MARCH 16, 2026

Dear colleagues, 

The past few weeks have been a busy time for UConn, bringing several promising opportunities that I’d like to tell you about.  

UConn Health Grows: Two weeks ago, UConn Health officially launched the UConn Health Community Health network with the first member being Waterbury Hospital. From a research perspective, this growth will create stronger opportunities for us to integrate clinical research opportunities within our medical, nursing, and other health engagement programs. Check out this video made by an employee expressing her excitement to be part of UConn. I hope you all can feel this type of joy when you reflect on your time at UConn.   

Advocacy for UConn and for Research: The state legislative session is ongoing, creating valuable opportunities to advocate for UConn. Led by Governmental Relations, many within our community and stakeholders are testifying on behalf of the university, asking the state to increase our university block grant above what the Governor proposed. These increases in funding are critical for union-negotiated, well-deserved wage increases for our employees and for critical operations.  

Recently, I met with the staff of members from our entire Connecticut congressional delegation to share an update about UConn Research and prepare them to continue to fight for science funding. Last week, I testified in support of two proposed bills directing the state to directly invest in research at UConn. The first bill advocates for direct funding to UConn to recruit and hire additional faculty with significant grant portfolios to continue to strengthen UConn’s capabilities and reputation. These individuals will bring funding that will allow us to invest in the critical infrastructure needed for us to pursue and conduct research with reduced administrative burden, and for us to increase the amount of seed funding available for existing faculty. The second bill creates a state pool of research funding to help researchers in the state recover from the tumultuous 2025 and beyond with federal research funding. This support from the state is a critical investment if the state wants UConn to continue to grow as a national and international research university, which we all know we can do.  

Telling UConn’s Story of Impact: The state legislative session also creates a critical opportunity for us to share the incredible value UConn has returned to the state and beyond. Having a platform to broadcast UConn’s incredible story is one of my favorite parts of my role in the OVPR. Much of my recent testimony to state legislators focused on highlighting the enormous societal and financial value all of us at UConn generate for the state. Because of UConn, in fiscal year 2025, Connecticut received more than $700 million research-driven economic activity, delivering benefits to more than 240 cities, towns, and villages across the state and supporting more than 3,000 high-skill jobs. Every $10 in research spending (which usually funds taxpayer salaries and companies in the state) generates $8 additional dollars to the state.  

I also had an opportunity to share with our legislators the ways that UConn’s research enterprise spans fields that are vital to Connecticut’s future. For example, because of UConn, new technologies are advanced into healthcare to improve quality of life after stroke and to those dealing with chronic pain, efficient and high quality pharmaceutics can be manufactured to reduce healthcare costs and ensure the US has a domestic supply of critical drugs, new treatments integrated with genomics can be identified, and wearable technologies can quickly identify heat stress in workers, our military, and athletes to keep them functioning well and save their lives. Our Public Health and Social Work research improves quality of life for those living with disabilities and their families. Our research on materials decreases the need for costly repairs for our aerospace and submarine industries to help keep us safe. Our expertise in artificial intelligence and data science, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies is more critical than ever to help Connecticut contribute to these revolutionary opportunities possible with our financial, insurance, and defense sectors. These technologies combined with our engineering expertise are enabling UConn to be at the forefront for identifying new sustainable energy sources and ways to reduce energy costs with advanced manufacturing.  

Equally important is the work of our Humanities researchers who are exploring how rapidly advancing technologies are transforming our workplaces and our lives. UConn’s research efforts help protect Connecticut’s water resources, the coastline, and our communities from adverse weather events, and to better predict and recover from power outages. Altogether, UConn research yields breakthroughs in industry competitiveness, helps educate our future workforce by involving students into research, and keeps us safe and healthy.  

Our research accomplishments and advancements need to be celebrated. UConn has made a concerted effort to promote more research activity through all forms of media. In the past year, more than 25% of stories published in UConn Today were research-related. News is pushed out through social media and pitched directly to journalists. It’s a major collaborative effort between our dedicated Research Communications Team and the excellent writers in University Communications. Results have been great, as evident in this annual report that Communications publishes. But we can always do more. 

Let us help you share your successes. Reach out to the Research Communications Team at research@uconn.edu. You can also email Research Communications Manager Matt Engelhardt at matthew.engelhardt@uconn.edu or submit a request online. 

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 

Five UConn-affiliated faculty were among the world's most highly cited researchers in 2025.

The 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list, released by Clarivate, uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify individuals from around the world who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their chosen field of research.

