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Newsletter of the Tagliatela College of Engineering - Spring 2025

In the new 2025 research activity category within the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education庐, the University of New Haven has been elevated to the list of Research Colleges and Universities.

The Tagliatela College of Engineering 杏吧原版� with its growing research expenditures and four National Science Foundation CAREER award winners over the last five years 杏吧原版� contributed strongly to the wind beneath the University杏吧原版檚 wings.

The University杏吧原版檚 new designation will serve as a magnet for recruiting top-notch faculty and students who are motivated to secure grants and conduct research that benefit the whole of society.

Published by the American Council on Education, the Carnegie Classification was created by the Carnegie Commission on Higher education in 1970 and is the leading framework for recognizing, describing, and classifying colleges and universities in the United States.

What does an existing workforce in cybersecurity and AI 杏吧原版� or those entering the fields 杏吧原版� need more than anything? More training. Always more training.

While every field must keep up with new developments, the whiplash-inducing forward charges in cybersecurity and AI make every workday a school day as well, with intense classes in how-to-deal-with-this-now or wow-what-肠补苍杏吧原版檛 this thing do.

We杏吧原版檙e about to see some order brought to the scramble to keep up. The University of New Haven, thanks to a $2.5 million grant from the National Security Agency, will lead a coalition of five universities in educating and training the existing and future workforce in four critical infrastructure sectors: energy, government facilities, finance, and telecommunications.

The University of New Haven will tackle the finance sector. Tennessee Technological University will focus on energy. The University of Hawaii 杏吧原版� state and local employees, non-profits, and small businesses. Coastline Community College will set its sights on telecommunications. And the University of North Texas will develop and pilot a workforce readiness assessment tool to help employers in the hiring process.

Through its Connecticut Institute of Technology, the University of New Haven will work with Connecticut state agencies, including the Department of Banking, the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Administrative Services, and the Connecticut Education Network. The goal will be micro-credentials for two pathways, each targeted to a specific type of professional.

The courses for the micro-credentials will be mapped to one work role described by the National Institute of Standards and Technology杏吧原版檚 NICE Cybersecurity Workforce framework. This framework establishes a common language that describes cybersecurity work and its pertinent knowledge and skills 杏吧原版� and one competency depicted by the Department of Defense Cyber Workforce (DCWF) Framework, a lexicon based on the work performed by an individual instead of a position title, occupational series, or designator.

One micro-credential will be titled Cyber Threat Intelligence for Finance Professionals, tailored to cyber threat/warning analysts. The other micro-credential 杏吧原版� AI in Cybersecurity 杏吧原版� will be targeted to DCWF Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning specialists.

In addition to existing employees in the above fields who want to upskill or re-skill, the University expects to recruit new employees from veterans, first responders, transitioning military, and military spouses.

杏吧原版淭his Immersive Cybersecurity Workforce Development project, funded through the National Security Agency and the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, will put the University of New Haven at the forefront of cyber education and workforce development,杏吧原版� said Tirthankar Ghosh, professor and director of the Connecticut Institute of Technology.杏吧原版�

That day 肠补苍杏吧原版檛 come too soon for Mark Raymond, chief information officer and deputy commissioner for Connecticut杏吧原版檚 Department of Administration. 杏吧原版淭oday, there are more than 4,000 open roles in Connecticut for cybersecurity professionals,杏吧原版� he said. 杏吧原版淲e look forward to working with the University of New Haven to create more pathways into these important roles.杏吧原版�

Nadiye Erdil (center) with Amy Thompson (left) and Jacquelynn Garofano from CCAT

The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) has launched a new fellowship program designed to immerse college faculty members in advanced manufacturing technologies and Industry 4.0 practices. The aim is for them to emerge from the immersion ready, willing, and able to incorporate their newfound knowledge into their schools杏吧原版� curricula.

Dr. Nadiye Erdil, associate professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of New Haven (pictured in the center), is one of nine faculty members from around the state who have received a fellowship.

