Art exhibit highlighting creative the creative talent of UConn Health Employees from across the organization.

"Expressions in Multimedia" by Martha G. Trask "Secondary Effects" by Jeff Ostergren Join us for a reception Thursday, May 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Celeste LeWitt Gallery. (north side of the food court)Martha G. Trask is an expressive mixed media artist who happens to work in our library.Jeff Ostergren infuses his paint with actual medications to tell stories about the intertwined histories of pharmaceuticals and color.

The exhibiting artists are Marsha Borden, Helena Chastel, Kathryn Frund, Phoebe Godfrey, Hugh MacDonald, Bob Pavlik, Dan Potter, and R. Douglass Rice. Open Air 2025 is open daily and will remain on view through October 6, 2025. June 19, 2025 iis the last day to visit indoor art exhibitions. Exhibitions inside the AVS Gallery will resume on September 11, 2025

UConn Health Day 2 new employee orientation is conducted on Saba. It focuses on comprehensive training for our newest workforce, covering diversity awareness, sexual harassment prevention, and compliance to ensure a respectful and compliant work environment.AgendaDay 2Format: Saba Self-Guided Learning Time: 8 am - 4:30 pm Location: RemoteActivities: Dive deeper into your compliance and role-specific training and explore resources at your own pace.

Abstract: Adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming is the current de facto video streaming technology in the Internet. It accounts for the majority of traffic in cellular networks, and also places a heavy demand on users' limited monthly cellular data budgets. Despite much research on ABR streaming in cellular networks, reducing data usage and improving quality of experience (QoE) remain a significant challenge. In this dissertation, we explore two directions in resolving the challenge: (1) developing quality-aware ABR streaming strategies guided by data budget to reduce data usage, while minimizing the impact on QoE, and (2) developing accurate cross-layer bandwidth estimation for low-latency live (LLL) ABR streaming to improve QoE for end users. In the first part of the dissertation, we develop an approach, DataPlanner, that uses data budget information to better manage the data usage of mobile video streaming, while minimizing the impact on users' QoE. Specifically, we propose a novel framework for quality-aware ABR streaming involving a per-session data budget constraint. Under the framework, we develop two planning-based strategies, one for the case where fine-grained perceptual quality information is known to the planning scheme, and another for the case where such information is not available. Using evaluations under a wide range of network conditions using different videos covering a variety of content types and encodings, we demonstrate that both strategies use much less data compared to state-of-the-art ABR schemes, while still providing comparable QoE.   In the second part, we propose a cross-layer bandwidth estimation (CLBE) approach that combines coarse-grained application-level semantics with fine-grained kernel-level packet capture to achieve higher accuracy. We incorporate CLBE into three open-source ABR players and show that it provides significantly more accurate bandwidth estimation than state-of-the-art application-level techniques. This accuracy leads to better bandwidth prediction and notably improved QoE for end users in low-latency live streaming scenarios. Together, these contributions advance the field of video streaming by enabling data-efficient and QoE-aware adaptive streaming in dynamic cellular environments, offering practical enhancements for both bandwidth-constrained users and real-time streaming systems.

Abstract:Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that affects approximately 2.8 million people worldwide. Its pathophysiology involves intricate interactions among genetic, immune, and metabolic factors. Recent studies have implicated gut microbiome in MS pathogenesis; however, the dynamic interactions between the microbiome and host immune system, metabolism, and diet over time remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we conducted a six-month longitudinal multi-omics study involving 49 participants, including 24 untreated relapsing-remitting MS patients and 25 age, sex, and race matched healthy controls. Metagenomic analyses revealed several gut microbial taxa significantly reduced in MS patients, as well as taxa positively or negatively correlated with disability scores. These findings were accompanied by notable changes in peripheral immune cell profiles.While previous studies have reported a wide range of microbial taxa associated with MS, there remains a lack of consensus regarding consistent microbial signatures across different cohorts. To investigate this, we performed a meta-analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing data from seven geographically and technically diverse studies, comprising a total of 524 adult subjects (257 MS patients and 267 healthy controls). After reprocessing each dataset to ensure consistency, we conducted both study-specific and pooled analyses. Our meta-analysis identified a set of microbial taxa consistently associated with MS across diverse populations, providing more robust evidence for gut microbiome alterations in the disease.Some of the microbial taxa identified across studies are of particular interest due to their consistent differential abundance in MS and healthy individuals, or due to their potential metabolic interactions. Further functional characterization of these microbes is critical to understanding their role in MS pathophysiology. To facilitate downstream strain-level investigations, which require contamination-free reads for accurate genome assembly, we developed StrainPolisher—a computational tool designed to detect and remove contaminant reads in whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data at the strain level. Benchmarking results demonstrate that StrainPolisher achieves high accuracy and efficiency, offering a reliable solution for quality control in microbial genomics.Together, this body of work integrates longitudinal multi-omics analysis and cross-cohort meta-analysis to advance our understanding of the gut microbiome's role in MS, and is complemented by the development of a generalizable strain-level quality control tool to support broader microbial genomic research.

