In late December, Connecticut Convergence Institute Associate Director Lakshmi Nair presented a seminar about regenerative engineering for the UConn Health community. The seminar was hosted by the Department of Pediatrics and students, faculty, and residents were in attendance.

UConn School of Engineering professor Bahram Javidi, Ph.D. has been named a 2018 National Academy of Inventors Fellow. Javidi, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, is one of the University’s most active researchers, and his work seeks to integrate optics, photonics, and computational algorithms and systems to advance the science and engineering of imaging from nano to macro scales. Javidi joins four other NAI Fellows from UConn, Cato Laurencin, Lakshmi S. Nair, Pramod Srivastava, and Steve Suib.

Our December 5th Science Cafe brought together researchers, scientists, teachers, practitioners, and members of the community around the topic of LGBTQ+ health, well-being, and experiences. Attendees heard from Drs. Ryan Watson and Rebecca Puhl (Human Development and Family Studies and the Rudd Center) about the preliminary findings from their 2017 LGBTQ Teen Survey — a national study that sampled more than 17,000 young people from every state in the US. The survey included over 150 items that assessed health (such as substance use, eating behaviors, self-esteem, etc), school experiences, disclosure of sexual and gender identity, and more.

After the presentation, an expert panel comprised of Dr. Paul Poteat of Boston College, Dr. Micki McElya of UConn, and Robin McHaelen of True Colors, provided a response to the survey.

Attendees participated throughout the cafe with questions and thoughts about the findings.

Special thank you to the Kavli Foundation for sponsoring our Science Cafe series.

Pictured: Dr. Mohammed Hassan, incoming President of TWAS, Dr. Cato Laurencin, and Dr. Romain Murenzi, Executive Director of TWAS

Connecticut Convergence Institute CEO Dr. Cato Laurencin attended the World Academy of Science Meeting held in Trieste, Italy. The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries – works to support sustainable prosperity through research, education, policy and diplomacy. The meeting included two symposia focused on breakthroughs in science of stem cells and gene editing; and data analytics, social media and sustainability.

You can view the opening ceremony by clicking the video below.