Industry 4.0 杏吧原版� aka the Fourth Industrial Revolution 杏吧原版� is the complete merger of the physical with the virtual. That is, sensors are embedded into equipment to enable the manufacturing process to be measured, analyzed, and optimized. In this Industrial Internet of Things, individual pieces of equipment can have a back-and-forth 杏吧原版渃onversation杏吧原版� about productivity, efficiency, and other fascinating insights.

The faculty fellows will spend approximately 100 hours in the immersion. It will include 56 hours of on-site training sessions, 40 hours of online training sessions, and two Capstone Curriculum Development Workshops of eight hours each.

Connecticut businesses, of course, are eagerly anticipating the influx of Industry 4.0 杏吧原版搆nowledgeable graduates into the job market. Becoming more operationally efficient and reducing product lead time is not an advantage, it杏吧原版檚 a mandate 杏吧原版� decreed by ever fiercer competition for customers with ever higher expectations.

The sea was serenely beautiful until a giant, grinning, Lego figure floated by. The wildflower-dotted hillside? Pristine, until a rogue garbage bag blew into the picture. And the landfills? Ever-growing monuments to plastic杏吧原版檚 refusal to call it quits.

Incinerating it? That杏吧原版檚 just a phase change and one that makes plastic unhealthy, not just unsightly.

Plastics are two-faced. They杏吧原版檝e been a boon to humanity and offended it on a regular basis for about a century now.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Hao Sun wants to end that frustrating dichotomy and preserve plastic杏吧原版檚 positive contributions while seriously limiting its ability to make a mess. A recent National Science Foundation CAREER grant for $608,000 is giving him the chance to further that goal.

His method will involve creating novel polyolefin (a type of polymer) by designing new cyclic olefin monomers with low-to-moderate ring strain.

What, exactly, does that mean?

Polymers (and all plastics are polymers) are composed of many monomers.  Cyclic monomers have a ring structure subject to ring strain, a type of instability. High ring strain allows monomers to more easily form polymers, but it compromises the reverse process 杏吧原版� i.e., the breakdown of polymers into monomers.

Why is this an issue? Because breaking down polymers renders monomers that can then be recycled into new polymer plastics instead of cluttering up the planet as never-say-die waste.

Sun and his student research group, therefore, will work on creating monomers with reduced ring strain to make polymerization possible while making depolymerization into monomers easier.

The group will also study the ceiling temperature of polymers 杏吧原版� the temperature above which they break down into monomers.  That temperature for current plastics is inherently high and requires intensive energy to effect the breakdown. The goal: make polymers with tunable ceiling temperatures by modifying their molecular structure. In other words, tailor the ceiling temperature to the type of polymer and use the lowest possible temperature to trigger the breakdown.

Obviously, there杏吧原版檚 a beautiful economy to this polymer-monomer chemistry 杏吧原版� beautiful because it杏吧原版檚 a circular economy. Monomers become polymers, which become monomers again, which become new polymers.

It杏吧原版檚 a tight economy, too. There杏吧原版檚 simply no room in it for a piece of plastic to go off on its own and become trashy.

Sun is the fourth NSF CAREER grant recipient in the Tagliatela College of Engineering.

Ever see a dog brave a radioactive disaster scene at a nuclear power plant to check if it杏吧原版檚 safe for humans to enter? You will if the dog is named Spot.

Spot, of course, is Boston Dynamics杏吧原版� famous robotic dog and, thanks to a recent National Science Foundation grant for $323,000, he杏吧原版檚 working for us.

Shayok Mukhopadhyay, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the principal investigator on the grant. Together with colleagues Cheryl Li, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Vahid Behzadan, assistant professor of Computer Science and Data Science, he hopes to give Spot a lot more territory in which to roam by pushing back the boundaries of robotic exploration in hazardous environments.

The grant enabled Mukhopadhyay to buy Spot. In fact, anyone can buy Spot or one of his doppelg盲ngers for $75,000. Once the dog is theirs, though, they have to 杏吧原版渢rain杏吧原版� it 杏吧原版� that is, develop the software that runs it and customizes it for a specific task.

