APRIL 8, 2026

Dear colleagues, 

March Madness lived up to its name! We are immensely proud of our Women’s and Men’s basketball and ice hockey teams and all they have accomplished. We were the only Division I athletics program with all four teams represented in the national tournament. They are wonderful ambassadors of Husky Nation, and the spotlight they draw reflects upon us all. That includes our research enterprise, which has recently seen dramatic spikes in web traffic. UConn’s athletics success creates opportunities to capture the attention of the country and the world and to showcase the impactful work of UConn researchers. We are all connected, from the Huskies tearing up the hardwood, to the successful UConn Foundation, to our laboratories and world-class research.   

Here are some lessons I’m taking from this season: 

Resilience. This is what we teach our students, what our teams demonstrate, and what our research community continues to express. We all know the research environment is far from perfect: there are challenges internally, the federal funding environment has shifted and is unpredictable, and many of us are exploring new sources to support our work. But we remain fighting. We are Huskies. That’s what we do. 

Over the past 16 months, while we have battled some extreme situations, our alumni have been watching closely with pride. Just last week, I spoke to eight different alumni who praised how strong UConn research has become and asked how they could help. Several of these alumni are working directly with our researchers, seeking to help them partner with new industry interests or program officers. Two alumni are venture capitalists working to support some of our strongest innovations. Two more are working to help support UConn research with legal policies. All of them share great pride being UConn alumni and appreciate our strength. Thank you for fighting on. 

Collaboration over competition. While we weather forces beyond our control, we are also finding new ways to collaborate internally. Since my time as department head, I have leaned heavily on the phrase “collaboration over competition.” Everyone at UConn is on the same team. We do not need to compete with one another. When one of us at UConn wins, we all win. Every victory – whether that’s a basketball game, a new research award, an approved IRB protocol, new publications, awards, partnerships – causes positive ripple effects on us all. Similarly, when one of us loses, we all lose. Please continue to support one another and assume goodwill – trust everyone at UConn is working to help everyone succeed.  

Celebrate the wins. Our resilience and collaboration are working: UConn researchers have received six new NIH awards in the past week. Our Industry Task Force, formed after the November 2024 federal elections, is providing faculty with tools and opportunities to increase engagement with industry partners. Our Sea Grant was recently reviewed with its highest marks in history and among the top 10% of Sea Grant programs across the country. Our Sponsored Programs Services team continues to release new tools for investigators, including a new dashboard for award set-up (more details on this below). We received over 60 initial proposals for the new DOE Genesis RFA. The first meeting for the new Research Advisory Council, including faculty members from every school and college, is scheduled.  

We have much to celebrate, and I am proud to be on your team. Please continue to share your successes – feel free to copy me on any announcements or events, submit questions we can answer here or via email, let your leadership and my office know if you have expenses or opportunities for strategic investments without access to funding. We are here for you.  

In case you missed it, archived versions of The Abstract are now available on our website. I encourage you to look back at past issues. 

Please reach out with any questions. 

Thank you for all you do,

Lindsay J. DiStefano, Ph.D., ATC, FNATA 

Interim Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship 
UConn | UConn Health 
Professor 
Department of Kinesiology
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Department of Public Health Sciences 

UConn is proud of the research opportunities presented to all students. In mid-March, it was undergraduates who shone bright during the Big East Undergraduate Research Symposium, held concurrently with the men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. Congratulations to all our students who impressed the judges, including Hailey DeWalt, who took top honors in her category as the Huskies won the symposium.  

Nearly 40 research projects were presented at the third annual women’s health research symposium of The Group on Women in Medicine and Science at the UConn School of Medicine (SOM). Winning projects included: 

Congratulations to all the participants in this symposium! Your research helps shed light on a sorely needed medical field, and we at the OVPR are grateful for your work.

In late March, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it is streamlining the landscape for Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs, or funding opportunities) and the application process. The NIH is encouraging more investigator-initiated proposals and fewer targeted funding opportunities. For more information, see this announcement on the NIH website. Please reach out to research@uconn.edu with any questions. 

*Reminder – please reach out to and/or copy Governmental Relations (govrel@uconn.edu) if you have an opportunity or need to meet with our federal or state delegation or staff.  This is vital for ensuring that everyone is aware of these important conversations, allowing coordination/support to be offered, avoiding unnecessary redundancy, and as a courtesy to elected officials. 

Sponsored Program Services (SPS) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Award Setup Dashboard! This Dashboard provides the status of award account setup activity by the SPS Award Setup Team and complements the existing Proposal Dashboard to provide insight into SPS workflows and transaction progress. Each Dashboard is accessible from its own tab, found at the top of this page. 

Additional information and guides to the statuses used on each Dashboard are available on a single consolidated SPS Dashboards page. The Proposals Dashboard has also been refreshed to clarify column headings and add relevant information, including the target date for final documents. 

Please make sure to bookmark the pages that are most relevant to your work. Questions about the new Dashboard may be directed to spsawards@uconn.edu. 

