Jenna Bartley, Ph.D. (she/her)
Department:
Center on Aging and Department of Immunology
Area of Research Inquiry/Areas of Expertise:
My research focuses on age-related declines in immune responses and physical function utilizing both preclinical work (cell culture and murine studies) and clinical trials to develop and test interventions that can improve age-related declines. The overarching premise of my research is that by targeting aging biology, we can improve overall healthspan, including immune function and physical function, two key determinants of quality of life in older adults.
Courses and Professional Organizations:
I direct the Immunology Journal Club course and contribute to the Experimental Design and Biostatistics and Advanced Immunology courses in the UConn Health Biomedical Science PhD program. I am the Chair of the Public Issues Council and Vice Chair of the UConn Health Graduate School DEI Committee. I am also active in the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), American Association of Immunologists (AAI), among other professional organizations.
Faculty Profile:
https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Bartley-Jenna
I am completely UConn-grown, so-to-say. Growing up in Watertown, CT, I was always interested in science and sports and originally wanted to be a sports medicine physician. As a first-generation college student, I didn’t quite know where to start, but began my college career at UConn majoring in Exercise Science. There I was introduced to research and fell in love. I quickly realized that while physicians can make a large impact on individuals, biomedical research underlies the majority of health advancements. I stayed at UConn and completed my Master’s and PhD studies in the Kinesiology Department. My studies mainly focused on ways to improve muscle anabolism in elite athletes and I was lucky to work with some amazing elite athletes. While I enjoyed this research, I became more interested in how the immune system controls muscle regeneration and more broad applications beyond just athletes. Due to mainly young naivety, I switched research fields completely and decided to complete a postdoctoral fellowship focused on immunology and aging. Though there was a steep learning curve, this decision allowed me to find my true research passion – aging. While my training background seem unfocused, it provided me a unique skillset to be able to focus on translational aging research. Now as an Assistant Professor in the Center on Aging and Department of Immunology at UConn Health, I strive to develop and test novel interventions that target aging biology to improve overall healthspan in older adults.
My career journey wasn’t straight forward. It took many turns and was splattered with indecision, anxiety, and doubt of my abilities. I didn’t have family that had advanced degrees to rely on to guide my choices. I didn’t grow up with a plethora of exposure to science or vast opportunities. I had to overcome many obstacles and pave my own way. I believe that the exposure to STEM in early schooling partly shapes how students envision possible future careers and disparities in this exposure strongly contributes to the lack of diversity and equity that is currently seen in the biomedical research field. As a M1 mentor, I aim to increase not only exposure, but also opportunities for underserved and underrepresented students. It is quite clear that a more diverse workforce leads to more impactful research findings and better health outcomes overall. Therefore, I strongly believe more efforts need to be focused on increasing diversity within the biomedical pipeline early-on to ensure that the best future physicians and scientists get the opportunities necessary to succeed. Further, throughout my academic career, I’ve had some great mentors and some not-so-great mentors. I experienced first-hand myself, and also witnessed, how bad mentorship can lead to scientific burnout and feelings of failure and inadequacy. As a faculty member now, I strive to make sure all students and trainees get the support they need to find their path and succeed. There is no clear path that everyone needs to take, but the right mentor can help trainees find different pathways to success and determine the right path for them. While the biomedical science field is competitive, there is no need to be competitive with each other and I believe a more supportive environment can propel major advances in scientific discoveries.
Kristin Morgan, Ph.D. (she/her)
Department:
Biomedical Engineering
Area of Research Inquiry/Areas of Expertise:
My research strengths are in the investigation and implementation of advanced biomedical engineering tools and data analytical methods to optimize the long-term mobility health and performance of individuals following lower extremity injuries. To accomplish these goals, my laboratory has been successful in designing novel rehabilitation protocols to improve long-term lower extremity injury outcomes, developing new metrics to identify the restoration of healthy neuromuscular control, and implementing computational musculoskeletal modeling to optimize individual’s movement. My work has been published in high-impact journals. In recognition of my research contributions, I serve as the Principal Investigator on many competitive research grants funded by Department of Defense, General Dynamics Electric Boat, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
Courses and Professional Organizations:
I teach courses in Biomechanics, Failure Analysis for Biomedical Applications, and Human Biomechanics. I am an active member of the American Society of Biomechanics, the International Society of Biomechanics, the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports, and the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers – Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
Faculty Profile:
https://www.bme.uconn.edu/faculty-staff/core-faculty/morgan-kristin/
Research Lab Website:
https://biomechanicslab.engr.uconn.edu/
https://biomechanicslab.engr.uconn.edu/our-team/kristin-morgan/
I lived with two exceptional role models. My father had a PhD in Chemical Engineering and was a tenured associate professor in Chemical Engineering at RPI before serving as a professor and Dean of Engineering at Hampton University. With her PhD in statistics, my mother worked as a statistician at GE Research and Development Center before serving as professor and chair of the mathematics department at Hampton University.
Hence, it was not surprising that I decided to become a professor. While pursuing my master’s degree I was introduced to the field of biomechanics. Being an avid sports enthusiast and biomedical engineer, biomechanics research was a great way to pursue both of my passions. As a biomechanicist, I am able to apply engineering principles to advance a better understanding of how humans move and adopt new movement patterns. It is exciting to use the research findings established in my laboratory to improve the mobility of individuals with a wide array of disabilities and to also enhance an athletes’ rehabilitation and performance.
I have been fortunate to have wonderful mentors in my life and much of my success can be attributed to the guidance and feedback I received from them. I wish to follow in my parents’ footsteps and provide mentorship and guidance to the next generation. I aim to help my mentees create and execute a plan to successfully pursue their goals. I also hope to instill them with the confidence to pursue very lofty goals.
