UConn Today – A friendly competition between two teams of UConn student brewers ended with one victor – but with everyone who got a chance to sample both beers a winner.
The UConn Brewing Innovation initiative – a multidisciplinary hub that partners the College of Engineering, School of Business, and College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources – has been showing students how the beer brewing process works from the ground up since 2023, in collaboration with Connecticut breweries.
UConn Today – Three impressive teams of entrepreneurs, whose startups range from more robust seafood to healthier laundry detergent to a great place for artists to share their talent, won this year’s Innovation Quest (iQ) entrepreneurship challenge.
The winning teams split $30,000 in prize money and will continue to develop their businesses in an advanced summer entrepreneurship incubator program at UConn.
UConn Today – The first time AI Day was offered in Hartford in 2022, it drew a small but enthusiastic group of 68 participants. It was before the release of ChatGPT, and both the capabilities of the technology and its potential impact on business and society were not widely recognized.
This year, some 800 people are expected at AI Day events spread across two days – a kickoff and thought leadership keynote on Tuesday, April 22, and a day-long learning forum on Wednesday, April 23.
UConn Today – Several of UConn’s online graduate programs are highly ranked for the quality, value, and flexibility they offer to veterans, including one that recently earned the top spot nationwide in U.S. News & World Report’s annual review.
The UConn School of Nursing’s programs were named No. 1 for veterans wishing to pursue online graduate studies in that field, along with high rankings for others: the School of Business (no. 8); the College of Engineering (no. 22); and the business school’s MBA program (no. 62).
UConn Today – If there is one thing that Gaofei Zhang learned from a night-time equestrian class at UConn on a bitter cold evening is that a warm, comfortable pair of boots is one of life’s necessities.
“After that night, I tried a lot of brands of boots,’’ says Zhang, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Allied Health Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural History (CAHNR). “They either weren’t warm or weren’t waterproof, or they were slippery or stiff or hard to clean. I didn’t understand why you’d call them ‘snow boots’ if they aren’t good in the snow!’’
UConn Today – UConn alum and swimsuit entrepreneur Hayley Segar ’17 (CLAS) impressed ABC’s “Shark Tank” judges, and left the entrepreneurship competition with a business deal with two of them.
Despite a case of nerves prior to the segment’s taping, Segar was confident and composed when describing onewith, a women’s swimsuit startup that eliminates seams and other uncomfortable features of swimwear. Segar has repeatedly described her business as a UConn-fueled company.
UConn Today – Women’s swimsuit entrepreneur and UConn alum Hayley Segar ’17 (CLAS) will appear on next week’s segment of “Shark Tank,’’ the competitive entrepreneurship TV show with almost 3 million viewers.
Segar, whose swimsuit company onewith came to fruition with the support of UConn entrepreneurship programs, will appear on the show at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24 on ABC.
UConn Today – After a dozen remarkable years at the helm of the School of Business, Dean John A. Elliott will step aside next month and return to the accounting faculty.
Elliott’s many achievements include creating new academic programs, expanding hands-on learning opportunities, championing the development of entrepreneurship programs serving all students, and expanding business education at regional campuses in Stamford and Hartford.
He spearheaded the rapid and successful pivot from in-person to online education at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, something he described as one of his biggest challenges.
His impact extends well beyond UConn, having mentored three associate deans who went on to lead business schools at the University of New Hampshire, Michigan State, and DePaul during the last three years.
UConn Today – A novel treatment for long-term pain management that could revolutionize post-operative care and eliminate the need for opioids for many, won the first-place, $30,000 grand prize at the Wolff New Venture Competition last week.
Professors and esteemed UConn Health researchers Lakshmi Nair, Ph.D. and Yusuf Khan, Ph.D. say they were both surprised and thrilled that their startup, Soleia Biosciences, received the award. With the financial and business support they’ve received, they hope to advance the treatment that has been in development for 10 years.