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is pleased to announce the opening of the Internal Funding Program, Scholarship Facilitation Fund for Spring 2026. The program has two cycles. While the deadline for Cycle 1 has now passed, eligible faculty can apply for Cycle 2 using the UConn Quest Portal (NetID required). 

The Scholarship Facilitation Fund (SFF) provides up to $2,000 in support of the initiation, completion, or advancement of faculty research projects, scholarly activities, and creative works. The SFF is open to faculty who do not have access to any investigator accounts with balances over $500 and work at the Storrs / Regional Campuses only. Faculty at UConn Health are not eligible.  

The deadline for the Spring 2026 Scholarship Facilitation Fund Cycle 2 will be noon on June 1, 2026, for projects initiated between July 1 and December 31, 2026.

Contact Charlotte Nelson at research@uconn.edu with any questions or for more information. 

The OVPR would like to hear from you!  Please share questions and ideas using this short webform. We will answer one to two questions with each communication. 

Question: How can OVPR support non-academic units/staff with grant opportunities (finding them, writing them, implementing, etc.)?

Answer: Great question, and thank you for thinking about creative ways to bring in external dollars to the institution.  While the majority of proposals for external funding are led by faculty, OVPR’s mission is to serve the entire University, including non-academic units and staff. Here is a brief overview of some services offered by OVPR units: 

Notice Regarding Solicitations from Chinese Universities/Institutions

Dear Researchers,  

OVPR's Research Integrity and Compliance office has recently noticed an uptick in solicitations from Chinese universities and institutions inviting researchers to participate in various programs. Many of these programs offer funding but often include requirements such as traveling to China, presenting research, collaborating on white papers or research proposals, or co-authoring publications.  

It is important to be aware that some of these opportunities may be part of what are referred to as Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRPs). These programs are initiatives by foreign governments designed to recruit, influence, or exploit researchers abroad. They seek to advance foreign interests in the scientific field of endeavor, acquire sensitive knowledge, or access intellectual property in ways that could be detrimental to U.S. research and national security - as well as the researcher’s own intellectual property rights.  

U.S. law and UConn policy prohibit the participation in MFTRPs for those participating in research funded by American federal agencies.  

UConn supports and encourages openness in research and international collaborations that do not take the form of Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs. When engaging in collaborations, please remember the other reporting obligations that come as part of accepting invitations from any institution. If you accept an invitation for an activity in your capacity as a faculty member, you cannot accept outside compensation and you must report the payment or coverage of any expenses (including meals, in-country travel, per diem, and hotel stays) to the State of Connecticut using the “necessary expenses” form.  Any expenses or travel reimbursement that you receive outside of your role as a state employe should be approved as part of the compensation within a faculty consulting request.  

Additionally, on future grant applications for federal funding opportunities, any coverage of in-country travel expenses by a foreign institution would be reportable as “Other Support.” Researchers must also remember their disclosure obligations under the Financial Conflicts of Interest policy.  

For better or worse, engagement with institutions in China has come into the spotlight by US federal funding agencies. When UConn researchers travel to China, even for standard conference travel and for trips approved by the UConn Travel Office, we strongly recommend that you leave your UConn work laptop at home and travel with a clean and encrypted loaner laptop that can be borrowed through ITS by using this form.  

Lastly, please be sure to not access any other university systems (e.g. PeopleSoft) while in China to prevent the potential exposure of university datasets to malicious actors. Please direct any questions or concerns regarding these solicitations directly to researchsecurity@uconn.edu for guidance before taking any action.  

Frontiers Research Symposium 

The Office of Undergraduate Research is presenting “Frontiers 2026” over three days next week. The symposium invites undergraduate student researchers at UConn campuses throughout the state to share their research and creative projects from the academic year. In-person poster exhibitions are scheduled for: 

UConn Waterbury, Main Building Multipurpose Room 
Tuesday, April 14, noon to 2 p.m. 

UConn Storrs, Student Union Ballroom 
Wednesday, April 15, 2-3:30 p.m.; 4-5:30 p.m.; 6-7:30 p.m. 

UConn Stamford, Downtown Stamford Building Auditorium 
Tuesday, April 21, 4-6 p.m. 

Additionally, an online exhibition will go live Wednesday, April 15, on the Frontiers 2026 website. 

BRAD Day

Join UConn Health and UConn Storrs in celebrating Biomedical Research Awareness Day (BRAD) on April 16, 2026. BRAD is an international outreach program dedicated to increasing public understanding of the essential role animals play in biomedical research and the medical breakthroughs that benefit both humans and animals.  

UConn Health BRAD Celebration  

Time: April 16, 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.  
Location: Onyiuke Dining Room  
Enjoy games, activities, giveaways, an appearance by Toby the Therapy Dog, and more. Celebrate with the UConn Health program that won the "Best BRAD 2025" award!  

 UConn Storrs BRAD Celebration  

Time: April 16, 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.  
Location: Student Union area  
Explore informational materials, brochures, games, giveaways, and presentations from research labs showcasing their innovative and vital work improving the lives of animals and humans across the globe. 

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