of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering

Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to Connecticut

Volume 41, 2 /  April 2026

In May, CASE celebrates a significant milestone for the Academy — our 50th Anniversary. Five decades ago, CASE was commissioned by the State to bring together leaders across science, engineering, technology, and medicine to provide thoughtful, evidence-based guidance that helps shape policy and strengthen innovation in Connecticut. This moment offers a chance not only to celebrate how far we’ve come, but also to look ahead to the work still to be done.

We will carry that spirit of celebration and connection into our Annual Dinner on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. This year’s dinner will serve as the centerpiece of our 50th anniversary recognition — a time to celebrate the people and achievements that define CASE.

We will welcome our newly elected members, honor recipients of the Medal of Technology and the Distinguished Service Awards, recognize our 2026 Honorary Members, and celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding high school and middle school students in our Student Awards ceremony. From emerging young talent to lifetime achievements, the Annual Dinner highlights the full spectrum of excellence that CASE represents.

What makes this moment particularly meaningful is the balance it represents. The Academy’s Annual Dinner is rooted in tradition, yet continues to evolve. Each year, new voices, new ideas, and renewed energy are brought to the challenges facing Connecticut and beyond.

I hope you’ll join us on May 19 for what promises to be a memorable evening. It’s an opportunity to celebrate not just our history, but the vibrant and impactful community that continues to shape our future.

Sincerely, 

Amy R. Howell, President
Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE)
Celebrate, Promote, Inform in Service to Connecticut

Comments about this edition of the Bulletin are welcome via jorszak@ctcase.org.

To learn more about the
Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, please visit ctcase.org.

Science and Engineering Notes from Around Connecticut

Researchers at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station published a study that reveals exactly how the spotted wing drosophila (SWD) evolved to target fresh, ripe berries and cherries, rather than overripe, fermenting fruit that other fruit flies prefer. The team mapped changes in the fly's olfactory neurons, discovering that a small subset had rewired to detect fruit-ripening aromas instead of fermentation odors. Gene duplication and CRISPR editing experiments confirmed that these receptors are essential for the fly to find market-ready fruit, which explains why SWD causes hundreds of millions in annual losses to U.S. growers. Read more.

CASE member Yi Li and colleagues in Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Connecticut have developed new, high-impact genotypes of nursery crops that require less water and fewer inputs. These elite germplasm lines have been released to commercial nurseries across Connecticut, a major agricultural sector in the nation's fourth-most-densely populated state. The work is boosting industry profitability while easing pressure on municipal water supplies. This year, it also yielded a direct return to UConn: a leading Connecticut nursery donated funds to the department to support graduate student Research Assistantships. Read more.

In 2025, in collaboration with federal and local partners, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture protected 13 Connecticut farm properties totaling 953 acres, ensuring their continued dedication to agriculture. Launched in 1978, the Farmland Preservation Program has protected 51,203 acres and 455 farm parcels. Read more.

Connecticut's 2026 Outstanding Young Farmer has not used a chemical pesticide, whether organic or conventional, since 2019. Honored at the Capitol during this year’s Ag Day, Baylee Drown of Long Table Farm in Lyme employs biological controls, livestock integration, and soil-building practices instead of conventional inputs, and collaborates with local schools, community meal programs, and food cooperatives. "I had the privilege of choosing where to start my career as a farmer, and I chose Connecticut. [The state] has a social safety net that most other states lack. The state is committed to improving the health of our environment, we are proximal to populations of eaters, and I’ve witnessed the growing support of the government of CT for farms.” Read more.

A new Yale study, published in PNAS, screened 520 FDA-approved drugs in zebrafish to identify candidates that reverse behaviors linked to specific autism risk genes. Since autism is shaped by hundreds of different gene mutations, precision is crucial. This method targets specific genetic subtypes — a significant step toward treatments that truly fit the patient. The work was led by senior author Ellen J. Hoffman of the Yale Child Study Center, with CASE Member Kristen Brennand, the Elizabeth Mears and Jameson Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, a pioneer in using patient-specific stem cells to model psychiatric disorders, as a key collaborator. Yale has also made the full drug database publicly available to researchers worldwide. Read more.

CASE Member Ronald Breaker, Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine, discovered riboswitches: ancient RNA devices that sense their environment and turn genes on and off, and recently solved a 150-year-old mystery — why a molecule first extracted from bird droppings causes muscles to twitch. The answer? RNA sensors in the human body that may play a critical role in neuromuscular health. Read more.

