of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering
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Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to CT
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Volume 39, 1 / February 2024
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A message to our readers... |
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Recently, CASE’s Executive Director, Terri Clark, made me aware of the phrase, “States are the Laboratories of Democracy.” I became curious about the history behind this phrase. I learned that US Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis described in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932) that “a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” Further, Lenore Adkins, in an article for the US Department of State (Dec. 22, 2017), wrote,
In America, the 50 states are known as “laboratories of democracy” because they engineer creative policy ideas that are tested within the state and sometimes adopted at the federal level. National laws laying out minimum wages, workplace safety standards, and welfare and health care policies all started out first in the states.
In 1976, the Academy was founded by a Special Act of the CT General Assembly. Our charge includes serving the people and the state of Connecticut by advising on STEMM-related issues. This charge is embedded in our culture and whenever the Academy is asked to serve by those in public service, we seek to do so by providing independent, unbiased, non-partisan, and evidence-based guidance. Our state is a laboratory of democracy, and we are fortunate to serve on its behalf.
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John Kadow, President CT Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to CT
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MEDALS |
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The 2024 Connecticut Medal of Technology |
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Nominations are being accepted through March 6th for the 2024 Connecticut Medal of Technology. The Medal recognizes outstanding contributions to the economic, environmental, and social well-being of Connecticut and the nation through the promotion of technology, technological innovation, or the development of the technological workforce. Learn more.
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CASE BRIEFING |
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An Initial Overview of Artificial Intelligence Skills Development and Use in Connecticut
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At the request of the Joint General Law Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Working Group, CASE researched and submitted a briefing paper to provide an initial overview of AI skills development and use in Connecticut in three sectors: business and industries, public schools and organizations that support Pre-K to grade 12, and private and public 2- and 4-year higher education institutions. Read the briefing.
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ANNUAL MEETING |
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CASE Annual Meeting & Dinner
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Save the date for the 49th CASE Annual Meeting and Dinner, to be held Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at The Woodwinds in Branford.
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SOCIAL MEDIA |
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Engage with CASE LinkedIn |
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We encourage the Bulletin’s readership to follow and engage with the Academy’s LinkedIn page by commenting on and sharing posts. The daily posts will connect you to news on the Academy, its members, and science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine topics of interest to Connecticut.
Please click the blue "follow" button on the page to stay up to date.
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LEGISLATION |
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Engage with STEMM Policy |
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The Eagleton Science and Politics Program 2024/2025 Fellowship at Rutgers University is accepting applications through March 17. The fellowship program offers Ph.D.-level scientists and engineers the opportunity to apply their training and expertise to the development and implementation of state policy. As full-time aides in the executive or legislative branch, Science Fellows bring their advanced technical skills to service in state government. Click here for more information.
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In Memoriam |
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CASE Member C. Thomas Philbrick, distinguished Professor of Biology at Western Connecticut State University, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. Professor Philbrick was a valued member of the Academy, having been elected in 2013. Due to illness, he transitioned to emeritus member in 2022. Our sympathies to family, friends, and colleagues.
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To learn more about the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, please visit ctcase.org.
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Science and Engineering Notes from Around Connecticut
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Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition |
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Wild, unpredictable weather is forcing farmers to adopt new practices to survive a changing climate including adapting their fields, implementing irrigation or drainage, installing frost fans, and constructing buildings to protect their crops. Connecticut’s agriculture economy is facing new climate threats each season. Read more.
The Connecticut Department of Agriculture awarded 53 grants totaling more than $2.8 M through its Connecticut Grown for Connecticut Kids Grant. The purpose of the grant program is to increase the availability of local foods in child nutrition programs, allow educators to use hands-on educational techniques to teach students about nutrition and farm-to-school connections, sustain relationships with local farmers and producers, enrich the educational experience of students, improve the health of children in the state, and enhance the state’s economy. Read more.
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Biomedical Research & Healthcare |
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A study led by Yale researchers and VA Connecticut Healthcare reveals ancestries around the world possess a shared genetic architecture for problematic alcohol use (PAU). Published in Nature Medicine, the study is the largest to date on PAU and identified many new risk genes and uncovered a large amount of new biology. CASE Member Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, and professor of genetics and of neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine and VA Connecticut, was the senior author. He was joined by CASE Members Hongyu Zhao, Amy C. Justice, Laura M. Huckins, and John H. Krystal. Read more.
