uconn health

Environmental Health & Safety Contacts

Environmental Health & Safety
UConn Health
263 Farmington Avenue, MC 1514
Farmington, CT 06030-1514
860.679.2723

Name Title Phone Email
Steven R. Jacobs Director 860.679.2723 jacobs@uchc.edu
Robert Gottlieb Chemical Safety Officer 860.679.3512 gottlieb@uchc.edu
Vacant Biological Safety Officer 860.679.3781
Elizabeth Pokorski Business Services Manager 860.679.2723 epokorski@uchc.edu
Lucy Piechowski Administrative Program Coordinator 860.679.2250 piechowski@uchc.edu
Ryan Cawley Environmental Health & Safety Specialist II 860.679.4638 rcawley@uchc.edu
Daniel Sasso Environmental Health & Safety Specialist II 860.679.4062 sasso@uchc.edu
Robert Bush Environmental Health & Safety Specialist I 860-679-4241 robush@uchc.edu
Thomas Costello Environmental Health & Safety Specialist I 86-679-4703 thcostello@uchc.edu

 

SPARK Technology Commercialization Fund

NOTICE as of 5/05/2025: Due to the need to reserve funds for the recently announced EMERGE emergency funding program, all FY26 OVPR Internal Funding Programs are on hold for at least the first few months of the new fiscal year-we will provide updates as more information becomes available.

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) SPARK Technology Commercialization Fund aims to support innovative proof-of-concept studies seeking to translate research discoveries into products, processes, and other commercial applications. We invite proposals from across all disciplines for projects related to commercialization activities. We are eager to identify and support UConn-developed inventions and technologies that address unmet needs and have potential for commercial application.

To learn more about the SPARK Technology Commercialization Fund, visit the OVPR Storrs site.

 

Our Team

Vice President

 

Pamir and PanchPamir Alpay
Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Pamir Alpay is UConn’s vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He oversees the University’s $375 million research enterprise at the main campus in Storrs, the UConn Health campus in Farmington, the School of Law in Hartford, and the regional campuses across the state. He was appointed interim vice president following a successful tenure as executive director of the Innovation Partnership Building at UConn Tech Park, where he served as the University’s chief advocate for industry-informed research and prime liaison between the research community and government collaborators. In September 2023, President Radenka Maric announced that Dr. Alpay was the permanent Vice President. A professor of materials science & engineering and physics, Alpay was also the associate dean for research and industrial partnerships for the UConn School of Engineering.

Dr. Alpay is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering (CASE). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, ASM International, and the American Ceramic Society. Alpay’s research is at the intersection of materials science, condensed matter physics, and surface chemistry. He has over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and conference proceedings, five invited book chapters, and a book on the physics of functionally graded smart materials.

He has raised more than $30 million for research and development from federal and state agencies and industry. Dr. Alpay is the PI of an $18 million interdisciplinary Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) contract dedicated to optimization of high value-added manufacturing technologies for aerospace components.

As executive director of the UConn Tech Park, Alpay established partnerships with industry, state government, and federal agencies and built several interdisciplinary research teams that successfully competed for large-scale funding. Since 2017, industry partners have invested more than $125 million for applied research at the Tech Park, corresponding to over $30 million per year in research and development funding. Alpay also established partnerships with small to medium-size regional businesses as part of core outreach efforts, critical to UConn’s mission of supporting economic growth in the state.

Alpay earned his B.S. and M.S. from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

pamir.alpay@uconn.edu | 860.486.3621

Executive Assistant: Joanna Desjardin


Associate Vice Presidents

Julie Schwager

Julie Schwager
Executive Director for Operations
Associate Vice President for Research Finance

schwager@uchc.edu
860.679.8799

Executive Assistant: Hillary Stevens

Michael Glasgow

Michael Glasgow, Jr.
Associate VP for Research
Sponsored Program Services

michael.glasgow@uconn.edu
860.486.5011

Administrative Assistant: Kim Benoit

Abhijit (Jit) Banerjee, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research
Innovation and Entrepreneurship

abhijit.banerjee@uconn.edu

Administrative Assistant:
Jan Rockwood

Lindsay DiStefano

Lindsay J. DiStefano, Ph.D., ATC
Associate Vice President for
Research Development
lindsay.distefano@uconn.edu
860.486.2644
Administrative Assistant:
Victoria Lowther

Michael Centola

Michael Centola MHS, CIP
Associate Vice President for Research Integrity
centola@uchc.edu
Executive Assistant:
Hillary Stevens

 

Biosafety Training (Refresher BSL-2)

Requirements for Refresher BSL-2 training:  Select and view 1 training course listed below.  Complete the training form.

Biosafety Cabinet (BSC):

 

Centrifuge Aerosol Biosafety:

 

Various Topics in Biosafety:

 

Training Completion form:

CT Department of Public Health (CT DPH) Forms & Checklists

All laboratories in Connecticut that work with known infectious agents classified as Risk Group 2 (RG2) or higher are required to register with the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH).