A key message to share with a mentee is that their goals are achievable with hard work and discipline. It is also vital that they engage a strong network of mentors, supporters and collaborators in their pursuits. Mentees should be a member of national and international professional organizations, serve as an officer, committee member, etc. of the organization and chair sessions and present papers at the national and international conferences.
I think it is important that everyone retains a diverse and multidisciplinary group of mentors and collaborators. Quite often research activities today require teams of experts. Also, your mentorship needs may change at various stages of your career. Some mentors will have a different strength and will serve to guide them in their research, in their career advancement, and in many other areas of their professional growth.
One of my mentors told me that “once you get over the fear of hearing no, the world gets easier.” Thus, everyone experiences rejection; however, it is important to not let it stop you. Instead, try to take some knowledge, information, and/or lesson from that experience to help you figure out how to get the “yes.” I hope to teach my mentees that lesson and help them to successfully pursue their dreams.
As a mentor I have the opportunity to provide guidance and direction to promising scientists in the early stages of their career. Mentors can also share their network of professional collaborators, etc. with the mentor while also incorporating their mentees’ collaborators into this network. The broad expansion of the networks benefits all.
Mu-Ping Nieh, Ph.D. (he/his)
Department:
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE)/Biomedical Engineering (BME)/Physics Departments and the Polymer Program at Institute of Materials Science (IMS)
Area of Research Inquiry/Areas of Expertise:
My research mainly focuses on probing the function-structure relationships of biomembranes and nanoparticles for therapeutic and diagnostics delivery. We have developed unique and well-controlled methos for lipid nanoparticles with various shapes through rational design. The advanced technology that we commonly used for structural identification is small angle scattering which has been further advanced through machine learning for data analysis. We are constructing a state-of-the-art advanced light scattering instrument now.
Courses and Professional Organizations:
Since 2010, I have taught the following courses: Polymeric Materials, Thermodynamics-I, Thermodynamics-II, Polymer Properties, Nanostructural Characterization – Scattering, Chemical Engineering Senior Lab and leading Senior Design Projects. I have been a member of American Chemical Society (ACS) since 2012 and have organized sessions of “Biomembrane Synthesis, Structure, Mechanics, and Dynamics” in the annual national spring conference since 2012. I am also a member of Biophysical Society, American Physics Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Faculty Profile:
https://chemical-biomolecular.engr.uconn.edu/people/faculty/nieh-mu-ping/
Research Lab Website:
I have been enthusiastic in teaching younger kids as a “teaching assistant” for his mom, who was a middle school math teacher, in my early age (when in middle school). However, I took several detours before becoming a faculty member. My career pathway has been full of unexpected adventures. After the PhD training, I conducted research at national labs, including National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA) and National Research Council in Canada. Not until 2010, I followed my childhood dream, guided by GOD’s grace, to become a faculty member at UConn. Since then, I have been a mentor of many undergraduates and graduate students, helping them overcome research and academic challenges. The development of advanced science and technology requires creativity, logistics, knowledge and problem-solving skills. The earlier the students are equipped with these skills, the more contribution they can make to society. I have been conducting advanced research for decades and understand that these are important traits for mature scientists or engineers. I have the enthusiasm in sharing my personal experience with young STEM generation to prepare for future challenges with valuable advice and walk with them through research difficulties. I am richly blessed by seeing the growth of my mentees in research and knowledge of their disciplines. As a mentor, my goal is to help the mentees explore their potential and train them to become professional scientists or engineers in the hope that they feel strong support from UConn faculty. My non-traditional career pathway (from National Lab to Academia) can provide valuable insight to possible research opportunities after students receive their PhD degree. I consider the success of my mentees in achieving their goals under my mentoring as the most rewarding experience in my life. My advice to all PhD students who conduct advanced research is “Dare to dream big, persevere in challenges and never stop learning. You will be greeted by success.”
Gualberto Ruaño, MD, Ph.D.,(he/his)
Department:
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Assistant Director for Special Projects of the Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering.
Faculty Profile:
https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Ruano-Gualberto
I have been involved in signature educational programs at the Institute: T32 grant Regenerative Engineering of Musculoskeletal Tissues - Convergence Doctoral Training Program for Ph.D. students (NIAMS AR079114) and Young Innovative Investigator Program (YIIP) for Post-baccalaureate students pursuing a master’s in biomedical science. In these programs, I have mentored 25 students at UConn during my M1 tenure: 9 T32 Fellows and 21 YIIP Scholars.
I have programmed monthly meetings as part of the T32 Convergence Forum. Each session provides an opportunity for discussion and camaraderie among the Fellows. Each meeting features a Far-Out and Trends in Convergence topics presented by a Fellow or faculty on new perspectives in biomedical sciences.
I have intensely mentored YIIP students through their journey, including thesis defense and regular journal clubs. I have supported the Scholars with letters of recommendation and interview rehearsals. I have also conducted workshops sharing my lived experiences as a physician scientist and innovator in personalized medicine.
I have produced and hosted the webinar series Rising Stars of Regenerative Engineering: The Dynamic of Students and Research Mentors. The series explores the perspective of young scientists in training, the interaction with research mentors, ideal environments to overcome cultural barriers, and the meshing into science as a profession.
Through my own journey as a Hispanic physician scientist and innovator, I trust to be able serve as role model for the next generation. Health disparities result from education disparities. Through the M1 Mentoring program my goals are to create a national model for best practices in mentorship of underrepresented students in the biomedical sciences and to continue addressing advancement of educational opportunity and parity to improve healthcare.