be able to,” says Cunningham. “We couldn’t be prouder of our students who have been recognized by the program and who will be able to experience other peoples and cultures firsthand.”

Upon their return from studying abroad, each Gilman Scholar is required to complete a service project in their campus or home community with the goal of sharing the value of participation in study abroad and promoting the scholarship to prospective students. Applications are reviewed with consideration for the proposed follow-up service project.

“These students are not only preparing for transformative experiences abroad, but are also thinking critically about how they will share those experiences with others when they return to campus,” says Kupstis “We are thrilled to see them represent UConn a global scale.”

Eligibility for the Gilman Scholarship requires undergraduate students to be Pell Grant-eligible United States citizens who plan to study abroad for academic credit through a program approved by their home institution. Supporting students with high financial need provides access to students who are historically underrepresented in study abroad, including first-generation college students, STEM majors, ethnic and racial minority students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and others who experience barriers to participation.

Students from underrepresented areas of the U.S. are also considered during the application process and this year there are recipients from all 50 states.

The following UConn students were selected as Gilman Scholars in the last two cycles, and they are listed with the location of where they will study or have studies as part of the program:

Aaliyah Persad ’27 (CLAS), a psychology major who is a Critical Language Need Award recipient, and was selected to study at Korea University in Seoul this past spring.

Rumaysa Ahmed ’29 (BUS), a business major at UConn Hartford from Farmington, who will be studying at Waseda University in Tokyo this summer.

Kevin Barrio Espana ’29 (CLAS), an economics major at UConn Stamford, who will be studying at the Institute of Lisbon in Portugal in the spring of 2027.

Sarah Cartagena ’28 (SFA), a digital media and design major from Newtown, who will be studying in Florence, Italy, this summer.

Francis Chamere ’27 (CLAS), a sociology and psychology double major, who will be studying in Belize next winter.

Lilliana Gluzak ’28 (ENG), a chemical engineering major, who will be studying at the University of Queensland in Australia as a STEM Supplemental Award recipient this fall.

Kaitlin Gomez ’27 (CLAS), an economics major, who studied business in London this past spring.

Ian Frank Ondobo ’28 (CLAS), a chemistry major, who will be studying at the University of Singapore this fall.

Melissa Issa ’27 (CLAS), a speech, language and hearing sciences major, who studied at the International Studies Institute in Florence, Italy, this past spring.

Kecelia Hill ’28 (CAHNR), a fisheries and wildlife conservation major, who will be study field ecology in South Africa this summer.

Shaniqua Jones ’27 (CLAS), a political science and Africana studies major from Windsor, who will be in the Applied Research for Nursing Practice Program in Peru this summer.

Sofia Lotoskyy ’28 (BUS), a management major from Bethel, who studied at the University of Mannheim in Germany this past spring.

Stanley Lu ’26 (BUS), a management major from South Windsor, who studied in Barcelona, Spain, this past winter.

Victoria Gloria ’30 (CLAS), a pre-individualized major at UConn Stamford, who will be studying business in London this summer.

Destiny Marbella Martinez ’27 (CAHNR), an allied health sciences major at UConn Waterbury, who will be studying at Waseda University in Tokyo this summer.

McKayla Maynard ’29 (CLAS), an English major from Bolton, who will be studying at University College in Dublin, Ireland, this summer.

Rosalina Olivero ’27 (CLAS), a psychology and human development and family sciences major, who will be studying psychology in Florence, Italy, this summer.

Gabrielle Pines ’28 (CAHNR), an animal science major who will be studying in South Africa, this summer.

Juviana Rene ’29 (ACES), a UConn Stamford students who will be studying at Nova University in Lisbon, Portugal, as a Gilman-FLAD Portugal recipient this spring.

Kathlyn Siriano ’28 (BUS), a financial management major at UConn Stamford from Greenwich, who will be studying business in London this summer.

Hannah Song ’28 (NUR), a nursing major, who be studying at University College in Dubin, Ireland, this summer.

Kemely Soares ’28 (BUS), a management major, who studied at the University of Lisbon in Portugal as a Gilman-FLAD Portugal recipient, this past spring.

Though there are many trail apps and resources available, Morzillo and Wilson explain that CT Trail Finder is unique because it puts in one place the information for trails in Connecticut that are open to the public, with details vetted by land managers so users can be sure they are on the right path.