If your laboratory meets this criterion, it is your responsibility to ensure the lab is properly registered and operating in compliance with state biosafety regulations.

Need Help with Registration?

Contact the UCH Biosafety Office for an overview of the CT DPH registration process. Our team can walk you through the steps and help ensure you’re prepared for inspection.


Preparing for Inspection

To help your lab meet inspection standards, the Biosafety Office can provide you with the same checklist used by CT DPH inspectors.

  • General Lab Working with RG2 or Higher: Ask for the Laboratory inspection checklist.

  • Building B: Animal Labs at BSL-2 (ABSL-2): Ask for the ABSL-2 inspection checklist.

Note: You do not need to fill out the checklist—it’s provided as a reference tool to help you prepare.


Required Laboratory Postings

Ensure the following items are clearly posted in your laboratory space:

  • Emergency Plan & Spill Cleanup Procedures – A documented plan for responding to biological spills must be visible and accessible.

  • Eyewash Station Log – A log sheet must be posted near each eyewash station to document weekly functional testing.  If your lab is unoccupied for a period of time, that must also be logged on the sheet as NA


Training & Documentation

  • Training Documents: PI’s must maintain training records for all researchers in the lab.  This includes Laboratory Safety Training, annual refresher BBP training, and annual refresher BSL-2 training.  In addition, PI’s are required to take PI Biosafety & Biosecurity training every three years, provided by the CITI Program training platform.

  • Training Records: Please document all training—whether completed in-lab or via resources provided on this website. Records should be maintained and available for review.


Questions?

Contact the Biosafety Office for:

  • Registration assistance

  • Inspection preparation

  • Training materials and guidance

We’re here to support safe, compliant, and successful research operations.


Return to the Biosafety Main Page

Institutional Biosafety Committee

About IBCs

Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBC) are federally mandated in the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH r/s NA Guidelines) for institutions that host r/s NA work.

In recent years, it has been recognized by NIH that the roles and responsibilities of IBCs are growing. IBCs are being given responsibilities for oversight of biohazard materials and emerging technologies like xenotransplantation, nanotechnology and biosecurity.

Contact the UConn Health IBC

At UConn Health, you can contact the IBC through its email at IBC@uchc.edu

Submissions to the UConn Health IBC

The UConn Health IBC meets monthly. See Meeting Dates for details. Submissions are previewed by the Biosafety Program Coordinator for clarification prior to consideration by the IBC reviewers. All submissions should be by email as a word document (please do not send a .pdf). Final submissions should be made two weeks prior to the meeting date, to allow the reviewers time. The BPC will preview submissions on a first-come-first-served basis up to 10 days before IBC meetings. Direct all submissions to the BPC.

Submissions to the IBC consist of Registrations for the use of biohazardous materials and for use of r/s NA. Safety Protocols that bring up biosafety  issues that come to the attention of the BSO from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, the Institutional Review Board, and from researchers themselves are routed to the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

To find out how recombinant registrations are defined in the NIH r/s NA Guidelines and the two ways recombinant registrations are handled by the IBC relative to approval and the timing beginning of experiments, you can read the first paragraphs of Sections III-D and III-E in the NIH r/s NA Guidelines.

To be compliant, pass everything by the Biosafety Program  prior to beginning an experiment.

About the UConn Health Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

The UConn Health IBC consists of about a dozen members of whom half are researchers with expertise in areas of research that are pertinent to the research that is reviewed. The NIH r/s NA Guidelines require that at least two members are unaffiliated with UConn Health to represent the interest of the surrounding community with respect to health and protection of the environment.

If the membership of the IBC is lacking in expertise concerning a particular registration or issue, the IBC will engage an ad hoc member that has the required expertise. These are usually recruited from the UConn Health faculty.

At times the IBC is looking for additional members, both affiliated with UConn Health and unaffiliated. Please contact the UConn Health BioSafety Program Coordinator if this would interest you.

Times to Contact the BioSafety Program

When you have questions or concerns about:

  • Safety and/or compliance around the use of biohazardous materials
  • Safety and/or compliance around the use of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids (r/s NA).
  • Safety and/or compliance around the use of viral vectors.
  • Using (or ordering – all SA toxin orders must be made through the BSO) an infectious agent or toxin that is on or not on the Select Agent List.
  • Experiments involving biohazardous materials such as human, animal or plant pathogens in the laboratory or collecting human samples for research purposes.
  • Experiments Involving the Cloning of Toxin Molecules with LD50 of Less than 100 Nanograms per Kilogram Body Weight, including but not limited to: botulinum, tetanus, diphtheria and shigella toxins.
  • Experiments involving the deliberate transfer of a drug resistance trait to microorganisms that are not known to acquire the trait naturally, if such acquisition could compromise the ability to control the disease agents in humans, veterinary medicine or agriculture.
  • Performing a human gene transfer experiment (you wish to put r/s NA into human subjects).
  • Biosafety training.
  • Checking anything but ‘no use of r/s NA’  in the recombinant/synthetic materials/compliance section (Section 6) of the IACUC animal application.

Return to the IBC Process