A two-drug combination, dasatinib + quercetin (D+Q), widely used in anti-aging research, destroys myelin in mice, and this finding by UConn School of Medicine researchers should make doctors cautious. D+Q is currently being tested for diabetes, Alzheimer's, and more. This new research is a critical warning signal for anyone prescribing it preventively. However, the research suggests new ways to understand multiple sclerosis. Myelin is the nerve insulation that, when lost, causes multiple sclerosis. Since the research showed that the cells are damaged, but not destroyed, it opens a door to understanding MS repair like never before. Read more.

Connecticut's Net Equality Program, passed last year and set to take effect on October 1, 2026, is gaining national attention as a model for closing the digital divide. The Office of Consumer Counsel will create and manage a program requiring internet service providers that contract with the state to offer eligible low-income households (those receiving government assistance) a broadband plan at $40 or less per month with minimum download speeds of 100 Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps. Read more.

Electric Boat plans to add 8,000 workers in 2026, more than double last year's pace, as it accelerates submarine production at its Groton and Quonset Point shipyards. EB president Mark Rayha called it "a period of unprecedented growth in submarines," backed by nearly $4 billion in planned shipyard investment and $100 million in annual workforce training. Read more.

Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order creating the Connecticut Career Pathways Commission, and former U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will chair it. The commission brings together leaders from K-12, higher education, employers, labor, municipalities, and students — all volunteers — to develop a five-year strategic plan that prepares Connecticut workers for the jobs of today and tomorrow. The focus is to build a system that keeps pace with AI, automation, and global competition. A report with recommendations will be submitted to the Governor and the legislature by the end of 2026. Read more.

UConn School of Pharmacy is entering its next century with a new name - the UConn School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science. The new name reflects the strong programs in pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, outcomes research, regulatory science, and related disciplines, as well as the professional Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Read more.

Charter Oak State College just expanded the Connecticut AI Academy to include small businesses and K-12 school districts. In partnership with the Business-Higher Education Forum and Axim Collaborative, the goal is to reach 10,000 learners over five years with flexible, stackable credentials. Read more.

UConn College of Engineering is launching AEGIS (AI-Enabled Guided Intelligent Systems), a new micro-credential short course designed to help practicing engineers design, deploy, and govern agentic AI systems in real-world workflows: no computer science background required. Developed in partnership with CASE Member George Bollas and industry leaders, including Pratt & Whitney and AWS, the program is part of Connecticut's Tech Talent Accelerator initiative. The pilot cohort launches in Summer 2026 and is open to engineers across chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil, and materials science disciplines. Read more.

Boehringer Ingelheim and the Connecticut Science Center have opened an Innovation Lab in Hartford, a dedicated learning center designed to connect students with career pathways in human health, biology, and pharmaceutical sciences through hands-on programming and interactive workshops. Read more.

daeZERO, Connecticut’s first quantum computing program designed specifically for high school students, has just completed its first cohort. The tuition-free, immersive program introduces public school juniors and seniors to the core concepts, tools, and applications shaping the quantum era. Funded by Yale University and QuantumCT, daeZERO prepares students for tech and workforce changes well before they reach higher education. Read more.

Connecticut's energy future just got brighter. After two federal stop-work orders, court battles, and years of construction, Revolution Wind is now operational. New England's grid has received its first power from the 704 MW offshore wind project off the Rhode Island coast. When fully operational, it will power over 350,000 homes and is expected to open up more than 2K jobs in construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and operations. Read more.

Congressman John Larson announced $350,000 in federal funding for CONNSTEP to help grow Connecticut's hydrogen and fuel cell industry. CONNSTEP will use the funds to offer manufacturers technical guidance, supply chain support, and connect them to more federal and state resources, aiming to position Connecticut for larger federal hydrogen hub funding in the future. Read more.

All six New England governors signed a joint statement committing to exploring advanced nuclear energy, and Connecticut is well-positioned to lead. Home to the Millstone Nuclear Power Station, the U.S. Navy submarine base, and Electric Boat, Connecticut also enacted legislation in 2025 to create a community-driven pathway for advanced nuclear development, supported by $5 million in bond authorizations for site-readiness planning. ISO New England predicts that electricity use will increase by over 40% in the next 20 years, with winter peak demand possibly doubling by 2045. Advanced nuclear power is viewed as a crucial option for reliability, affordability, and decarbonization. Read more.