This is key, because although exploring trails can feel like discovering a different world, these routes can also be hard to find and frustrating at times. For example, finding an outing that includes a playground or restroom might be best for young children, or a path to a summit and view for active individuals, or a different trail with accessible features for those with mobility limits. Managers can share guidance and rules, what uses are permitted, such as bikes and horses, and if an area should be avoided for safety or other reasons. CT Trail Finder helps with this because each trail post includes a wealth of information including detailed descriptions and tips, accurate maps, where to park, and users can also add notes and photos on each trail’s landing page to inform others.

The project is ongoing, and Wilson says they are adding more trails all the time. Now the goals include sharing this handy resource with as wide an audience as possible.

“The interface is also about connecting the users with the people that do the work to make that trail available, which are often land trusts, state parks, municipalities, or nonprofit groups,” says Wilson. “There are a lot of people behind this work to make public land and public trails available.”

By partnering with the state, CT Trail Finder is filling a gap in resources for users and land managers. Wilson explains that Mansfield is a great example, because after compiling all of the information, a large and surprisingly interconnected network of trails – managed by different groups like Joshua’s Trust, the Town of Mansfield, Connecticut Forest and Parks, CT DEEP State Parks, and the UConn Forests – was evident. Users and land managers all gain from this effort.

“I’ve worked with a few towns like Mansfield, and we hope to see more examples like this where, by putting this all together, it gives users a great experience with lots of options.

“With the help of the UConn Forest director Robert Fahey, we updated the UConn Forest trail maps that are now available on CT Trail Finder along with others nearby. This is informing Nature RX and other campus efforts as well,” says Wilson.

CT Trail Finder is also a great resource for students, says Morzillo, because students tend to be most familiar with Horsebarn Hill and some of the UConn Forest, and now have the information to explore the many other options located near UConn Storrs. Wilson recently helped map the newly created Avery Point Discovery Trail, which features digital signs that display facts coinciding with the changing seasons. Wilson points out that UConn Hartford is within walking distance of the Riverfront Recapture trails.

“This is an opportunity to highlight some of those other properties that are within walking, biking, or bus line distance, so that students know they have other options and they don’t necessarily need a vehicle or a lot of time,” says Morzillo.

Another feature of CT Trail Finder is that users can log activities and earn different badges. If they meet the criteria specified by a badge, from number of new trails explored, to miles logged or paddled, and more, the badge is added to their account dashboard and can be shared on social media. Some of the badges were designed as a NRE class activity where students worked with CT Trails program coordinator Laura Kelly to develop a badge each, and CLEAR graphic designer Kara Bonsack to design the badge graphics.

“Laura and Kara took each student’s idea and made something measurable. The badges can be a good motivation to explore new areas across the state, throughout the year,” says Morzillo.

With the rich and detailed information in CT Trail Finder, the hope is more people will be inspired to get out to experience the many physical and mental health benefits of being out in nature.

“People seem to always be on the lookout for new places. If they have a couple of hours, they may want to go out and find somewhere new,” says Morzillo. “We have a lot in the works, a lot more coming. There’s no shortage of interest in CT Trail Finder, and that is exciting.”

The UConn CT Trail Program is a partnership with the Connecticut Greenways Council, CT Department of Energy and the Environment (DEEP), the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR), and UConn Extension.

The prestigious event provided the opportunity for Academy Fellows to strengthen the Fellowship community, connect with peers, meet the newest cohort of fellows, and engage with colleagues from across the Academy. 2026 marks 50 years of the Academy’s work and recognizes its diverse engineering excellence.

Laurencin was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2021, the sole U.S. professor among the international fellows that were added that year. He is one of the few individuals internationally with this distinction, and has several other, top-tier global engineering fellowships, including the Indian National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences. He is also an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Laurencin is internationally known as the founder of the field of Regenerative Engineering, pioneering the convergence of materials science, stem cell biology, and clinical translation for the regeneration of complex tissues and organ systems. His pioneering achievements earned him recognition as the “Father of Regenerative Engineering,” and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Foundation established the Cato T. Laurencin Founder’s Award in Regenerative Engineering in his honor.

He was recently selected as the winner of the 2026 Jensen Tissue Engineering Award 2026 by TERMIS (Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society, Inc.) Global. The Jensen Tissue Engineering Award is the highest international accolade bestowed by TERMIS.

Laurencin is the first surgeon in history elected to all four major U.S. national academies. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

At the University of Connecticut, Laurencin serves as University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn School of Medicine. He also holds professorships in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. Additionally, he serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, an Institute created and named in his honor.

His extensive recognitions include the Priestley Medal, the highest honor of the American Chemical Society.

