Before Klair Lubonja even started classes his freshman year he was engaged in research courtesy of the Pre-College Enrichment Program, sponsored by the Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs at the UConn Health Center. As a member of Dr. Yu Lei’s lab, Klair spent the summer working with copper nanowire and single-wired carbon nanotubes in an effort to enhance glucose electrooxidation. The goal was to find the perfect composite ratio of the two materials so that a sensor for glucose and other sugars in the body could be created. Such a sensor would be an improvement upon the costly sensors on the market today. In August 2012, a paper detailing the results of the research in which Dr. Lei and Klair were involved was published in Science of Advanced Materials, volume 4, number 7/8. The article, entitled Copper Nanowires-SWCNTs Hybrid Composite for Enhanced Glucose Electrooxidation and Detection in Alkaline Medium, lists Klair as the third author.

---