Produced by the University of Connecticut and the University of Albany, the Connecticut Grid Resilience Assessment (GRACI) Guide for Stakeholders synthesizes climate projections, outage data, infrastructure modeling, customer surveys, and social vulnerability metrics to identify Connecticut communities most at risk from extreme heat and high-wind-related outages. Read more.

UConn's Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) published a critical analysis of the utility of projected climate changes in Connecticut derived from downscaled global models developed through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process. Read more. 

A study by Yale School of the Environment researchers, including coauthor and CASE Member Peter Raymond, the Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry and co-director of the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, on greenhouse gas fluxes in the Florida Everglades provides a way to maximize carbon capture through water management. Read more.

As a consequence of a judicial decision late last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) restarted the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program at the end of March. This billion-dollar competition provides funds to states and municipalities to plan and construct projects that reduce communities' exposure to natural hazards such as flooding and erosion. Major projects in West Haven and Meriden, which had been stalled, will be restarted, and new applications are being collated by the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS). Read more. 

On March 1st, the long-standing Connecticut Transfer Act officially sunset, replaced by the Release-Based Cleanup Program, a modernized regulatory framework designed to streamline remediation and redevelopment of properties impacted by legacy industrial pollution. The goal is to clean up blighted, contaminated properties faster and revitalize communities. Read more.

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, including CASE Member Alison Galvani, the Burnett and Stender Families Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and Director of the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis (CIDMA), estimate that the United States could cut its annual spending on outpatient prescription drugs by $184 billion, which is a 51% reduction, if domestic prices matched those of other high-income countries. The study found that over 70% of popular branded medications cost at least four times more in the U.S., with some chronic disease treatments priced five times higher. Read more.

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) is warning residents about a sharp increase in tick activity and disease risk. CAES's Tick Testing Program is receiving an average of 30 submissions daily, with over 40% testing positive for bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Ticks are also testing positive for pathogens responsible for babesiosis, anaplasmosis, and Borrelia miyamotoi disease. Furthermore, Connecticut now has established populations of three invasive tick species — the lone star, Gulf Coast, and longhorned ticks – each carrying their own set of diseases. The lone star tick can also trigger Alpha-gal syndrome, a red meat allergy that can cause severe allergic reactions. Read more.

To save chemists’ time and effort, Yale researchers are training large language models (LLMs) to provide synthesis advice. Timothy Newhouse, a professor of chemistry, working with CASE Member Victor S. Batista, the John Gamble Kirkwood Professor of Chemistry, recently introduced a new framework called MOSAIC, which stands for Multiple Optimized Specialists for AI-assisted Chemical Prediction. It queries only relevant parts of chemical space, offering more accurate recommendations with less computing power. Read more.

Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) unveiled the newly renamed Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Center for Quantum and Nanotechnology. For the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and founding director and CASE Member Christine Broadbridge, a professor of physics and the executive director of research and innovation at SCSU, participated. Connecticut is investing $121 million in the industry and collaborating with SCSU, Yale, UConn, and QuantumCT to expand infrastructure and training initiatives. “We don’t do the dumb stuff” in Connecticut, Lamont said with pride. “We do the really complicated things.” Read more.

The third phase of the Connecticut Tech Talent Accelerator, a statewide higher education innovation challenge aimed at boosting AI education and workforce training, has been launched to accelerate the development of AI-skilled talent across Connecticut, strengthening the state’s competitiveness in a rapidly evolving digital economy. Read more.

The FAA has implemented a significant change in how airplanes and helicopters share the sky. This decision comes after the deadly midair collision near Reagan National in January 2025 that resulted in 67 fatalities. Starting March 18, the agency has discontinued the use of "see and avoid" — the practice where pilots rely on sight to keep separate from other aircraft in busy airspace. Instead, air traffic controllers will now use radar to ensure specific distances are maintained between helicopters and planes at major airports across the country. Read more.

The Federal Transit Administration is accepting applications for over $686 million in grants to improve accessibility at rail transit stations for people with disabilities, seniors, and families. Funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's All Stations Accessibility Program, these competitive grants support capital projects to repair, upgrade, or relocate station infrastructure — including elevators, wayfinding signage, and other accessibility features. Read more.