In recognition of his global contributions, Laurencin was bestowed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Lucia, conferred under the auspices of King Charles III through the Governor General of St. Lucia.

The award recognizes hospitals that excel in delivering compassionate, patient-centered care while earning high marks from patients on their overall hospital experience. Healthgrades evaluated patient survey data from nearly 4,000 hospitals nationwide as part of its 2026 analysis.

For UConn John Dempsey Hospital, the recognition marks the fourth consecutive year earning the Outstanding Patient Experience Award.

“It’s an amazing honor and a testament to the kindness, compassion, and dedication our employees bring to every patient interaction,” said Dr. Andy Agwunobi, CEO UConn John Health. “This recognition reflects the extraordinary commitment of our teams to providing not only exceptional clinical care, but also an experience that makes patients and families feel supported, respected, and cared for.”

Healthgrades evaluates hospitals using Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Measures include patients’ perceptions of staff communication, responsiveness, medication explanations, cleanliness, discharge information, and overall hospital experience.

“This recognition reflects the compassion and dedication our teams bring to patients and families every day,” said Caryl Ryan, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer, UConn John Dempsey Hospital. “We are incredibly proud of the care our employees provide and the experience they create for every patient.”

“This award highlights the teamwork and exceptional patient-centered care delivered by staff and care team members across all levels of the hospital,” said Dr. Scott Allen, chief medical officer, UConn Health. “Providing an outstanding patient experience is central to everything we do.”

The recognition highlights the collective efforts of employees across UConn Health to continuously improve the patient and family experience.

“What an incredible achievement for UConn Health and a true reflection of the compassion, dedication, and teamwork demonstrated across our organization every day,” said Yarelis Wilson, director, Patient Experience, UConn John Dempsey Hospital. “Being recognized as the only hospital in Connecticut to receive this award highlights the efforts of every team member who contributes to the care and experience of our patients and families.”

According to Healthgrades, hospitals recognized with the Outstanding Patient Experience Award consistently deliver experiences that help patients feel informed, supported, and confident in their care.

For the 2026 awards, Healthgrades evaluated more than 3,000 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to CMS, covering admissions from January through December 2024. Hospitals in the bottom 20% for overall clinical quality were excluded from consideration.

That message from keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson echoed throughout UConn Law’s 103rd Commencement ceremony as approximately 234 graduates, surrounded by an ecstatic crowd of family and friends, celebrated the conferral of their degrees on Sunday, May 17. (Watch the ceremony online.) Stevenson, Aronson Family Professor of Criminal Justice at the New York University School of Law and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

A widely acclaimed public interest lawyer, Stevenson encouraged graduates to think deeply about how they will use their legal education and the kind of professionals they aspire to be. Drawing on his decades of legal advocacy, he emphasized that professional identity must be rooted in character, integrity, and care for others. He noted that meaningful legal work requires listening, empathy, and human connection.

“No matter what kind of lawyer you become, find ways to get close to people who are poor, marginalized, and excluded,” he advised. “Because it’s in proximity to injustice that we become capable of doing justice.”

Stevenson also challenged graduates to confront narratives rooted in fear and inequality and to remain hopeful in the face of difficulty.

“Hopelessness is the enemy of justice,” he said. “Hope is your superpower. It will help you stand up when others tell you to sit down and speak when others tell you to stay quiet.”

A Class Defined by Service and Impact

Themes of hope and purpose were also reflected in Dean Eboni S. Nelson’s remarks, which highlighted the promise of the Class of 2026.

“I recently heard someone say, ‘Hope is what fuels changemakers,’ and I immediately thought of all of you,” Dean Nelson told the graduates. “That’s exactly who each of you are. With the knowledge and skills that you have acquired here at UConn Law, coupled with your steadfast dedication to the pursuit of justice for all, you are well-prepared to address the most difficult and complex problems of our time and to bring about positive changes in our communities, country, and world.”

The Class of 2026 features 160 graduates with juris doctor (JD) degrees and 74 with master of laws (LLM) degrees. Five graduates earned dual degrees – a JD and a graduate degree from another UConn school or college. Nelson reflected on all of their accomplishments, emphasizing that they have already translated their education into meaningful impact—advocating for children, asylum seekers, survivors of violence, entrepreneurs, and others.

“Through your work, you have advanced the interests of justice and expanded opportunity for others,” she said.

A more complete photo gallery is available at law.uconn.edu/gradphoto26. Photos will be added throughout the month.

Reflecting on the Journey and Community

Student speakers built on these themes while offering distinct perspectives shaped by their experiences at UConn Law.