So far, the companies that have bought the four-legged, terrain-climbing, 360-degree-visioned canine robot have given it fairly limited assignments 杏吧原版� documenting construction progress, monitoring hazardous environments, and taking photos at locations such as factory floors, construction sites, research labs, and decommissioned nuclear sites.

Mukhopadhyay杏吧原版檚 research will focus on elevating Spot杏吧原版檚 capabilities by training it for high-risk emergency situations. 杏吧原版淲e want to develop a system that can go in and check out debris before emergency rescue crews enter or even while they work,杏吧原版� he explained.

The challenge is that real-world emergencies can be unpredictable and even state-of-the-art robots struggle with adapting to things suddenly going awry, such as shifting debris. Mukhopadhyay and his team will work to advance Spot杏吧原版檚 risk-aware systems and make the dog more able to handle surprises.

This is where AI will come in, to help in the dog杏吧原版檚 杏吧原版渄ecision-making杏吧原版� ability 杏吧原版� in other words to make it more autonomous. 杏吧原版淵ou could give the robot a command, and it would understand what action it should perform 杏吧原版� such as moving a block of debris 杏吧原版� but it also needs to figure out if that action is mechanically feasible,杏吧原版� he elaborated.

杏吧原版淕o figure.杏吧原版� That杏吧原版檚 a command a dog this smart can sink its teeth into.

Dr. Nagasree Garapati, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering, noticed something disturbing about her students. They were taking courses in the entrepreneurial mindset and sustainability and then not taking that knowledge with them to subsequent classes. Specifically, they weren杏吧原版檛 able to apply what they had learned and integrate it into their upper-level design concepts. Also, in their senior capstone projects, they had trouble identifying other stakeholders beyond the project杏吧原版檚 sponsor.

Those disconnects are about to be remedied, thanks to a KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) fellowship won by Garapati. She is the third faculty member in the TCoE to receive the sought-after $10,000 fellowship.

Garapati teaches courses at all college levels, so she was able to identify and analyze the problem up close and design a solution. With the aid of the fellowship, she will incorporate entrepreneurial mindset and sustainability concepts into curricula for first-year and upper-level chemical engineering classes, developing courses that will require students to design products that answer customer needs while meeting requirements for sustainability and safety.

Thanks to Garapati杏吧原版檚 initiative, 杏吧原版渦se it or lose it杏吧原版� will replace 杏吧原版渓earn 杏吧原版榚m and leave 杏吧原版榚m杏吧原版� when it comes to entrepreneurial thinking and sustainability studies 杏吧原版� with the 杏吧原版渓ose it杏吧原版� part simply not an option.

There seems to be some discrepancy when it comes to the understanding of 杏吧原版渃areer-ready杏吧原版� in college graduates.  Too often it杏吧原版檚 more like 杏吧原版渃areer-ready or not, here I come.杏吧原版�

Thanks to a recent Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) Faculty Innovation Fellowship, however, Professor of Computer Science Mehdi Mekni will help to bridge the gap that frequently yawns between a college degree and actual workforce readiness.

A large plank of that bridge will be forging employer partnerships and leveraging the cutting-edge tools and expertise they will bring, in addition to projects that prepare students for success through collaborations with employers.

As a BHEF Faculty Innovation fellow, Mekni is part of a diverse national cohort of nearly 50 faculty members across two cohorts.  It is the inaugural cohort of the prestigious program, which received applications from across the U.S.  The faculty members represent 13 institutions across ten states and come from a spectrum of disciplines, including engineering, computer science, business, hospitality, nursing, and social sciences.

Mekni already showed solid evidence of his bridge-building expertise in 2022 and 2023 when he secured a valuable professional credential from Unity for his computer science students.  Unity is the world杏吧原版檚 leading game engine platform for creating and operating real-time 3D content.  Mekni embedded the credential in the University of New Haven杏吧原版檚 Game Design and Development curriculum through the Connecticut Tech Talent Accelerator program, which boosted enrollment by 40%.