The Oceanic Melville art exhibition was created in collaboration with Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, University of Connecticut Professor of English and Director of Maritime Studies, and Robert K. Wallace, Northern Kentucky University Regents Professor of English. The artworks in Oceanic Melville, which focus on Melville's novel Moby-Dick, include painting, drawing, artist books, print, and sculpture by artists from Greece, France, England, Canada, Turkey, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, and California. In genre, medium, and style, these artworks are as varied as the chapters in Melville's Moby-Dick. The artworks oscillate, as Melville's verbal aesthetic does, through all gradations from figurative to abstract. The artworks in the exhibition are on loan from the Melville Society and the Elizabeth Schultz Collection at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.Oceanic Melvilleexhibition dates: June 5 – June 19, 2025. Gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday 12-4 pm, with additional hours to view the exhibition during the conference on Monday June 16, and Tuesday June 17 also from 12-4pm.

For the full class schedule, descriptions, and to register, please visit the UConn Recreation website (https://recreation.uconn.edu/group-fitness-schedule/).

For the full class schedule, descriptions, and to register, please visit the UConn Recreation website (https://recreation.uconn.edu/group-fitness-schedule/).

Please join us for a virtual workshop focused on how to write a Statement of Grant Purpose for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) award. We will discuss the elements of a good statement, review examples from successful applications, and do some short writing exercises. Please contact Michael Cunningham (michael.cunningham@uconn.edu (mailto:michael.cunningham@uconn.edu)) for more information and a link to the workshop.

Join us for Volleyball Day with CISS student worker Malakoot on Friday, June 13th, and Monday, June 16th! We will meet at 3:45PM at CISS and head to the volleyball courts. We will play fun games, meet new friends, and enjoy an afternoon of friendly competition. All skill levels are welcome, so bring your energy and excitement — we'll see you on the court!

For the full class schedule, descriptions, and to register, please visit the UConn Recreation website (https://recreation.uconn.edu/group-fitness-schedule/).

Our MSW program prepares students who are passionate about helping others to promote social, racial, and economic justice, and to advocate for improved social policies and services. Join us at this session for conversations about how you can combine your passion with a degree in social work to make change for Individuals, groups, communities and the world.

Art exhibit highlighting creative the creative talent of UConn Health Employees from across the organization.

"Expressions in Multimedia" by Martha G. Trask "Secondary Effects" by Jeff Ostergren Join us for a reception Thursday, May 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Celeste LeWitt Gallery. (north side of the food court)Martha G. Trask is an expressive mixed media artist who happens to work in our library.Jeff Ostergren infuses his paint with actual medications to tell stories about the intertwined histories of pharmaceuticals and color.

The exhibiting artists are Marsha Borden, Helena Chastel, Kathryn Frund, Phoebe Godfrey, Hugh MacDonald, Bob Pavlik, Dan Potter, and R. Douglass Rice. Open Air 2025 is open daily and will remain on view through October 6, 2025. June 19, 2025 iis the last day to visit indoor art exhibitions. Exhibitions inside the AVS Gallery will resume on September 11, 2025

For the full class schedule, descriptions, and to register, please visit the UConn Recreation website (https://recreation.uconn.edu/group-fitness-schedule/).

For new students only