Month: October 2025

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Human Rights Instructor Workshop

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This past week, UConn’s Human Rights Institute hosted their annual summit, titled “Sport and Human Rights”. Our ECE instructors were invited to the second day of the conference, convening on the UConn Storrs campus on Thursday, October 23rd. The keynote address was delivered by Pablo Torre, host of the acclaimed podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” and a celebrated sports journalist and human rights advocate.

For a full overview of the summit schedule, review the link here: https://summit.humanrights.uconn.edu/2025-summit/

ECE extends our thanks to faculty coordinator Sandra Sirota, Ph.D., and the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, for their support of our ECE instructors and community!

Human Rights (HRTS) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Environmental Sciences Workshop

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This past week, ECE took a field trip with our Environmental Sciences Instructors to the UConn Middlesex County Extension Center in Haddam, CT. Instructors were given lots of time to share resources and build connections with one another, as well as engaging in a keynote address entitled Building Connections to Urban Forests: Your Teacher’s Toolkit.

We extend our thanks to faculty coordinator Morty Ortega, as well as Dr. Mayra Rodriguez, the UConn Extension Center’s Assistant Extension Educator in Urban and Community Forestry for their efforts in creating a meaningful professional development experience for our instructors!

Environmental Sciences (NRE) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Physics Instructor Workshop

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We welcomed a group of 60 (!) ECE Physics instructors to the UConn Storrs campus this past week (10/22), and lots of lively discussion ensued. Our guest speaker was Dr. George Gibson from the UConn Physics Department, who delivered an address entitled “Integrating Music Learning in Introductory Physics”. Many thanks as always to Dr. Dave Perry, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Physics, for his role in coordinating such meaningful professional development experiences for our instructors.

We were excited to have such a large turnout at this year’s event, and we look forward to seeing many more of you next school year!

Physics (PHYS) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Economics Instructor Workshop

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Our ECE Economics instructors took a trip to the UConn Stamford Campus this past Wednesday (10/22) for a professional development experience spearheaded by Dr. Natalia Smirnova, our faculty coordinator for ECE Economics. Instructors were provided the opportunity to engage with and hear from a number of esteemed guest contributors throughout the day. Descriptions of the professional development sessions and the speakers can be found below!

Please also check out the Economics Department’s post about the day, including some great pictures! The post can be found here:

https://econ.uconn.edu/2025/10/29/ece-economics-workshop-2025/

Session Guest Speaker & Bio
At the Local Level: Classroom Activities for Microeconomics Graham Long, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Graham Long’s portfolio includes conducting teacher professional development workshops, writing curriculum, and managing a suite of programs to improve the economic and financial literacy of teachers and students across the country. He was previously a curriculum and assessment specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education. Graham began his career as a high school social studies teacher in the Baltimore County Public School system, and in 2011 was a recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to study economics and workforce development education in China.
Global Trade: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters Ariel Slonim, Curriculum Designer, Marginal Revolution University (MRU). Ariel Slonim is sharing her passion for economics literacy by helping to improve resources for economics education in the US. Prior to joining MRU, Ariel taught economics to 8th grade students in Brooklyn and taught as an adjunct at King’s College, NYC. Ariel has a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University (GMU).
The Big Picture: Basics for Teaching Macroeconomics Graham Long
The One Where No One Has a Job: Teaching Unemployment and Labor Force Participation Rates Ariel Slonim
Teaching and Learning Economics with FRED Data in the High School Classroom Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Senior Economic Education Specialist, Research Division, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Diego Mendez-Carbajo is a subject matter expert on FRED data. He leads outreach efforts to a broad range of FRED users and regularly contributes to the FRED Blog to tell the stories behind the data. Prior to his current role, Mendez- Carbajo was a college professor. His research on teaching and learning with data has been published in the leading field journals. Diego is FRED Economics Champion.
Moneyling – Financial Literacy Program for Schools Jennifer Degenhardt and Savanha Brubaker (cofounders)

Jennifer Degenhardt is a Spanish teacher, author, and curriculum developer with more than 30 years of classroom experience. She is best known for her comprehensible novels that make language learning engaging and accessible for students. As Co-founder of Moneyling, Jennifer has expanded her expertise into financial literacy, creating multiple books and countless vignettes that form the foundation of the Moneyling curriculum. She oversees the relatability and student-centered approach across all program content, ensuring financial concepts are presented in ways that connect with students’ real lives and spark meaningful conversations. Passionate about storytelling as a tool for learning, Jennifer combines her decades of classroom experience with her writing to make financial education accessible, engaging, and impactful.

Savanha Brubaker is a portfolio manager with decades of experience as a serial entrepreneur. At Paragon Strategies, she oversees a diverse portfolio that includes real estate, property management, angel investments, and operating companies. As co-founder of Moneyling, Savanha brings the financial and business expertise that underpins the program. She focuses on bridging finance, education, and innovation to make financial literacy accessible and actionable—particularly for underserved communities. Passionate about creating meaningful societal impact, she combines her background in finance and strategic investments with a philanthropic capitalist mindset to build programs that empower communities.

We are so grateful to all of the guest contributors, and to Professor Smirnova for their efforts to support our ECE instructors and community! Thank you to all who attended, and we will see you next school year.

