A sensor with staying power tracks diabetes.
For diabetics, glucose monitoring means a lifetime of painful finger pricks. Francis Moussy, assistant professor and researcher at the UConn Health Center, wants to change that reality with a tiny implantable sensor that can monitor glucose levels painlessly. Because the human body rejects implants fairly quickly, Moussy is leading a research team to develop a sensor coated with time-released medicine that reduces the inflammatory response. The researchers have already applied for a patent for their coated sensor.

Public service: a Connecticut treasure.
A commitment to public service and community health represents a critical element of the UConn Health Center's signature program called, Connecticut Health. Among its most successful outreach efforts is the South Park Inn Homeless Shelter Medical Clinic, a student-managed and staffed facility serving Hartford's homeless population since 1987. Dental and medical student volunteers keep the clinic doors open two days a week, funding operations with an annual road race and support from such benefactors as the Hartford County Medical Association. An offshoot of the indoor clinic is a unique Migrant Farm Workers Clinic, a temporary "tent facility" that takes free health care directly to Connecticut migrant farm workers in the fields. In combination with other student-run clinics, these efforts won the Connecticut Treasures Award this year, an honor conferred by Lieutenant Governor Jodi Rell.

Winning mother-daughter team creates scholarship.
The name Lobo is synonymous with winning. Rebecca Lobo '95 captained UConn's championship women's basketball team in 1995 while her mother, Ruth Ann, courageously faced breast cancer. In October, the two continued their winning tradition when they pledged $25,000 to create a scholarship for Latino and African American students in the School of Allied Health. The state's matching program brought the total to $37,500. The Lobos created the fund to increase minority representation in health care. Rebecca has set a funding goal of $100,000.

Benefactor raises the bar for law school.
One of UConn's most generous benefactors raised the bar on his own record of giving in 2001. Dan Flynn '62 pledged $1 million through the John G. Martin Foundation, a trust he heads, to create the Flynn-Martin Fund for Excellence at the School of Law. The president of Resource Management Corporation, an investment advisory firm in Farmington, Connecticut, Flynn pledged the funds to enhance his alma mater's visibility. Notably, it will be used to send UConn's talented legal faculty to high profile professional functions around the world, shining a beacon on their scholarly pursuits.

$1.9M to make educators masters of technology.
UConn's Neag School of Education landed a $1.9 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last fall on behalf of a statewide educational consortium. More than 1,600 superintendents and principals across Connecticut will benefit from the grant, which supports a three-year program to raise their proficiency in using technology for decision-making, improving classroom teaching, and effecting change. The funds will take Connecticut schools beyond mere "wiring" to intelligent "mastery" of new technology, according to Richard Schwab, dean of the Neag School.

Time travel theory bends minds.
Einstein's theory claims both matter and energy (light) can bend space and time. What if light could be used to bend time on itself, creating a loop one could cross from the present to the past? That, in a capsule, is physics professor Ronald Mallett's theoretical question. He proposes to transport subatomic particles through time, using a circle of laser beams. When his time machine concept appeared last spring in New Scientist, Mallet became a celebrity. Time will tell whether his theory will someday transport people to the past. Right now, it's helping transport fascinated students to UConn.