Saba Elizabarashvili ’26 LLM highlighted the global nature of the UConn Law community, noting that classmates came from around the world and built lasting connections across cultures. He emphasized that a legal education brings both opportunity and responsibility.

“As lawyers, we gain the power to help people and the responsibility to do so,” he said. “We gain the power to change lives, and the responsibility to make that change a positive one.”

Speaking on behalf of the evening division, Haley Ruth Anderson ’26 highlighted the determination required to balance law school with work and personal commitments, encouraging graduates to embrace both their individuality and the community that supported them along the way.

“You are the architect of your own future,” she said. “And no matter where life takes you, we are a community, and we are here for one another.”

Sayad Khan ’26, representing the day division, encouraged graduates to pause and take in the moment, reflecting on the growth and experiences that shaped their journey.

“Even in a world filled with uncertainty, we step into it well prepared to make the differences we want to make and the differences that need to be made,” he said.

The Class of 2026 includes graduates from across the United States and countries around the world, including Chile, Germany, Ghana, and Poland, reflecting a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. As they move forward, they carry with them not only the knowledge and skills gained at UConn Law, but also a shared commitment to expanding opportunity and advancing justice, along with the relationships and sense of purpose shaped during their time on campus.

The Tom Williams Surgical Research Day is an annual accredited academic symposium hosted by the University of Alberta Department of Surgery. The symposium honors the legacy of Dr. Tom Williams, recognizing his monumental contributions to the surgical department. It provides a platform for trainees to present peer-reviewed discoveries before faculty judges and clinical peers. It showcases advancements in basic and clinical surgical sciences by residents and graduate students, promoting trainee research and fostering collaboration among basic scientists and clinician-scientists.

As a world-renowned pioneer in regenerative engineering, orthopaedic surgery, and biomaterials,  Laurencin’s background bridges structural biomaterials and clinical translation, aligning with the department’s focus on evidence-based surgical optimization and prospective clinical research frameworks. His participation anchored the event’s academic evaluation of trainee research as he shared his knowledge and provided feedback on presentations.

Laurencin is internationally acclaimed as the founder of the field of Regenerative Engineering, pioneering the convergence of advanced materials science, stem cell biology, physics, developmental biology, and clinical translation for the regeneration of complex tissues and organ systems. His pioneering achievements have earned him recognition as the “Father of Regenerative Engineering,” and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Foundation established and endowed the Cato T. Laurencin Founder’s Award in Regenerative Engineering in his honor.

Laurencin is the first surgeon in history elected to all four major U.S. national academies. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In receiving the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, he was recognized as the world’s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. He has received the highest recognitions across science, engineering, and medicine, including the Priestley Medal, the highest honor of the American Chemical Society, the Simon Ramo Founders Award, the highest honor of the National Academy of Engineering, and the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.

At the University of Connecticut, Sir Cato Laurencin serves as the University Professor and Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UConn School of Medicine. He is professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, professor of Materials Science and Engineering and professor of Biomedical Engineering. He is the Chief Executive Officer of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, an Institute created and named in his honor.

Laurencin received his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering at Princeton, his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from M.I.T. and his MD, Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Medical School.

In recognition of his global contributions, Laurencin was bestowed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Lucia, conferred under the auspices of King Charles III through the Governor General of St. Lucia.

The UConn School of Medicine held a ceremony on April 27 for the Class of 2028 as part of the Kickoff course, the official start to Stage 2 of the medical school curriculum for these rising third-year students. The medical students all recited the Hippocratic Oath once again as they prepared for their transition to clinical training rotation experiences across the fields of medicine.

Depending on the course, clerkships are scheduled in either 4- or 6-week rotations.  The third year of medical school consists of 12 required courses, 11 of which are clerkships in Medicine (Ambulatory and Inpatient), Pediatrics (Ambulatory and Inpatient), Family Medicine, Geriatrics (longitudinal and threaded through Psychiatry and Family Medicine), Neurology, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Psychiatry, Radiology (longitudinal), and Surgery. Health Systems Science is also a required course and consists of content integrated within the required core clerkships. 

For example, Ford is training first by helping care for patients Monday through Friday with community physician preceptor Dr. Paul Sullivan. Ford is training alongside Sullivan learning how to care for patients within his Trinity Health of New England-Medical Group’s Family Medicine practice, located in the shadow of UConn Health’s campus on nearby South Road in Farmington.

One of the key reasons Ford says she chose UConn for medical school is because she heard from UConn alum how UConn offers the best clinical training experiences – and now she knows they were absolutely right.

