UConn Today – Connecticut’s manufacturing sector remains a powerful economic engine, supporting thousands of jobs and driving innovation in aerospace, defense, health care, and beyond.
Last year, the state’s manufacturers generated more than $34 billion in output, approximately 12% of the state’s gross state product. Connecticut is home to more than 4,500 manufacturing companies and more than 153,000 people work in the industry in our state, according to the latest data.
UConn Today – A sweeping and deeply concerning leak of internet user credentials is making headlines around the globe, with cybersecurity analysts confirming that more than 16 billion usernames and passwords have been compromised in what’s being called the largest credential compilation ever discovered online.
Although many of us have been desensitized to data breaches, this appears to be a much more sophisticated concentration of effort and information.
UConn Today – When graduate student Dmitrii Tuzov ’26 MS heard about an opportunity to learn about decentralized AI (deAI) from experts in the field, and potentially create business-enhancing technology, he couldn’t have been more excited.
“My first reaction was, ‘Definitely! That’s what I want to do,’’’ he says. Now in the early stages of the project, he and four other UConn graduate students are learning technical skills, setting goals, and defining the scope of their work. “The deeper I dive, the more I see how big this opportunity is.’’
UConn Today – Fasheng Xu, a professor of Operations and Information Management (OPIM), has been awarded the 2025 Chelliah Sriskandarajah Early Career Research Accomplishments Award, a global honor bestowed on just one scholar annually.
The award, presented at the Production & Operations Management Society’s (POMS) annual conference in Atlanta last weekend, recognizes exceptional research contributions by a scholar who completed his or her doctorate in the last six years.
UConn Today – Alumnus Rich Eldh ’81, an entrepreneur who created a $300 million global research and advisory firm, told business undergraduates that servant leadership is one of the most important, and misinterpreted, components of business success.
“Servant leadership means leading with strength, for the benefit of others,’’ he told more than 700 graduates, their family and friends, during the Commencement ceremony on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion. “It means empowering your team, fostering growth, and creating environments where others can shine.’’
UConn Today – A team of tech-savvy UConn undergraduates taught dozens of Greater Hartford business managers, executives, and fellow students how to identify a brain tumor on a CT scan in less than two minutes.
Using Google Teachable Machine, they demonstrated how artificial intelligence can be used to ‘train’ a program to differentiate between scans of healthy brains and those raising red flags. Within minutes, participants were able to analyze new, uncategorized brain images on their laptops.
UConn Today – A UConn Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) team brought home the first-place award in the inaugural InsurTech NY Student Case Competition earlier this month, outshining ‘brilliant minds and razor-sharp pitches.’
“All the teams were incredible,’’ said Elia Cocoli who represented UConn with friend and classmate Rehaan Ahamed. Both graduate students will earn their degrees in May. “I think we won because of our delivery. We were comfortable with our presentation, brought a great deal of energy, and felt very relaxed on the stage,’’ she said.
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 – Isabella Escobar and Anwesha Gupta, both juniors at Avon High School, spent a few minutes Monday morning in a friendly competition to see whose robot could scoop up more blocks and get them across a goal line.
They were among 40 students from Avon, Farmington, and Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, who spent part of the day at UConn’s Graduate Business Learning Center, exploring careers in data analytics. The Data Analytics Day event was organized in partnership with Junior Achievement of Southwest New England.
UConn Today – Freshman Barbara Hawke Lopez was the captain of her high school robotics team and enjoys coding and emerging technology.
When she discovered that Innovate Labs was opening a facility on the UConn Stamford campus, with hands-on learning opportunities in emerging technology, she was intrigued.
Today, Hawke Lopez is employed as a lab assistant there, teaching her peers how to experiment with new technology, and helping them develop their confidence in the automation of the future.