of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering

Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to CT

Volume 39, 3  /  June 2024

On June 30, I will conclude my two-year term as president of the Academy. It has been my absolute pleasure to serve in this role, and I’m grateful to have had a front-row seat to the work that our members do to keep this organization focused on celebrating, promoting, and informing on the groundbreaking work happening in the Connecticut science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine communities. As we continue our charge to serve the people and the state of Connecticut, I look forward to my ongoing relationship with the Academy as immediate past president.

During my tenure, the Academy has continued to build on key priorities. These include strengthening partnerships, broadening participation, providing advice and guidance to the CT General Assembly and state agencies as requested, continuing to provide service through our Science and Technology Fellowship Program, and publicizing the incredible STEMM resources our state has to offer via the CASE Bulletin, LinkedIn posts, and the Academy’s Learning & Living STEMM in Connecticut podcast series. I am grateful to everyone who has played an active role in helping us with these priorities.

At CASE’s 49th Annual Meeting and Dinner, we glimpsed the potential of the state’s young scientists recognized through our student awards program, CASE honorees from the CT Invention Convention, the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and the CT Science and Engineering Fair (including the Urban School Challenge Program). We also saw, via the keynote address, another example of the impact of CASE members in the pursuit of their professional work.

Please join me in welcoming and supporting Sten Vermund as he transitions to president, effective July 1. We are in good hands.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer,

John Kadow, President
CT Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE)
Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to CT

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Science and Engineering Notes from Around Connecticut

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded the New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award to Itamar Shabtai, a soil scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES). The three-year, $449,607 grant will support the evaluation of the sequestration of organic carbon using calcium-containing soil amendments. Soil organic carbon greatly benefits soil health and boosts crop productivity, protects from erosion, and stores atmospheric carbon dioxide. Read more.

On June 3rd, the State of Connecticut Mosquito Management Program began monitoring mosquitoes for the presence of viruses that can cause illness in people, including West Nile virus (WNV) and eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus. The trapping and testing program is coordinated by The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) through a network of 108 mosquito-trapping stations in 88 municipalities throughout the state. EEE is a rare but severe illness in humans, with 4-8 cases reported in a typical year in the U.S. Connecticut residents are reminded to protect themselves from mosquito bites and mosquito-borne diseases, as mosquitos trapped in New Haven tested positive for West Nile virus, representing the first WNV-positive mosquitoes identified this year, and the earliest recorded in the 25 years of testing. Read more.

Yale researchers, including CASE Members Yajaira Suárez, the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of pathology, and Carlos Fernández-Hernando, the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of pathology, Yale School of Medicine, uncovered a key role played by a molecule - fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) – in the development of liver cancer. Read more.

CASE Member Lieping Chen, the United Technologies Corporation Professor in Cancer Research and professor of immunobiology, of dermatology, and of medicine (medical oncology) at Yale School of Medicine, led research recently published in the journal Science Immunology, investigating the potential causes associated with T cell exclusion in half of human cancers, and uncovering at least one cause of roadblocks to successful cancer immunotherapy. Read more.

A new ultra-high-performance brain PET system allows for the direct measurement of brain nuclei as never before seen or quantified. With its ultra-high sensitivity and resolution, the NeuroEXPLORER scanner provides exceptional brain PET images and has the potential to spur advances in the treatment of many brain diseases. "The high resolution of [the] images is due to the system's unique detector design and exceptional sensitivity produced by its long axial field-of-view," said Richard E. Carson, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering and of radiology and biomedical imaging and Emeritus Director of the PET Center at Yale University. "This technology will provide the opportunity for advanced research on all types of neuronal molecular and functional activity." Read more.

The Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS), in consultation with the Connecticut Cybersecurity Planning Subcommittee, is accepting applications for Connecticut’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Funded by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the state-administered program will provide grants to address cybersecurity risks and cybersecurity threats to information systems owned or operated by, or on behalf of, state, local, and tribal governments. Applications due July 19th – eligibility requirements and application information here.