For many common types of cancer, including prostate, overtreatment is a growing concern. Led by CASE Member Amy C. Justice, C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine (General Medicine), Yale School of Medicine, and Professor of Public Health (Health Policy), Yale School of Public Health, the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) Consortium sought to give physicians and other medical professionals guidance on how to determine treatment in patients with prostate cancer. Read more.
BioCT is hosting the upcoming Connecticut Rare Disease Forum, to be held March 7th in Farmington. The forum provides an afternoon of industry-led discussions on innovation in rare disease diagnostics and treatments, along with the promising impact of these advancements on patient outcomes. More information and registration here.
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A UConn research team analyzed data collected by the US Energy Information Administration and found that, overall, Black households are spending $1.6B more on heating energy than other comparable households. This study reinforces a growing body of research that shows that Black households face disproportionate energy costs. The US Department of Energy reports that nationwide the energy burden is 43% higher for Black households than for non-Hispanic, white households. Read more.
Are you looking to start a business or seeking an easy-to-use place for your vital business needs? If so, visit the CT Department of Economic and Community Development’s new online business center. Read more.
Connecticut Innovations announced in February that it invested approximately $18M in early-stage companies during the second quarter of its fiscal year, ending Dec. 31, 2023. The investments leveraged an additional $443.4M in outside capital. Its largest investments in the quarter were in Enertiv Inc., Perosphere Tech Inc., and Savant Systems. Read more.
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Energy Production, Use, and Conservation |
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Nanoramic Laboratories, a Massachusetts company that manufactures electric vehicle batteries, chose Bridgeport as their first major factory location for the production of advanced energy storage systems, particularly lithium-ion phosphate batteries designed for extended durations between charges. The addition of Neocarbonix in batteries eliminates the necessity for expensive cobalt, thereby promoting sustainability and providing significant cost savings for electric vehicle buyers. Read more.
The Connecticut Green Bank doubled the amount of funds it will allocate toward the growth of commercial solar projects to $100M to spur the development of renewable energy infrastructure for municipalities, the commercial sector, and the state. Read more.
The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) on Jan. 18 announced more than $131 M in funding for advanced research and development projects in electric vehicle (EV) batteries and charging systems. The money will also fund a consortium to address priorities for the next phase of wide-scale EV commercialization that will work toward developing advanced technologies to decarbonize transportation and support EV manufacturing and battery supply research and development. Read more.
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UConn is ranked the ninth most sustainable university out of 1,050 universities in 85 countries by UI GreenMetric, an international sustainability scoring system. Universities are ranked based on six categories - settings and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education and research. UConn also landed as the second most sustainable university in the US, just behind the University of California, Davis. Read more.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is making $10M available through the State's Recreational Program and is accepting proposals, through March 11, 2024, to improve Connecticut's trail infrastructure. Trails have seen significant usage increases since the onset of the pandemic as more residents and visitors become familiar with 2,500+ miles of multi-use trails and greenways that crisscross the state. Nonprofit organizations, municipalities, state agencies, and tribal governments may apply. Read more.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) renewed the order of quarantine for the Spotted Lanternfly for 2024. The distribution of this insect continues to expand, posing a threat to the agriculture and forests of Connecticut, and early detection is important - the public is urged to destroy and report potential sightings of this invasive pest and its egg masses which are laid on rocks, decks, trees, houses, and outdoor equipment. Read more.
Recent research published in Science reports on how ozone and nitrate radicals are interfering with the ability of bees, moths, and other pollinators to find flowers. The pollutants break down the scents and the impact on night-blooming plants is especially concerning. CASE Member David Wagner, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut, served on the research team and thinks the olfactory disruption goes as far back as the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. Read more.
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Human Resources and Education |
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Add a charming host and a catchy theme song, and you have “Nilay's Chemistry Videos” – a series of short YouTube videos about basic chemistry created by CASE Member Nilay Hazari, the John Randolph Huffman Professor of Chemistry in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale. Read (and watch) more.
To respond to the workforce needs of Connecticut’s engineering, manufacturing, and technology sectors, the University of Saint Joseph will launch, in the fall of 2024, a new bachelor’s degree in engineering science within the university’s School of Arts, Sciences, Business, and Education. Read more.
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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal announced legislation aimed at increasing the transparency of food labels. The Transparency, Readability, Understandability, Truth, and Helpfulness (TRUTH) in Labeling Act intends to make nutrition information more accessible by directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to create new front-of-package labels for foods and beverages, allowing consumers to make more educated dietary decisions. Read more.