Congratulations to the following researchers -- many of whom are celebrating several years on this list:

Robin Chazdon, Professor Emerita, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, CLAS

Robert Colwell, Professor Emeritus, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, CLAS

Yangchao Luo, Department of Nutritional Sciences, CAHNR

Corey Merow, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, CLAS

Zhe Zhu, Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, CAHNR

Congratulations to the nine UConn and UConn Health faculty and leaders elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering! CASE announced its new Class of 2026, with 36 people set to be introduced during a dinner in May. UConn is well-represented among the inductees: 

Abhijit Banerjee, Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship 

Nora Berrah, Distinguished Professor of Physics 

David Goldhamer, Professor; Graduate Program Head, Cell and Developmental Biology 

Amy Gorin, Vice Provost for Health Sciences and Interdisciplinary Initiatives Office of the Provost; Professor of Psychological Sciences, Department of Psychological Sciences 

Christopher Heinen, Tenured Professor of Medicine, Molecular Biology and Biophysics 

Daniel Mulkey, Professor of Physiology; Professor of Neurobiology 

Thanh Nguyen, Associate Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering  

Lea F. Santos, Professor of Physics; Associate Department Head for Administration 

Liang Zhang, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering 

The OVPR is preparing the research enterprise for a new initiative from the federal Department of Energy. The Genesis Mission is designed to transform scientific discovery through the research and use of artificial intelligence. The mission seeks to double the country’s scientific research output and catalyze trillions of dollars in investment. From what we’ve learned so far, this effort is shaping up to a significant federal initiative with potential impacts on both research and education. While details are still emerging, it appears that the Mission will be focused more on developing and funding coordinated teams of university, industry, and national lab researchers and less on traditional investigator-driven research. 

Genesis’ initial list of 26 “Lighthouse Challenges” flows out of scientific areas relevant to DOE; however, it is expected that the initiative will expand to include other Federal sponsors in the future. OVPR is actively exploring how best to participate in the Genesis Mission, and where UConn’s research expertise best aligns with the announced challenges. We are expecting to see the first announcements of teaming opportunities in coming weeks. Expect to see more about Genesis from our Research Development team soon.

In the meantime, we encourage researchers to review the list of challenges that have been published so far and to consider how your expertise, as well as UConn facilities you are aware of, could potentially contribute to teams working on specific challenges. Please reach out to our Research Development team if you have specific ideas to share. 

*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. 

As I mentioned in my message above, as well in last week’s UConn Health town hall, it is becoming increasingly important to capture and share the impacts of UConn’s research, scholarship, and creative work. Not only are these impacts critical for advocating for support for the University, they are becoming increasingly important for guiding internal research investments. 

The Research Working Group of the Budget Transformation Initiative is working through new ways to ensure UConn is directing new investments in research/scholarship based on impact, not only based on past research expenditures. We know some of our most impactful work does not always generate significant external funding, even though these projects are generating incredible value for the University, the State, and the Nation.

As this process moves forward, we need more input from our research community regarding how best to measure the impact of research and scholarship beyond external grant dollars received. We invite faculty to share their ideas about impact metrics in this brief survey.  

In the last edition of The Abstract, I announced that the OVPR is in the process of launching a competitive program that will help celebrate the impact of UConn research and incentivize the regular telling of our impact stories. The program, inspired by University College Dublin’s Research Impact Case Study Competition, will provide awards to the UConn/UCH research teams that create the most accessible and compelling presentations of the impact of their work. A faculty planning committee has been convened to work with the OVPR’s Internal Funding team to develop the program. We expect the program will launch later this spring. 

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: I’m interested in getting funding from the State for an initiative / I have been contacted by the State regarding getting funding for a joint initiative. How should I proceed?

Answer: 

Thank you for this important question. UConn researchers regularly partner with State agencies to pursue projects that meet the needs of Connecticut communities. 

We continue to encourage faculty to pursue—and maximize use of—competitive state agency grant programs for research support wherever they are available and appropriate. 

We also encourage faculty to partner, as appropriate, with State agencies in pursuing Federal funding opportunities. 

However, if a legislator, legislative staff member, or state official reaches out to you about securing a specific appropriation (outside established state grant programs) for research or related activities in your area, we kindly ask that you include the following colleagues in those discussions from the outset: 

Early coordination helps ensure these individual requests align with—and do not inadvertently undermine—UConn’s comprehensive budget priorities. Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen cases where targeted research appropriations were secured, but only at the expense of reductions to the University’s overall state support—an outcome we are committed to preventing in the future for the benefit of our entire community. 

The 2026 UConn Health Annual Financial Disclosure reporting period is now open. 

Individuals who have been identified as subject to the Individual (research), Clinical, and/or Institutional (research) conflict of interest policies and who are required to make an annual financial disclosure received an automated e-mail from fcoi@uchc.edu with the subject line “ACTION REQUIRED: Annual Financial Disclosure Due” inviting them to complete the financial disclosure questionnaire.  

If you have received a notice regarding disclosure, please submit the required disclosure in the InfoEd FCOI system no later than Sunday June 7, 2026. One disclosure will cover any of the above policies for which the individual is required to disclose. 

If you have any questions regarding the form or the disclosure requirements, please contact Gus Fernandez-Wolff in the Office of Research Integrity & Compliance at gfernandez@uchc.edu.

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: 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: 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. 

Please complete a brief survey to help guide our communications efforts.