OCTOBER 22, 2026

Dear colleagues, 

I recently marked one year of serving at the helm of our research enterprise. And with my recent appointment as permanent Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue serving you all for the foreseeable future. I am honored to have been trusted with these responsibilities during an incredibly challenging time for research, science, and higher education, and UConn. The days have been long and tiring, but also more stimulating, motivating, and rewarding than I ever expected. Having a front-row seat to the incredible, life-changing work being done by our community at UConn/UConn Health is an honor and one that I do not take for granted. I look forward to serving you for several more years to come.  

The past year has brought some inspiring success stories, many of which have been featured in past editions of The Abstract. As we look to the future, I’d like to share some lessons I learned from those wins so that we can build on them together.  

Now is a time for boldness. Higher education, research, and science are in a spotlight. Now is the time for us to show the state, country, and world what UConn has done, is doing, and will continue to do.   

Some wonderful examples of taking bold steps emerge from an event held earlier this month: a workshop for faculty interested in applying their research to address challenges related to servicemember/veteran health and performance. This workshop built on a visit to UConn by Major General Francis Evon of the Connecticut National Guard. 

Throughout this past year, we’ve seen indications of new opportunities arising in defense-related health research. We have many faculty with the right expertise to have a positive impact in this area, who may lack direct experience applying their expertise to these populations. But they were ready to jump at the opportunity when it presented itself: sixty faculty members without any prior defense support “raised their hand” to attend this workshop and meet new colleagues to explore new potential partnerships. 

They were joined by several external guests who shared real, current priorities in servicemember and veteran health, such as the need for improved readiness strategies related to nutrition, fitness, and rehabilitation, as well as improved veterans' care in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. 

We are still in the early stages of this initiative, but we’ve already seen evidence of the good that can come when we boldly say “yes” to new opportunities.  

As you look at your own research directions, I urge you to look for opportunities to take bold action that will extend UConn’s impact and reputation in new directions. 

Focus on areas where UConn/UConn Health has a “right to win.” UConn/UConn Health research has taken some hits over the past two years, but despite resistance, we continue to rise. To keep building momentum during this tumultuous time, we need to strategically invest our resources into areas where we have the “right to win.” These are areas where new or emerging opportunities strongly align with our existing strengths. Areas where if we take bold action to compete, we should be successful. 

Examples of how UConn/UConn Health researchers have been winning in areas where we have the “right to win” can be found in recently funded grants. The UConn Center on Aging recently won a renewal of their NIH-funded Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center — one of 16 across the nation. This is a testament to our strong research capabilities related to aging, and also to our faculty, staff, and students working efficiently to optimize existing resources to provide the services and support needed to secure our right to win in this area.  

The story of QuantumCT offers similar lessons. The NSF empowered UConn to lead a regional effort to develop a quantum ecosystem in Connecticut over hundreds of other applicants who were similarly looking to use research to drive economic development in their regions. Why were we successful? Because we had the right mix of existing expertise and relationships — strengths in quantum and quantum-adjacent research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and workforce development — and we had a dedicated team of leaders who worked hard to organize, position, and build upon those strengths so that the NSF couldn’t deny the unique value our coalition was ready to deliver. 

We are already taking strong steps to invest in developing our research enterprise to benefit our state and our region. Project Regenerate successfully launched in September and received 38 submissions from leaders around the university. These proposals are not for projects that would advance the applicant’s own research. Rather, they are proposing innovative program concepts that aim to develop our next “right to win” areas by making strategic investments in existing strengths. Results from the current cycle should be ready to share soon, and I look forward to the next round of proposals due in January. 

Thank you for your continued boldness and your dedication to the important work before us. 

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

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 actively seeking to improve our global rankings to better reflect who we are as an institution, and strategically inviting partners to participate in the reputation surveys by the agency QS is one way to do so! These surveys account for 45-90% of university-wide and subject rankings, and are critical to UConn's global rankings going forward. 

Attached to this newsletter, please find a template for a QS-approved email invite to send to your academic, research, and industry partners outside UConn. Please forward this email to these contacts by October 30th, as UConn must first obtain their consent. This invite cannot be revised beyond adding an introductory line that is personalized yet remains unbiased.  

Please direct all questions to Marisa Tatiwong in Global Affairs at marisa.tatiwong@uconn.edu. 

A summer pilot program hosted by UConn Tech Park provided first-year Huskies with the opportunity to solve real-world problems working with major Connecticut companies. 

“We are thrilled that our Talent Incubator was a success for both the students involved and the companies that provided those students with great opportunities to prove their skills, creativity, and knowledge,” says Emmanouil Anagnoustou, executive director of the Tech Park.  

Read more on UConn Today. >> 

“Weight loss maintenance is one of the most challenging problems in obesity treatment, regardless of how the original weight loss was achieved – whether through surgery, lifestyle intervention, or medication,” says professor Tricia Leahey, co-director of the UConn Weight Research Management Group.  