Megan Ranney, Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, was interviewed as part of an ABC News article on the increase in U.S. COVID-19 mortality rates. Waning immunity and a “misunderstanding about who's eligible for Paxlovid, a misunderstanding about whether Paxlovid works and then sometimes trouble getting prescriptions," as well as the instances of patients experiencing the rebound effect, are all leading to Americans not receiving treatment. Watch here.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) named CASE Member Marcella Nunez-Smith, the associate dean for Health Equity Research, and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine at Yale, one of the eight prominent black leaders in medicine. She was named for her accomplishments, including becoming the first-ever presidential advisor to focus solely on combating race-related health inequities. Read more.
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The UConn and Yale-led QuantumCT partnership is working to establish the state as the nation’s leader in developing quantum technologies for use in real-world applications while building a complex and extensive network of partners from the state’s education, science, industrial, governmental, and community sectors. The NSF $1M development award is being used to plan for a “Regional Innovations Engine” grant proposal with $160M in funding available. The goal is to turn Connecticut into the nation’s accelerator for quantum technologies. Read more.
Subscribe to the Connecticut Technology Council’s newsletter with member news and featured member spotlights, upcoming industry events, and STEM opportunities.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a 27-member Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee to advise Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the USDOT on transportation innovation from a wide array of sectors, geographies, and areas of expertise. Committee member Kelly Funkhouser is from Connecticut and was chosen for her work as Associate Director of Vehicle Technology at Consumer Reports. Read more.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) called on Congress to fully fund the public transportation investments promised by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With $22B for public transit, $20B for passenger rail, and $5B for increased mobility demands, the funding would make public transit and passenger rail faster, more modern, and more reliable, while allowing agencies to tackle climate change and advance equity. Read more.
Connecticut has received a $14.6M grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build electric vehicle charging stations in seven towns and cities, funding new Level 2 chargers, Direct Current Fast Charging ports, or 200kW on-street chargers. The new equipment will broaden Connecticut’s current inventory of 726 publicly available charging stations throughout the state. Read more.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently launched the Complete Streets AI Initiative through the department’s Small Business Innovation Research Program, allowing small businesses to leverage advancements in AI that improve transportation. Read more.
Ten rural Connecticut communities will benefit from more than $9M in state grants for transportation infrastructure and safety. Grants are funded through the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (CTDOT) Transportation Rural Improvement Program (TRIP), a newly created state grant program designed to support rural municipalities often ineligible for many federal transportation programs. Read more.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is providing more than $729M to help states and territories repair and rebuild roads and bridges damaged due to natural disasters and extreme weather events. The funding, part of the FHWA’s Emergency Relief program will help fund projects in 34 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico that are the result of major disaster declarations. Read more.
A recent article in American Scientist by CASE Member Lee Langston shares how J. Willard Gibbs’s fundamental discoveries in the 19th century are helping today’s engineers design and build hydrogen-fueled jet engines. Read more.
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Items that appear in the In Brief section are compiled from previously published sources including newspaper accounts and press releases.
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From the National Academies |
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The following is excerpted from press releases and other news reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (nationalacademies.org).
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Social media has been fully integrated into the lives of most adolescents in the U.S., raising concerns among parents, physicians, public health officials, and others about its effect on mental and physical health. This report explores that effect and lays out recommendations for policymakers, regulators, industry, and others to maximize the good and minimize the bad. Focus areas include platform design, transparency and accountability, digital media literacy among young people and adults, online harassment, and supporting researchers. Read more.
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Facial recognition technology is increasingly used for identity verification and identification, from aiding law enforcement investigations to identifying potential security threats at large venues. However, advances in this technology have outpaced laws and regulations, raising significant concerns related to equity, privacy, and civil liberties. This report explores the current capabilities, future possibilities, and necessary governance for facial recognition technology and discusses the legal, societal, and ethical implications of the technology, and recommends ways that federal agencies and others developing and deploying the technology can mitigate potential harms and enact more comprehensive safeguards. Read more.
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Advances in biomedical science, data science, engineering, and technology are leading to high-pace innovation with potential to transform health and medicine. These innovations simultaneously raise important ethical and social issues, including how to fairly distribute their benefits and risks. The Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine report describes a governance framework for decisions throughout the innovation life cycle to advance equitable innovation and support an ecosystem that is more responsive to the needs of a broader range of individuals and is better able to recognize and address inequities as they arise. Read more.