“I think I speak for most of my class when I say that we have been looking forward to this moment, to starting rotations, since applying to medical school,” Ford says. “My classmates and I are finally met with the privilege of the role of doctor in training.”

Just a few weeks into clerkship Ford already has an immense respect for Family Medicine physicians and providers as they expertly and efficiently manage chronic conditions, preventive care, and much more, all while building trusting longitudinal relationships with their patients.

“I have a lot to learn still, but thus far it has been rewarding to apply what we learned in CoRE, clinical reasoning, and other classes over the past five blocks to patients in the clinic,” says Ford. “The last time I was in a hospital I was a nursing assistant during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then, as a clinical research coordinator, consenting and collecting research specimens from patients with blood cancer. These are important jobs, and what I learned from those roles is a large part of the reason I am where I am today.”

Ford is already enjoying most the unique medical student luxury of having more time to spend with patients.

“Every patient has a story, and having the space to sit with them, hear their story, and contextualize their health and goals is what I am most looking forward to. I am also looking forward to learning from my attendings, residents, nurses, and other clinical team members across multiple clinical sites this year. I think that the little pearls of wisdom from all these sources help to shape the physicians we will grow to be,” Ford says.

Her next clinical rotation experience will be in psychiatry at The Hospital of Central Connecticut.

Rising third-year med student Will Bryant, 24, of Ridgefield, Conn. is first rotating through Obstetrics & Gynecology at Hartford Hospital to train each weekday.

“Starting my first clinical rotation has been both exhilarating and nerve-wracking; I love it,” Bryant exclaims. “This new style of learning has pushed me outside of my comfort zone while simultaneously reinforcing why I chose medicine. Every day, I learn something new and become more capable, comfortable, and confident in caring for patients.”

Bryant says, “It’s been incredibly exciting to finally apply everything I’ve learned to patient care in the hospital setting. Being part of a healthcare team and seeing the nuances of real-world medicine has been profoundly educational and fulfilling. I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from many physicians so far. I’ve especially enjoyed learning from resident physician Elliana Gianocopoulos, who has been an exceptional educator and an invaluable mentor on this rotation,” Bryant shares.

What’s next for Bryant?

His next clerkship is in surgery at UConn John Dempsey Hospital at UConn Health.

“I love working with patients and contributing positively to their care. I’m extremely grateful to be in a position where I can make a tangible difference in patients’ lives. I’m excited to further develop my clinical skills and see what the rest of this year has to offer!”

The eHub, located within the UConn College of Engineering, held the first competition on April 24. 

Pitch teams were organized into two tracks, with the first track including students in the early-stage, or with limited experience. The second track consisted of students with some experience from prior competitions or venture progress. 

“Events like the Ultimate Pitch Competition give students the opportunity to move beyond the classroom and test their ideas in a real entrepreneurial environment,” said eHub director Leila Daneshmandi. “We want our students to build confidence in communicating their vision, thinking critically about market impact, and learning how to transform innovative ideas into viable ventures.” 

Students presented for five minutes, then answered questions from the judges. 

Dr. Michelle Augustyn, business advisor at the Connecticut Small Business Development Center and adjunct faculty member at the UConn School of Business and Pat Adams ‘85 (CLAS), product development manager at Naveris, offered to judge the students. The two judges questioned the students on their product and plan, offering them suggestions for tightening their arguments or expanding their market view. 

For Session I, the first-place winner was PressSure and the second-place winner was Organize Your Thoughts.  

The PressSure team consisted of Kyle Kamay, Isabella Yuzon, and Miyu Hasegawa, while the Organize Your Thoughts team consisted of Millenia Polanco. 

For Session II, the first-place winner was Crescent Intelligence and the second-place winners tied: Dropiotectics and KinetIQ. 

Crescent Intelligence included Haseeb Chaudhry; Dropiotectics included Usama Sheikh; and KinetIQ included Dar Jankovic, Lucy Li, Palavi Lawate, Sonal Selvakumar, Alyssa Elliott, and Jonathan Hylton. 

The first-place winning teams took home $1,000, while the runner-up teams earned $400. 

Before the event, Daneshmandi explained the entrepreneurship courses and programs offered within UConn Engineering that are designed to enhance students’ entrepreneurial experience and knowledge, from ideation to exit. 

Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship I and II; Innovation Entrepreneurship; Startup Consulting; Technology Entrepreneurship: Startup Strategy; Entrepreneurial Skills; and Innovation for Defense are the current courses offered by the eHub. 

More photos of the event are visible online.