A White House-backed pilot program is clearing the way for electric air taxis to begin real-world operations across 26 states, even before companies receive full FAA certification. The program allows eVTOL companies like Archer, Beta, and Joby to test their aircraft and start operations up to a year earlier than previously anticipated. Projects range from urban air taxi routes to regional flights — including a Manhattan heliport operation and a Texas network linking Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. The accelerated timeline is a significant boost for an industry that has long promised to reshape how people move through cities. Read more.

Lamont’s budget proposes slowing the growth of the Special Transportation Fund — the primary vehicle for financing road and public transit projects. Read more.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is seeking permission to resume purchasing diesel buses after a two-year pause caused by a national backlog in the manufacturing of newer battery-powered buses. 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).

From advances in AI and blockchain to precision agriculture, statistical innovation drives progress and supports U.S. competitiveness across practically every field and sector. This report explores key developments in statistics, highlights critical future directions, and presents investment priorities to secure U.S. economic and technological advantage over the next decade. Read more. 

How can the United States strengthen the resilience of its pharmaceutical supply chain amid persistent drug shortages, reliance on foreign production, and growing exposure to geopolitical risks? In October 2025, the National Academies convened a public workshop to develop a framework to inform policymakers and stakeholders on how to apply Make, Buy, and Invest strategies across the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain. Experts from government, industry, health care, and academia examined vulnerabilities across the pharmaceutical supply chain through a national security lens. Discussions underscored the need for greater data transparency, coordinated governance across civilian and defense agencies, and alignment of economic and regulatory incentives to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen resilience, alongside practical considerations related to manufacturing capacity, quality assurance, and implementation. Read more. 

Transportation agencies must determine the current value of their physical assets to prepare financial reports and support various transportation asset management (TAM) applications. Once an agency has calculated the value of its assets, that information can help explain its asset management program, show the impact of investments, and answer key TAM questions. Asset values summarize the amount of assets an agency owns or maintains, while changes in value reveal trends in asset condition and whether an agency’s inventory is improving or deteriorating. Depending on how it is calculated, asset value can also aid in making decisions about how best to invest in assets—or whether an investment is justified. This report, produced by TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program, describes the development and dissemination of outreach materials that provide an overview of the Asset Valuation Guide through case studies and supplemental tools and worksheets. The results of this project were incorporated into the web-based version of the Asset Valuation Guide, which is maintained by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Read more. 

Science communication helps shape informed decisions, stimulate innovation, and broaden the reach of scientific advancements to policymakers, industry, and the general public. While science communication is critical to translating scientific discoveries into societal impact, pathways for effective communication across sectors within and outside the U.S. research enterprise pose challenges due to differences in institutional cultures and perspectives. This report shares outcomes of a workshop from the National Academies' Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable (GUIPRR) that explored the role of communication in national competitiveness. Discussions focused on public trust, economic and workforce development, policymaking, open science, and intergovernmental organizations. Read more. 

The Committee on Human Rights (CHR) promotes engagement with internationally recognized human rights norms to help shape effective, sustainable, and just responses to societal challenges. It advocates for and marshals support for members of the research, technological, and health care communities who come under threat due to repression and discrimination. This annual report summarizes CHR's activities in 2025. Read more. 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are widespread and persistent chemicals that can travel through soils, water, crops, livestock, and food systems. Agricultural lands may be exposed to PFAS via pathways such as organic soil amendments, irrigation water, atmospheric deposition, or off-site industrial sources. At the request of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled an expert committee to create an initial framework for guiding USDA programs that focus directly on land conservation. The committee examined how PFAS move through agricultural landscapes, the scientific uncertainties involved, and the specific opportunities and challenges facing USDA's voluntary, nonregulatory conservation programs. Instead of providing strict rules, the report is intentionally focused and practical, aimed at guiding conservation planning and the implementation of practices. It presents a framework based on the three phases of NRCS's conservation planning process and offers conclusions on opportunities related to research, existing data, and conservation practices and programs to address PFAS impacts on contaminated agricultural land. 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

Amy R. Howell, President
University of Connecticut

Mike Ambrose, Vice President
MH Ambrose Consulting,
Ambro Enterprises LLC

Tanimu Deleon, Secretary
General Dynamics Electric Boat

Ellen Sun, Treasurer
RTX Technology Research Center (Ret.)

John Kadow, Past President
Alphina Therapeutics

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeffrey Orszak

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Kerry Shea

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

Carolyn Teschke, Executive Editor - Science
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
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, jorszak@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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