CT Data Collaborative released on May 30, the 2024 Town Profiles for every Connecticut Municipality. The town profiles are two-page reports of demographic and economic information, including populations, major employers, education, fiscal information, labor force, housing, and quality of life. The profiles are developed in collaboration with AdvanceCT. Read more.

Governor Lamont and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (CTDECD) announced $100M in state funding for incentives for scientific innovations. The funding will go toward the Connecticut Innovation Clusters Program, which looks to bolster several sectors of the Connecticut economy, including biotechnology, financial technology, insurance technology, and advanced manufacturing in support of national defense. Read more.

Stamford Partnership - a public-private consortium that brings together various constituencies and stakeholders to identify needs and improve the quality of life across Southwest Connecticut - aims to have hundreds more area residents assume jobs in the tech sector and tap into the necessary training to help establish Fairfield County as one of the country’s most promising tech hubs. The Stamford Partnership is part of the Southwest Connecticut Tech Hub, a community that connects the region’s tech employers with top tech talent. The Tech Hub represents more than 50 of the region’s tech-enabled and data-dependent companies. Read more.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) a $62.5 million grant under its Solar for All initiative to expand solar energy investment in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Connecticut’s application – led by DEEP in close collaboration with the Connecticut Green Bank, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Connecticut Department of Housing, the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and others – has a priority focus on multi-family affordable housing units. Read more.

Yale researchers, including CASE Member Nilay Hazari, the John Randolph Huffman Professor of Chemistry, are leading the way in the development of a new generation of liquid fuels that are activated by sunlight. Two previous approaches proved to be inadequate for large-scale production, but a third methodology, being investigated by the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE), combines new semiconductor materials with new molecular catalysts, providing more powerful, streamlined processes that may be scalable for wider use, potentially leading to groundbreaking alternative fuel products that have the added benefit of removing CO₂ from the air. Read more.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) published its latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, an accounting of the state’s air pollution that contributes to climate change.  The report’s preliminary data shows that emissions increased in 2022 for a second consecutive year. While Connecticut met its goal for 2020 emissions set by statute, an accelerated pace of reductions is needed to meet medium- and long-term goals. Based on preliminary data, the top three emitting sectors in 2022 were responsible for over three-quarters of the total emissions: transportation (42 percent), residential heating with fossil fuels (21 percent), and commercial building heating with fossil fuels (13 percent). Read more.

UConn hosted a collaborative platform that brought together scholars, students, and experts from various disciplines. The Just Transitions Symposium explored themes and strategies for a sustainable and equitable global future, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices and disciplines in addressing climate change. “We are no strangers to the effects of climate change here in New England. With the influence of storms and rising sea levels, the effects are increasingly evident. We need to ensure the shift to a more sustainable economy is a fair and equitable one,” said CASE Member and Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Statistics Ofer Harel during the symposium. Read more.

A new National Science Foundation-funded institute is tasked with answering the big questions about the Arctic ecosystem’s ability to adapt to keep pace with climate change. Led by researchers from the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Columbia University, and UConn, including CASE Members Mark Urban (co-lead), Rachel O’Neill (contributor), and Dan Bolnick (contributor), the Evolving Meta-Ecosystems (EvoME) Institute is one of four major initiatives awarded $15 million each through the NSF’s Biology Integration Institute (BII). Experts in diverse disciplines from 14 institutions will work on the project over the next six years. Read more.

A new series of grants totaling $10M has been awarded through the Connecticut Recreational Trails Grant Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). The grants will support the planning, building, expansion, and improvement of 45 multi-use trails located in towns and cities throughout the state. The funding can be applied to a wide variety of purposes, including planning, design, land acquisition, construction, marketing, and equipment and trail amenities. Read more

Applications are now being accepted for this year’s Science and SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists. Prizes will be presented in four categories: cell and molecular biology; genomics, proteomics, and systems biology approaches; ecology and environment; and molecular medicine. Deadline is July 15, 2024. Learn more.