Leahey, principal investigator, and her fellow co-director and co-investigator, professor Amy Gorin (who is also UConn’s Senior Vice Provost), received a new, $3.8 million R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate new interventions for weight loss maintenance. 

Read more on UConn Today.>> 

UConn leaders joined state officials and other partners on Oct. 6 to cut the ribbon on a New Haven headquarters for QuantumCT, centralizing the federally funded mission to advance Connecticut as a quantum technology catalyst. 
 
QuantumCT now has a 4,500-square-foot home at 101 College Street in New Haven. The building will serve as an incubator space and hub for quantum researchers, entrepreneurs, students, and collaborators. UConn President Radenka Maric and vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship Lindsay DiStefano were among the delegation on hand to cut the ribbon on the space. 

Read more on UConn Today.>> 

Registration is now open for the second cohort of the popular BDIFR program, which helps UConn faculty build the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to explore industry-funded research opportunities. No previous business development or industry experience is required! The program supports faculty at different career stages and with varying levels of experience working with industry. 

The UConn Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) has updated animal care and use training requirements for personnel working with live animals. Moving forward, required IACUC training will be completed through the CITI Program, and training renewal will be required every three years for all personnel. There is no change to the requirement that personnel maintain enrollment in the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Program. Training completion will continue to be verified by IACUC staff prior to protocol approval. 

These changes are designed to ensure training content remains current with regulatory requirements and evolving best practices, reduce administrative burden through a three-year renewal cycle, standardize training requirements across all research roles, and provide greater flexibility by allowing personnel to complete training at their convenience, including prior to protocol submission. 

Additional information and course enrollment instructions are available on the IACUC Training webpage. 

Questions? Contact the IACUC Office at iacuc@uconn.edu.

The Education & Outreach unit, which supports the Human Research Protection Programs at UConn Health and UConn Storrs and Regional Campuses, is introducing a new PI Self-Assessment process this fall, as a voluntary component of the post-approval monitoring program. The new PI Self-Assessment serves as an alternative approach for certain studies, offering a more flexible and educational approach to research oversight. Studies not eligible for this process will continue to receive traditional post-approval monitoring. 

Which Studies are Eligible? 

Studies that are classified as minimal risk by the IRB, excluding studies subject to FDA regulations. 

Why Self-Assessment? 

What to Expect 

If your study is selected for a self-assessment, you will receive a PI Self-Assessment Form and Record Review Form from the Education & Outreach (E&O) team. 

If you agree to participate, complete and return the form within 30 days of notification. You may contact us if you need an extension of the deadline. 

After submission, the E&O team may follow up with questions, request a brief meeting for clarification, or review applicable documents. 

 As a final step, an audit summary report will be sent to you for your records. 

If you have any questions, please contact hrp-education@uconn.edu. 

It’s been a busy month for our Internal Funding team following the September 14th deadlines for Project Regenerate and the Urgent Seed Grant Program. The review processes for both programs are in their final stages, and we expect to announce results by the end of the month. 

Following the announcement of Project Regenerate results, new funding programs based on selected program concepts will begin launching in November and December. 

The second cycle of Project Regenerate will open in December ahead of a January 7th deadline.

Please be sure to visit the OVPR Internal Funding Opportunities webpage regularly for the most up-to-date information on current and future funding programs. As Project Regenerate programs are approved in the coming months, this page will be updated with new deadlines, so stay tuned! 

Thank you to those who have already submitted applications to the UIDP I-PhD Scholars Program, an NSF-funded pilot program that seeks to incentivize partnerships between universities and industry in graduate education. We have two brief updates to share. 

1. The next deadline for participation in this program is January 17th. If you have a potential industry partner and are interested in participating, or if you would like to learn more, please reach out to ovpr-rds@uconn.edu to set up a consultation call.
2. We’ve recently heard that the I-PhD program may be expanding to additional federal sponsors in the future. If your research doesn’t fit into the categories covered by the NSF-funded program but you are interested in providing graduate students with extensive experiences with industry partners, please watch this space for new program announcements. 

As the NSF QuantumCT Engine is getting up and running, many members of our community have been asking questions about what the award means for UConn and the State of Connecticut. The QuantumCT team's responses to the most frequently asked questions can be found here. 

Whether you are new faculty to UConn or becoming a Principal Investigator for the first time, this session provides an introduction to PI responsibilities and the human research review process at UConn. Participants will learn how to transfer or establish research activities at UConn, understand oversight responsibilities when supervising research staff and student investigators, and identify key considerations when preparing IRB submissions. These virtual sessions are held via Teams and offered every other month on the first Tuesday of the month.  

For more information and to register, visit the OVPR HRP Education & Outreach webpage. 