A Unity Certified User (UCU) certification allows a graduate to start immediately in interactive content creation for industries such as gaming, entertainment, extended reality, real-time 3-D, and more.  Students with a UCU certification enter the job market with a decided competitive edge, thanks to their mastery of core Unity skills.

Through the BHEF Faculty Innovation fellowship, Mekni will take the credential idea and build on it by designing a comprehensive pathway of stackable microcredentials.  Unity offers a number of them in areas that include virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence in gaming.

He will start by engaging industry stakeholders to identify where the skills gaps are and where they are going to make an appearance next.  The insights he gains from these encounters will then be deployed in developing program curricula and embedding the credentials within them.

For Mekni, when it comes to designing curricula, it杏吧原版檚 not just outside-the-box thinking.  It杏吧原版檚 more like kicking the box to the curb.  杏吧原版淭his challenge requires reimagining traditional curricula and institutional strategies,杏吧原版� he said.  杏吧原版淚t杏吧原版檚 about responsiveness to employer needs in a highly specific way. The talent pipeline we want to create won杏吧原版檛 just deposit somewhat qualified applicants into employers杏吧原版� laps.  It will deliver applicants that hit all the job description requirements on the nose.杏吧原版�

For the fifth time, the Tagliatiela College of Engineering hosted the New England regionals of a global penetration testing competition. The challenge: Find ways to breach a mythical company杏吧原版檚 computer system and use that success to devise solutions to make the system as impenetrable as possible.

Out of eight teams, the University杏吧原版檚 Cybersecurity and Hacking team came in second, right behind the first-place winner, the University of Massachusetts 杏吧原版� Amherst, and in front of West Point, which took third.

Murat Gunestas, assistant professor of Cybersecurity and the hacking team coach, called the competition 杏吧原版渢he most realistic I杏吧原版檝e ever seen. Besides technical skills, it tested students杏吧原版� professionalism, communication skills, ethical approach, and responsibility.杏吧原版�

Students who participate in the competition are highly sought after the by the professional world and by government agencies. Graduates of the University杏吧原版檚 Cybersecurity program are known for taking their white hat cyber skills to the MITRE Corporation as well as the National Security Agency, the FBI, the military, the FCIC, and the U.S. Department of State.

At an international graduate student symposium that attracted student researchers from all points of the globe 杏吧原版� including from Singapore, Australia, China, and the U.S. 杏吧原版� University of New Haven Ph.D. candidate Tarek Ibrahim won the Best Oral Presentation Award for his talk titled 杏吧原版淭owards a Circular Economy: Recycling of Hydrocarbon Backbone Polyheptanamer Enabled by Low Strain of Seven-Membered Cycloheptene.杏吧原版� The research aims at addressing the issue of plastic waste as well as significantly reducing dependence on fuel-based polymers.

The subject matter was compelling, of course, to fellow students at the Third Graduate Student Forum on Molecule Precision Synthesis and Carbon-Circular Chemistry. But Ibrahim杏吧原版檚 superb powers of communication weighed heavily in the award. Not every member of the audience was an expert in polymer and organic chemistry and making the research understandable to them took real talent.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Hao Sun was quick to point out that the award was also the end product of a winning formula: 杏吧原版淭arek杏吧原版檚 success in winning this award exemplifies 杏吧原版� and is the result of 杏吧原版� the world-class research and opportunities the University provides to its students.杏吧原版�

Mark Guido and Joseph Nemorin, who hail from the MITRE Corporation and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, respectively, have brought their experience, talents, and insights to the table.

As Department Manager at MITRE, Guido has spent the last eight years focusing on digital forensics, offensive operations, and the application of AI and Autonomy in cyber operations. His background includes developing a Security Operations Center for federal law enforcement organizations and positions as Lead Engineer in developing and implementing proactive detection capabilities for advanced threats to government systems and as Lead Analyst to over 50 counterintelligence, criminal, CT or security investigations. MITRE is a valued partner of the University in cybersecurity initiatives and has hired a number of its students.

