Ms. Alicia Ely Yamin is the Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown Law and Program Director for the Health and Human Rights Initiative at the O’Neil Institute for National and Global Health Law. Her career focuses on the intersection of health and human rights, in both the academic world as well as in activism. She is known globally for her scholarship on and advocacy of right-based approaches to health. She contributed to the drafting of several General Comments by the UN treaty bodies, as well as UN Human Rights Council resolutions. She regularly advises the UN bodies related to health and human rights while providing guidance to NGOs on landmark litigation. She has served on WHO Task Forces and is currently a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Global Health and Law. Ms. Yamin was awarded the prestigious Joseph H. Flom Fellowship on Global Health and Human Rights from 2007 to 2011.

 

Ms. Yamin has written a book, Power, Suffering and the Struggle for Dignity: Human Rights Frameworks for Health and Why They Matter, which was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. This work is focused on defining what a human rights based approach to health and development means, and why it matters. Additionally, it provides a foundation for the understanding of how a human rights based approach implies the potential for social transformation.

Recognized as one of the leading scholars in American education, Dr. Fetterman is author to 16 books and hundreds of articles and chapters on the subject. The recommendations from his book, Excellence and Equality, led the U.S. Department of Education to formulate a panel to select a national center for the gifted and talented. As an appointed member, Dr. Fetterman recommended the University of Connecticut to the panel, granting the University a $10 million federal award for the National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented, now directed by Dr. Joseph Renzulli. Dr. Fetterman’s fields of expertise include evaluation, medical and teacher education, dropout programs, gifted and talented education, higher education, and distance learning. His empowerment evaluation method (a self-help approach) makes great contribution to the theory and practice of education–and according to the American Evaluation Association, remains “one of the greatest evaluation innovations of the past two decades.”

 

Dr. Romanoff has witnessed significant gains and challenges in the field of pain management since beginning his career as an anesthesiologist in 1987. The increased use of controlled opioid medications for non-malignant chronic pain has proved controversial, providing much needed aid to many individuals while fostering an epidemic of overdoses and addiction in both patients and society. Dr. Romanoff is on the committee on Narcotic Use and Diversion of the North Carolina Medical Society in North Carolina (NC), one of four states with the highest incidence of abuse. In 2007, Dr. Romanoff helped create a centralized database of all controlled medicines in NC. In addition, he has participated in several state-wide committees focusing on developing protocols and policies for the reporting and monitoring of narcotic use. In 2013, he was selected to participate in Project Lazarus–an educational and mentoring program set up by the NC Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Romanoff’s continued lecturing, mentoring, and advising display his efforts to combat prescription drug abuse and ensure safe access to medication for those in need.

 

 

Marissa Piccolo, from Trumbull, CT, is a political science and economics major with a minor in history. She is also a SHARE Awardee with Dr. Prakash Kashwan (Political Science), researching the role of NGOs  in international environmental governance and policy. In addition, she is a staff writer for the Daily Campus, an Ex-officio Senator representing the Honors Council in USG, and President of the UConn College Democrats.

Project: “Redefining the Role of Public High Schools and Community Mental Health: An Exploration of Mental Health Care Access in the PBIS Framework”
Faculty mentor: Dr. Jennifer Freeman (Department of Educational Psychology)

 

Brian Liang, from Bethany, CT, is a pre-med molecular and cell biology major who has been a regular volunteer at Yale New Haven Hospital.  In high school, he participated in numerous research projects.  Among many accolades for his work, he won first place for his poster presentation at the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, held at UConn in 2013.  In addition, before college he was consistently a top-16 ranked swimmer in the state of Connecticut.

Project: “Analysis of the anti-adhesion mechanism in ovarian cancer cells”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Xiuling Lu (Department of Pharmaceutical Science)

 

Sarah Mosure, from Cromwell, CT, is a pre-med biological sciences major.  In addition to her work in the Sun Lab, which she began in September 2013, she is a member of the UConn’s Division I Varsity Women’s Rowing Team and an active member of Arm 2 Arm, an organization which provides medical care to Haiti.

 Project: “The Effect of Adipose Secretions on Fertility and Ovulation”
 Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jianjun Sun (Department of Physiology and Neurobiology)

 

Patrick Adams, from Wethersfield, CT, is an economics major (with an intended double major in mathematics).  He is also the recipient of a SHARE Award with Dr. Talia Bar (Economics), examining patent application systems.  In addition, Pat is an accomplished jazz musician.

Project: “Iterated Two-Sided Matching”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Knoblauch (Department of Economics)

 

John Ovian, from Madison, CT, is a chemistry major and research assistant in the Leadbeater Lab, interested in new synthetic (“green”) chemistry. A singer and vocal instructor in high school, he is also Director of Extreme Measures, a co-ed a cappella group at UConn.

Project: “Oxoammonium Salts as a Tool to Access New Chemicals from Biorenewable Feedstocks”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicholas Leadbeater (Department of Chemistry)

 

Joseph DeSisto, from Orono, ME, has already been identified as one of the leading myriapod experts in New England, having studied “creepy- crawly things” throughout his youth and having worked as field assistant for researchers at the University of Maine. He is currently developing an identification guide to centipedes of New England.

Project: “The Centipedes of Great Smokey Mountains National Park”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jane O’Donnell, Scientific Collection Manager (Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)

 

Isabel Nip, from West Hartford, CT, is a pre-med biological sciences major who began conducting research at UConn in the summer of 2012 through the UConn Mentor Connection for Talented Youth program. She is also an accomplished pianist and a volunteer at UConn’s John Dempsey Hospital  and for the Hartford Rescue Mission.

Project: “Exploring the Role of the Cytoskeleton in Neurodegenerative Diseases”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kenneth Campellone (Department of Molecular and Cell Biology)

 

Adam Kuegler, from Watertown, CT, is a political science major with an interest in law and politics, having served on state and national campaigns.  A runner and 2013 Valedictorian of his high school, he was selected as the Republican-American Top Male Scholar Athlete of 2012.

Project: “The Heart of the Democratic Struggle: The Voter ID Debate”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Thomas Hayes (Department of Political Science)

 

Andrew Harnedy, from Guilford, CT, is majoring in classics and ancient Mediterranean studies.  In addition to his passion for classics and history, he is a performer and author of The Second Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, a historical novel.

Project: “Whose Victory? A Debate for the Ages”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniel Caner (Department of History)