In September 2026, the NIH released an updated FAQ detailing the agency’s latest guidelines for research scenarios involving collaboration with non-US scholars (as well as other international research scenarios). All UConn researchers conducting current or prospective NIH-sponsored work should consult this document, and please reach out to ovpr@uconn.edu with any questions. Read on for more about how these guidelines may impact research funded by the NIH and other federal agencies.

The OVPR has seen a recent increase in inquiries from federal agencies related to co-authorship with individuals who work for or are otherwise affiliated with foreign institutions that are on the U.S. Proscribed Party Lists, colloquially called “barred entities.” This increase also reflects a shift noted in statements by federal funding agencies expressing concern that even fundamental research is being misappropriated by foreign researchers to the detriment of the US federal funding enterprise. Regardless of whether the concern is valid, the OVPR can attest that proposals are being scrutinized and subject to further inquiry when the PI or other senior/key personnel has recent publications that include co-authors who are affiliated with barred entities. We have yet to see whether these federal agency inquiries will harm research awards. 

Q: When I’m just an additional co-author for a limited purpose on a publication and not the corresponding author, I often have no control over, and in some cases do not even know, the other co-authors that will be included on the publication. How can I be responsible if other co-authors are foreign or affiliated with barred entities or institutions? 

This reflects part of the cultural shift that the OVPR is seeing from federal funding agencies. As noted in the NSF’s Dear College Letter about upcoming restrictions on collaboration with US barred entities, senior/key personnel are prohibited from collaborating with employees of barred entities on research funded by NSF; and as noted in recent NIH Guidance, co-authorship is considered a foreign component and therefore a collaboration. Furthermore, per the NIH Guidance, foreign components require prior approval from NIH, leading to the challenge of navigating the duty to accurately attribute research funding to publications and the ethical obligation to accurately attribute co-author contributions. Going forward, the federal funding agencies are signaling that US researchers should be aware of their co-authors and cognizant of the appearance of collaboration when appearing as co-authors on the same publication.

Q: Students and postdocs complete their program and then leave UConn to join other institutions, some of which are outside the U.S. and a subset of which might be on the barred entities lists. How do we navigate a legitimate publication reflecting work done while at UConn when the co-author now works for a foreign entity? 

 A: In the same NIH Guidance linking co-authorship as a foreign component, NIH cautioned investigators to accurately list their affiliations and the affiliations of co-authors on publications to reflect where the work was performed, rather than the author/co-author’s current address or institution if different from the performance site. This means that if a publication reflects work done by a student or postdoc while at UConn, then only UConn and not the student’s/postdoc’s current employing institution should be listed as the co-author’s affiliated institution in the publication. The OVPR acknowledges that this is a change from longstanding practice, and impacts the desire to attribute publications to a current employing institution for tenure credit or current contact information. Some publications are willing to explore more nuanced attribution statements or acknowledgement statements that “All work was performed at the University of Connecticut [or other qualifying institution]” to navigate this cultural shift being pushed down by NIH and other federal funding agencies. 

The current prevailing federal guidance indicates, however, that if a former student or postdoc lists their current affiliated institution in a publication, the assumption will be that all co-authors collaborated directly with that affiliated institution in the research that produced the publication. When the affiliated institution is on a barred entity list, that could impact the risk profile of the US-based co-author.

 Q: How can I navigate these changes? How can I know whether my co-authors work for barred entities? 

A: UConn’s Export Control Office under the OVPR is always willing to run a check of your co-authors and their affiliated institutions through its Visual Compliance screening software. The checks are quick and provide needed peace of mind. Simply email exportcontrol@uconn.edu with your list of proposed co-authors and their affiliated institutions.  

Parting words: Now more than ever, it is necessary to be precise with respect to authorship and acknowledgements in publications. 

Join InCHIP for its 2026 Annual Meeting, which will connect principal investigators (PIs), celebrate the university-wide public health research institute's achievements during the 2025-2026 year, and discuss how InCHIP can encourage positive health outcomes nationally and globally. 

When: Thursday, October 29, 2026 | 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: J. Ray Ryan Building, 2006 Hillside Rd, Storrs, CT 

This event will bring together students, staff, faculty, and partners to explore One Health across human, animal, environmental, and plant systems.   

When: Friday, November 13, 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.   

The 2026 UConn Economic Impact Forum will showcase how UConn can bring together state leaders, industry partners, faculty, and our brightest students to strengthen the vital networks between regional businesses and our local towns. This year’s theme is Powering the AI Economy for Connecticut Towns. 

When: Thursday, November 19, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. 

Where: Rentschler Field, East Hartford 

Moving Beyond creates an opportunity for researchers to present their policy-relevant scholarship to policymakers, provides an opportunity for policymakers to respond with their research needs and questions, and generates connections to inform evidence-based policymaking in Connecticut.   

When: Tuesday, December 15, 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.  

Where: The Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut 

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