In late May, I had the privilege to give a talk entitled “Moving Forward with Science” to future scientists from kindergarten to high school at the Connecticut Science Center. This year, student science projects from 31 Hartford city schools participated and the science fair was held at Annie Fisher School in Hartford, CT. The best science projects, as determined by more than 100 judges including five volunteers from the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, were honored at a special awards ceremony at the Connecticut Science Center.

One of my career missions is to ensure that young people in our community have mentors and to encourage them to pursue medicine and science for their careers. Our Institute at UConn provides high school students and college students with research opportunities in our biomedical science laboratories. Each summer, we recruit students who are interested in medicine, dental medicine or biomedical research to participate in our research program. Through extensive training, students acquire knowledge on how science is conducted and where science is heading in the future. As a mentor for many of these young people, it is a real pleasure for me to see them grow to become scientists or physicians one day.

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