Joseh Nemorin 杏吧原版�03 B.S., 杏吧原版�08 EMBA 杏吧原版� an alumnus of the University 杏吧原版� is a Senior Electronics Design Engineer of electronics and communications systems for Port Authority facilities, which include the country杏吧原版檚 busiest airport system, marine terminals and ports, the PATH rail transit system, six tunnels and bridges, the Port Authority bus terminal, and the World Trade Center.

Next up for both of them: making a major impact on the College杏吧原版檚 program offerings, curricula, and student work opportunities.

Yes, the salmon was sublime and the dinner-table conversation scintillating, but the award 杏吧原版� three of them, actually 杏吧原版� went to the two people and corporate partner inducted into the TCoE Hall of Fame during dessert.

When Kadmiel Bediako Adusei 杏吧原版�20 杏吧原版� winner of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award 杏吧原版� left his native Ghana for the first time, it was to fly almost 5,000 miles to begin his M.S. in Environmental Engineering at the University of New Haven.

After earning his master杏吧原版檚 degree, Adusei held positions as senior design technician with CPH Engineers and as staff engineer at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. His colleagues swiftly recognized his amazing problem-solving talent, and he became their go-to for solutions. That led to an epiphany for Adusei: 杏吧原版淚 realized what I wanted to be doing was research,杏吧原版� he said.

Today, Adusei is pursuing his Ph.D. at George Mason University. His current doctoral research focuses on disinfectant byproducts and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) in drinking water. A National Science Foundation research grant is supporting his endeavor, which could have far-reaching implications 杏吧原版� the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) are looking at associations between increased exposure to specific PFAs and increases in cholesterol levels, lower antibody response to some vaccines, changes in liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, and kidney and testicular cancer.杏吧原版�

Distinguished Lifetime Alumni Award winner Anil Shah 杏吧原版�86 M.S. became a corporate force to be reckoned with after receiving his degree. He founded MRCC, an IT solutions and staffing firm in Billerica, Massachusetts, with branches in India. Over the span of 28 years, MRCC has completed 700 projects for clients, including General Electric, Goldman Sachs, MIT, and Harvard University.

He also is a longtime friend of the college, according to Dean Ron Harichandran. 杏吧原版淗e established an endowment to support graduate students in engineering and computer science, and he participates in outreach in India to recruit engineering students. After meeting students who competed in the Mars Rover University Challenge at the Alumni Dinner, he made a generous donation to support their participation in the 2025 competition.杏吧原版�

RBC Bearings of Oxford received the Exemplary Partner Award. RBC President and CEO Mike Hartnett is a University alum and has, through his company, funded scholarships, building projects, and academic-excellence initiatives in mechanical engineering at the University since 2009.

Ken Giuntoli (fourth from left) surrounded by UNewHaven alumni from RBC

Left to right: President Jens Frederiksen, Viola and Stephen Tagliatela, and Dean Ron Harichandran

Completely renovating the TCoE杏吧原版檚 civil engineering labs was one part of a three-part gift from the Tagliatela family, who are among the college杏吧原版檚 most generous supporters and who gave the college its name in 2005.

The renovation, which comprised the creation of separate hydraulics and computational labs and sprucing up the concrete lab, was recently finished to the delight of everyone in the department and the family. The big reveal came on November 21, 2024. An upbeat ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the unveiling of the new Tagliatela Family Civil Engineering Laboratories.

The other two parts of the family杏吧原版檚 three-part gift are already a done deal: the funding of a new chair/professorship 杏吧原版� the Tagliatela Family Endowed Chair/Professorship in Civil Engineering 杏吧原版� and the Tagliatela Family Scholarship in Civil Engineering.

Your gift empowers tomorrow杏吧原版檚 pioneers, change agents, and disruptors helping the next generation discover their purpose and instilling the confidence and knowledge they need to change their chosen fields, the communities they are part of, and the world. Consider the impact your financial support, at any level, could have on our students, faculty, and programs when combined with a matching gift from your employer.

Make sure to keep your information updated with the Office of Alumni Engagement to receive the latest event invitations, newsletters, and more! Submit a simple address change or exciting news about your career. Update your information or submit a class note online and follow  on social media.

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