The University of New Haven received a grant to expand game design and development education, creating new opportunities for students and fueling Connecticut’s talent-tech pipeline and innovation in the gaming industry. Read more.

A new UConn Engineering graduate program is working to meet the challenging needs of the rapidly expanding and evolving manufacturing industry. The Master of Engineering (MENG) in Digital Design and Manufacturing is a 30-credit online graduate degree for engineers seeking to advance their knowledge in digital tools and models used in modern industries. Students will learn and master the tools shaping the future of engineering, from digital twins and 3D design software to machine learning and data science, in a part-time program designed for their success. Read more.

CASE Member Theodore R. Holford, the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Public Health (Biostatistics) and senior research scientist in biostatistics at Yale University, is charting a modeling approach for estimating the impact of health programs within cigarette smoking research. The Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET)-Lung Working Group developed the smoking history generator, which provides a way to estimate the health impact resulting from modifications to initiation, cessation, and smoking intensity. Read more.

A new study from a partnership between the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and 15 research institutions across the country, including Yale School of Medicine, has unveiled clues for helping scientists predict who is most at risk for severe COVID-19 and who is most likely to survive. The study was one of the largest and most comprehensive analyses to date and uses a systems immunology approach pioneered by the NIAID Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) at Yale, which is directed by CASE Members Ruth Montgomery, professor of medicine and of epidemiology (microbial diseases) and associate dean for scientific affairs, and David A. Hafler, chair and a professor of neurology. CASE Member Steven Kleinstein, professor of pathology and a HIPC investigator, led the multi-site data analysis working group to process the individual data types for analysis by the consortium informatics experts. Read more.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine, including CASE Member and corresponding author of the study, Karen S. Anderson, professor of pharmacology and of molecular biophysics & biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine, have created a non-toxic potential alternative to Paxlovid to improve COVID-19 treatment for the immunocompromised. Read more.

Through funding from the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative, CASE Member Jun Yan, professor of statistics at UConn, will collaborate with colleagues from both the Department of Statistics and the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, to explore how unemployment, education, racial discrimination, and food and housing insecurity impact the aging process in adults diagnosed with breast cancer. Read more.

The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded UConn an additional $10.5M for projects related to welding and advanced materials for high-temperature applications.  Seven faculty members (including CASE Members Mark Aindow, Pamir Alpay, Rainer Hebert, and Steven Suib) are working with teams of post-graduate and undergraduate students on interdisciplinary projects covered by the grant. Read more.

With its new Vision OPEN 2024, the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) - of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $150M of funding devoted to developing transformational systems that provide abundant primary energy, enable intermodal energy transport, and sustainably meet demand for polymers and other materials. The submitted R&D concepts are typically focused on high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. Read more.

Simulations performed on the Summit supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory hold promise for researchers, including CASE Member Tahany El-Wardany, an RTX senior technical fellow for advanced manufacturing, to reduce time and expense by digitally customizing an improved titanium alloy, the cornerstone material of the aerospace industry. “We still have a lot to do as far as real-world testing to verify the findings, but Summit’s predictive simulations shrank a decade of physical testing into what we hope will be 2 or 3 years,” she said. Read more.

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) has a new partnership with MakerspaceCT, a skills development center in Hartford for makers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, members, and students. Through this partnership, USJ’s engineering science students will have access to MakerspaceCT resources and the opportunity to apply what they learn in their classes and on-campus labs in real-world settings. Read more.

