Month: July 2017

First Regenerative Engineering Science Café

Posted on by Melanie L Burnat

1st Regenerative Engineering Science CaféBy Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

Sponsored by the Kavli Foundation and CICATS, the first Regenerative Engineering Science Cafe took place on July 6th at “Butchers and Bakers” in Farmington. It featured 6 exciting leaders in the field who discussed their work and visions in an interactive fashion. Over 40 students, faculty, researchers, engineers, clinicians, and staff attended the event. Regenerative Engineering is a new field which focuses on the convergence of advanced material sciences, stem cell science, physics, developmental biology and clinical translation for solving next-generation challenges in tissue regeneration.

I thank everyone at CICATS and IRE for their hard work to put together this amazing event.

1st Regenerative Engineering Science Café

1st Regenerative Engineering Science Café

 

Mentorship Science Café at UConn Health

Posted on by Melanie L Burnat

Mentorship Science Café at UConn Health

By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

On June 30th, CICATS kicked off this year’s Science Café Series with a focus of mentorship. Over 35 students, faculty, researchers, and staff attended the event in UConn Health’s Academic Lobby. Through engaging talks from invited speakers, the mentorship Science Café was an exciting and productive event.

CICATS strives to educate and nurture established, emerging and future scientists through its Science Cafe Series which is a Kavli BRAIN Event. Each month, the Science Cafe focuses on a specific topic. As a result of our previous success with “Kavli Coffee Hours”, the Kavli Foundation renewed and increased its support.

In addition to the Kavli Foundation, we thank our faculty, partners, affiliates, and the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus for their continuing support.

As the CEO of CICATS, I thank everyone at CICATS for their hard work putting together the CICATS Science Café series.

For more information about upcoming Science Café events, please visit: http://cicats.uconn.edu/science-cafes/

Mentorship Science Café at UConn HealthMentorship Science Café at UConn Health

 

CICATS announces new cohort of the M1 Mentorship Award Program

Posted on by mln00004

The Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS) at UConn, a cross-university translational institute, has announced its next cohort of the M1 Mentorship Award Program.

The aim of the M1 Mentorship Award is to develop a cadre of accomplished investigators who will participate in cultivating an academic environment that elevates mentorship to a discipline with consistently high standards and practices. The program focuses on the recruitment and mentorship of underrepresented students at all stages of the academic pipeline.

The M1 Award recipients, selected through a peer review process, include:

Jennifer Cavallari Sc.D., CIH

Jennifer Cavallari, Sc.D., CIH Dr. Cavallari is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Healthcare and the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UConn Health. Dr. Cavallari is an epidemiologist and Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH). She received her doctorate in Environmental Health from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) in 2007 where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship.

Dr. Nicholas Leadbeater, M1 Mentor

Nicholas Leadbeater, Ph.D. Dr. Leadbeater is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the UConn Storrs campus. A native of the United Kingdom, he received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nottingham and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Bill Zempsky, M1 Mentor

William Zempsky, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Zempsky is a professor of Pediatrics at the UConn School of Medicine and is the Head of the Division of Pain and Palliative Medicine at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Zempsky received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University.  He graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and completed a pediatric residency on the Harriet Lane Service at Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

“I am pleased to welcome this next cohort of M1 Mentors, comprised of yet another talented group of faculty representing UConn and UConn Health,” said Dr. Cato Laurencin, chief executive officer, CICATS. “Mentorship is a fundamental component of student success, and I look forward to the impact from our mentors across CICATS and the UConn community.”

The inaugural cohort of the M1 Mentorship Award Program included Dr. Anne Delany and Dr. Syam Nukavarapu, UConn Health faculty, and Dr. Elaine Choung-Hee Lee, a faculty member from UConn Storrs.

Each M1 Award recipient utilizes program funds to guide and lead the development of their mentees towards becoming academic scientists. The activities focus on promoting the development of these students starting in high school through to junior faculty. CICATS aims to expand the M1 Mentorship Award Program nationally, using this model to promote pipeline development at other academic institutions.

For additional information about the M1 Award, please contact Lana Angelo at langelo@uchc.edu, or visit our website at http://cicats.uconn.edu/m1-mentorship-award-program/.

Regenerative Engineering Science Cafe featured notable panel

Posted on by mln00004

The first Regenerative Engineering Science Cafe took place on Thursday, July 6 at local restaurant “Butchers and Bakers” in Farmington to a large crowd. The Cafe panel, facilitated by Paulos Mengsteab, included six exciting leaders in the field who discussed their work and vision in an interactive fashion: Dr. Lakshmi Nair, Dr. Yusef Khan, Dr. Joseph Walker, Dr. Thanh Nguyen, and Dr. David Gardiner. Over 40 people, including students, faculty, researchers, engineers, clinicians, and staff attended the event.

Regenerative Engineering is a new field focusing on the Convergence of Advanced Material Sciences, Stem Cell Science, Physics, Developmental Biology and Clinical Translation for solving next generation challenges in tissue regeneration. This event was sponsored by the Kavli Foundation.

You can view photos from the event in our photo gallery.

Dr. David Gardiner - Regenerative Engineering Science Cafe
Crowd at Regenerative Engineering Science Cafe
Dr. Cato Laurencin - Regnerative Engineering Science Cafe

Science Café on Mentorship kicks off monthly series

Posted on by mln00004

On June 30, we held our first 2017 Science Café Series: A Kavli BRAIN Event with a program featuring a focus on mentorship. Over 35 people, including students, faculty, researchers, and staff attended the event which was held in the Academic Lobby of UConn Health.

A panel of two faculty mentors: Dr. Nicholas Leadbeater and Dr. Bill Zempsky, and three students: Archibald Agyekum-Yamoah, Aiyana Ponce, and Obum Umerah shared their experiences as mentors and mentees guided by moderator, Lauren Branche. Through engaging conversation and audience questions, the Mentorship Science Café was well-received and generated positive feedback from attendees.

To view photos from the event, visit our photo gallery.

Mentorship Science Cafe
MentorshiP Science Cafe - CTL
Mentorship Science Cafe panelists