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Acceleration, deceleration, and stopping sight distance criteria are necessary considerations for determining the geometric design requirements of roadways. Acceleration and deceleration are influenced by many factors, including grade, vehicle type, and maneuver type. Stopping sight distance is influenced by factors such as brake reaction time, object height, and driver’s eye height. This report from The Transportation Research Board’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program presents enhanced guidance on acceleration and deceleration and SSD criteria for the geometric design of highways and streets that may be appropriate for consideration in future updates of the 2018 AASHTO Green Book criteria. Read more.
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Approximately 3.6 million live births occur every year in the United States with between 8 and 9 percent of infants categorized with low birth weight (LBW), defined by the medical community as less than 2,500 grams or 5.5 pounds at birth. While most infants born with LBW are not impacted by severe developmental disabilities or major or multiple health conditions, research indicates that these infants often do experience elevated rates of mild to moderate chronic health conditions that have meaningful functional impacts throughout an individual’s life course. This report presents the conclusions of a committee formed to provide an overview of the current status of the identification, treatment, and prognosis of LBW babies, including trends in survivability, in the U.S. population under the age of one year. Read more.
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The National Academies Food and Nutrition Board hosted a hybrid public workshop in October 2023 to explore opportunities and challenges related to applying advanced computation, big data analytics, and high-performance computing, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, to support advances in food systems and nutrition research. Speakers discussed the appropriate use of evidence generated from these methods to inform food- and nutrition-related programs and policies. Read more.
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The transition to renewable energy has spurred many efforts to scale up the U.S. portfolio of efficient clean energy resources, including the development of offshore wind farms. The Nantucket Shoals region off the coast of Massachusetts is the first large-scale wind farm installation under development in U.S. waters. This report found the impacts of offshore wind projects on the North Atlantic right whale and the availability of their prey in the Nantucket Shoals region will likely be difficult to distinguish from the significant impacts of climate change and other influences on the ecosystem and recommends the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and others should promote observational studies and modeling that will advance understanding of potential hydrodynamic effects and their consequent impacts on ecology in the Nantucket Shoals region during all phases of wind energy development. Read more.
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Schools, workplaces, businesses, and even homes are places where someone could be subjected to particulate matter (PM) – a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. PM is a ubiquitous pollutant comprising a complex and ever-changing combination of chemicals, dust, and biological materials such as allergens. Of special concern is fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as it is small enough to penetrate deep into the respiratory system, and the smallest fraction of it, ultrafine particles (UFPs), or particles with diameters less than 0.1 microns, can exert neurotoxic effects on the brain. Overwhelming evidence exists that exposure to PM2.5 of outdoor origin is associated with a range of adverse health effects, including cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, psychiatric, and endocrine disorders as well as poor birth outcomes, with the burden of these effects falling more heavily on underserved and marginalized communities. This report explores the state of the science on the health risks of exposure to fine particulate matter indoors along with engineering solutions and interventions to reduce risks of exposure to it, including practical mitigation strategies. Read more.
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The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering |
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The purpose of the Academy is to "provide guidance to the people and the government of the State of Connecticut... in the application of science and engineering to the economic and social welfare."
OFFICERS OF THE ACADEMY
John Kadow, President Alphina Therpeutics
Sten Vermund, Vice President Yale School of Public Health
Eric Donkor, Secretary UConn
Edmond Murphy, Treasurer Lumentum (ret.)
Christine Broadbridge, Past President Southern Connecticut State University
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Terri Clark
EDITORS Leon Pintsov, Executive Editor - Engineering Pitney Bowes, Inc. (ret.)
Mike Genel, Executive Editor - Medicine Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics Yale University School of Medicine CASE President, 2008-2010
Amy R. Howell, Executive Editor - Science Department of Chemistry University of Connecticut
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Rebecca Mead, INQ Creative
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The Bulletin is published by the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, Inc, 222 Pitkin Street, Suite 101, East Hartford, Connecticut, 06108. 860.282.4229, tclark@ctcase.org. To subscribe, visit ctcase.org.
The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering is a private, nonprofit public service organization established by Special Act No. 76-53 of the Connecticut General Assembly.
COPYING PERMITTED, WITH ATTRIBUTION
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