DNP student presenting "The Healing Power of Movement: Integrating an Evidence Based, Nurse Driven Mobility Assessment Tool as the Established Gold Standard on an Orthopedic Surgical Unit."

DNP student presenting "Self-Monitored Blood Pressure Devices for Hypertension Management in Undeserved Communities."

The Human Side of Plant Health   At the forefront of plant disease surveillance and management are extension professionals and plant diagnosticians, with the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) serving as a cornerstone of these efforts. As both endemic and emerging plant diseases spread at unprecedented rates, it is increasingly critical to identify strategies that strengthen and expand existing diagnostic and reporting systems. This work addresses these challenges through a needs assessment of the Northeast Plant Diagnostic Network (NEPDN) and an exploration of citizen science as a complementary approach to enhance plant disease monitoring, strengthen diagnostic capacity, and advance national plant biosecurity efforts.

DNP student presenting "A Gratitude-Based Journaling Intervention to Combat Burnout for Nurse Practitioners in the Outpatient Setting."

DNP student presenting "Pre-Clinical Objective Structured Clinical Examination for Family Nurse Practitioner Students: Impact on Clinical Confidence and Perceptions of Curricular Integration."

Tittle - Structure-Guided Design Of Polymer Dielectrics For Sustainable Electrical And Electronic Equipment. Polymer Program, Institute of Materials Science. "Sustainable high-performance polymers by designing polycannabinoid dielectrics, showing how molecular design can deliver low-loss, high-temperature materials for next-generation electronics"

Differential cross sections for forward-angle photoproduction of π⁰, η, and η′ pseudoscalar mesons were measured using data from the RadPhi experiment conducted in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. RadPhi utilized a tagged bremsstrahlung photon beam incident on a stationary ⁹Be target, with a detector system configured to trigger on a recoil proton in coincidence with multiple neutral showers in the calorimeter. Events were reconstructed through kinematic fitting, with background suppressed via sideband subtraction and Monte Carlo modeling of nucleon resonance contributions. Cross sections were extracted over the photon energy range 4.4 - 5.4 GeV and binned in momentum transfer |t|, providing measurements from one of the first high-statistics experiments of forward η and η??? production from a nuclear target at these energies. Acceptance corrections were applied using a detailed GEANT-based simulation of the detector geometry and response. The resulting cross sections are consistent with 2020 CLAS results when scaled by the number of protons in beryllium, and show broad agreement with other data and theoretical models. In parallel, a high-resolution photon tagger detector, the Tagger Microscope (TAGM), was designed, constructed, and commissioned for the GlueX experiment in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. The TAGM was developed to improve energy resolution near the coherent bremsstrahlung peak by detecting post-bremsstrahlung electrons across a one GeV range along the focal plane of the tagging spectrometer. The detector consists of a 5x102 array of 2x2 mm² square BCF-20 plastic scintillating fibers thermally fused to BCF-98 light guide fibers optically coupled to silicon photomultipliers. These fibers are mounted in a precision-machined framework enabling fine positional adjustments to maintain precise alignment with post-bremsstrahlung electron trajectories, while ensuring mechanical rigidity, thermal stability, optical isolation, minimal inactive area, and radiation shielding for electronics. The construction effort involved extensive testing of fiber quality, light transmission, thermal fusing, radiation hardness, and defect analysis using SEM and EDX techniques. Following its installation and commissioning, the TAGM became a critical component of the GlueX beamline, enabling high-precision tagging essential for studies of hybrid mesons and gluonic excitations.

Ph.D. candidate Honglin Zhu will present his dissertation defense titled "Extraction, Nanofibrillization, and Functionalization of Chitin from Lobster Shells for Nanopriming in Microgreens." His research focuses on developing sustainable methods to convert lobster shell waste into functional chitin nanofibers and exploring their applications in enhancing microgreen growth. The defense will include an overview of green extraction technologies, nanomaterial characterization, and the agricultural and environmental significance of chitin-based innovations. All are welcome to attend and support Honglin's milestone achievement in advancing sustainable food and agricultural systems.

This dissertation defense presents a unified, learning-based framework that enhances the accuracy, robustness, and interpretability of Distribution System State Estimation (DSSE) and cyber–physical event analytics. The research develops multi-fidelity framework for uncertainty-aware state estimation and spatio-temporal deep learning architectures for detecting, classifying, and localizing cyberattacks and physical events. Validation on IEEE benchmark feeders and a real-world 2,135-node real distribution system demonstrates significant improvements in scalability, resilience, and transparency compared with traditional methods.

Title: Mutagenicity Of DNA-Peptide Crosslink and Oxidative Lesions: Translesion Synthesis DNA Polymerases Responsible for Bypass and Repair. Field of study: Chemistry This dissertation sheds light on how mutagenic certain oxidative lessions and DNA-peptide crosslinks are, which mutations occur as a result, and what roles TLS polymerases play in their repair process.

The doctoral dissertation oral defense of Miu Tsuji, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry (Physical Chemistry) at the University of Connecticut, will be held on December 1, 2025. The dissertation, "Chiral Bridge Effects on Radical Pair Lifetimes in D–χ–A Systems", examines how incorporating chiral BINOL bridges into donor–bridge–acceptor molecules influences electron transfer and spin dynamics. The study demonstrates the formation of long-lived radical pairs at room temperature and provides valuable insight into the role of chirality in regulating radical pair recombination and its potential connection to Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). This research contributes to a deeper understanding of electron transfer in chiral molecular systems and highlights potential applications in spintronics and quantum information science. Faculty, students, and members of the UConn community are welcome to attend.

The doctoral dissertation oral defense of Miu Tsuji, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry (Physical Chemistry) at the University of Connecticut, will be held on December 1, 2025. The dissertation, "Chiral Bridge Effects on Radical Pair Lifetimes in D–χ–A Systems", examines how incorporating chiral BINOL bridges into donor–bridge–acceptor molecules influences electron transfer and spin dynamics. The study demonstrates the formation of long-lived radical pairs at room temperature and provides valuable insight into the role of chirality in regulating radical pair recombination and its potential connection to Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). This research contributes to a deeper understanding of electron transfer in chiral molecular systems and highlights potential applications in spintronics and quantum information science. Faculty, students, and members of the UConn community are welcome to attend.

Dissertation title is TBD.

Dissertation title is TBD