Developed a few decades ago, the chemical separation process of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), has drawn attention for its potential to revolutionize industries, including fuel, food, and pharmaceuticals. A team of researchers from Yale University, including CASE Member Menachem Elimelech, the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has upended the prevailing wisdom on how this rapidly emerging technology works and gained insights that could significantly improve outcomes. Read more.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the launch of the nearly $1B Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program, an incentivizing path for replacing polluting heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. The program will advance eligible Class 6 and 7 no-emission vehicles and fund zero-emission vehicle fueling infrastructure. Currently, more than 3 million Class 6 and 7 vehicles are in use across the country including everything from box trucks to school buses, refuse haulers, dump trucks, street sweepers, bucket trucks, utility trucks and delivery trucks. Read more.

U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sent three reports that look at the safety and performance of long trains to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to inform an ongoing study mandated by Congress. The larger NAS study looks at the impact of trains longer than 7,500 feet and data collected on train dynamics and brake system performance. Read more.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, is conducting flight tests on a novel vertical takeoff and landing uncrewed aerial system (VTOL/UAS). The tests are intended to prove the efficiency and scalability of a twin proprotor “rotor blown wing” configuration that sits on its tail to take off and lands like a helicopter and transitions easily to horizontal forward flight for long-endurance missions, such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. “The design is just one of the many ways Sikorsky is advancing 21st Century security technologies and innovations,” said CASE Member Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations. Read more.

Items that appear in the In Brief section are compiled from previously
published sources including newspaper accounts and press releases.  

The following is excerpted from press releases and other news reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (nationalacademies.org).

The National Academy of Engineering compiles Memorial Tributes as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. See the 27th volume published in January 2024 for the most recent tributes.

In response to a request from Congress, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Academies to conduct a study to assess the current state of research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) prevention and treatment, recommend research priorities, and identify strategies for overcoming barriers that impede scientific advancement. The resulting committee held a public workshop in January 2024 to explore promising areas of research that could catalyze scientific breakthroughs or accelerate the translation of discoveries into effective prevention and treatment strategies, as well as to discuss barriers to the advancement of research. Read more.

Congress called on the National Academies to convene a committee to examine the real and perceived risks of liability arising from research conducted with pregnant and lactating women. The resulting report explores and finds limited evidence of legal liability for the inclusion of pregnant and lactating women in clinical research, contradicting perceptions of heightened liability. The committee also makes recommendations that could lead to a more robust evidence base about the safety and efficacy of medications for pregnant and lactating women that would facilitate more informed decision-making regarding care while mitigating liability. Read more.

Antarctica hosts some of the harshest and most remote environments on Earth - and it is a region of vital importance for scientific research. The environment and position of Antarctica on the globe mean that research conducted there can offer unique insights into important Earth processes, including rising sea levels, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem structure. As the climate warms, data gathered from Antarctic research will be essential to understanding how Earth processes are changing and the potential social, economic, and health impacts on both U.S. and global populations. This report identifies the highest priorities for research in the Southern Ocean and nearshore and coastal Antarctica, as well as gaps in current capabilities to support this research. Global sea level rise, heat and carbon budgets, and changing ecosystems are the three highest-priority science drivers for research in the region. Read more.

At the request of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the National Academies convened a committee to examine lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and mpox multi-country outbreak to inform an evaluation of the state of smallpox research, development, and stockpiling of medical countermeasures (MCM). In the resulting report, the committee presents findings and conclusions that may inform U.S. Government investment decisions in smallpox MCM readiness, as well as the official U.S. position on the disposition of live viral collections at future World Health Assembly meetings. Read more. 

Seafood, including marine and freshwater fish, mollusks, and crustaceans, is a healthy food choice, but it can also contain contaminants. It is currently unclear how much seafood children or pregnant and lactating women are consuming and what impact seafood consumption is having on children's growth and development. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tasked the National Academies with convening an expert committee to examine associations between seafood intake for children, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women and child growth and development. The committee also evaluated when to conduct risk-benefit analyses (RBAs), while considering contextual factors such as equity, diversity, inclusion, and access to health care, and explored how these factors might impact RBAs. Read more.

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 Therapeutics

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

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Karen Cohen

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

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.

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