Economics (ECON) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Marine Sciences Instructor Workshop

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ECE was also present on the Avery Point campus last Friday, where we welcomed our Marine Sciences instructors through a collaboration with Faculty Coordinator Claudia Koerting, Ph.D.. Instructors were given the opportunity to hear from Professor Craig Tobias, new director at the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve, regarding what is new at the CTNERR! Additionally, they were able to engage in a lively resource exchange and conversation with one another regarding obtaining enrichment funding to supplement their instruction! Finally, the day ended with a boat tour of one of the vessels housed at the Avery Point campus!

Thank you to all who attended and contributed their time to supporting our community of instructors! We look forward to next year’s event.

Marine Sciences (MARN) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Mechanical Engineering Instructor Workshop

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This past Friday (10/17/2025), we welcomed our Mechanical Engineering instructors to the Storrs campus for their first ECE professional development experience! Many thanks to our joint faculty coordinators, Jorge Paricio Garcia, Ph.D. and Edward Weingart for their collaborative efforts to make this a session to remember!

Several guest contributors joined instructors on campus for a variety of resource demonstrations. First, Nate Delson from Grove Education delivered a demo of Spatial Vis, an engineering education software that helps students improve their 2D and 3D spatial visualization skills via an app on their personal devices. Next, Rachel Gregorio of Tech Ed Solutions provided a demonstration of SolidWorks, an industry-standard engineering technology used in the UConn College of Engineering.

The afternoon continued with a field trip to the Krenicki Arts & Engineering Institute, an “innovative, interdisciplinary nexus that offers groundbreaking classes in areas like entertainment engineering and industrial design” that was born out of a collaboration between the College of Engineering and the School of Fine Arts at UConn. Instructors shared lunch in the Institute, and then were given the chance to explore the 3D printers at the facility.

It was a jam-packed afternoon, and we are already looking forward to our next workshop! Thank you to all of our contributors, our faculty coordinators, and our attendees for their support of our ECE instructors, students and community. We’ll see you next year!

Mechanical Engineering (ME) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE History 1300 Instructor Workshop

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On Tuesday, October 14th, our ECE History 1300 Instructors joined us on the UConn Storrs campus for their annual professional development experience! We extend our thanks to Dr. Sherri Olson, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for History 1300: Western Traditions Before 1500, for her creativity and dedication to creating a meaningful experience for our instructors. The morning began with an address from Dr. Kevin Feeney, an Assistant Professor in Roman History in the UConn History Department. Dr. Feeney delivered a lecture titled “Late Antiquity: An Age Between Ages”, followed by a Q & A session. In the afternoon, instructors participated in a Document Workshop entitled  “Education, Autocracy, and Censorship in Late Antiquity”, where participants discussed The Emperor Julian’s Edict on Teaching. It was certainly a jam-packed day!

Many thanks as always to our contributors and attendees, and we look forward to connecting with you all again next year!

History (HIST) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Chinese Instructor Workshop

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Here at ECE, we finished our week off with two Friday professional development experiences! First, we wanted to highlight our ECE Chinese workshop, which came together thanks to the tireless efforts of Professor Chunsheng Yang, our ECE faculty coordinator for Chinese.

Instructors convened on the UConn Storrs campus for some networking, as well as two interactive presentations facilitated by some of our very own ECE Chinese instructors! First, Amy Watt from Simsbury High School and Shiffon Theodore from Conard High School led the group in a discussion on strategies to improve L2 Chinese reading. Then, Feng Xia from Amity High School executed a presentation on engaging communicative projects in class. Finally, Yang Wang, an Associate Teaching Professor of East Asian Studies from Brown University, presented a digital story-telling project to the group.

Thank you very much to our contributors, and our instructors for joining us for a successful day! We hope to see many of you next year.

Chinese (CHIN) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Business Instructor Workshop

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Friday, October 10, 2025 also marked the date of the first ECE Business instructor workshop! We were excited to host a group of 11 business instructors, and we are grateful to our brand-new faculty coordinator for Business, Dr. Vishal Baloria, for his efforts and support for our ECE instructors!

Friday’s workshop was packed with content, beginning with a discussion on Wealth Management & Technology facilitated by Daniel Gilham, Managing Director of Advisor Strategy at Farther financial services firm. Following a lunch break, instructors then got to experience a presentation on Financial and Media Literacy led by Francine McKenna, a member of faculty at the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania and a financial journalist. Next, Ilona Bastiaansen, Assistant Professor of Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame joined us for a discussion on High School Financial Education Mandates. Finally, and perhaps the biggest highlight of the day was a lively student panel with four undergraduates who had previously been enrolled in Dr. Baloria’s Personal Financial Literacy course. Thank you to Conner, Jack, Kaeleigh, and Maya for their time and insights!

It was a great day, and we are so grateful to our contributors and our attendees! We can’t wait for next year’s workshop.

Chinese (BUSN) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Chemistry Instructor Workshop

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Happy October, ECE family!

To kick off a busy month of Professional Development events, our Chemistry instructors met on the Storrs Campus on Thursday, October 9th for an exciting workshop. The keynote address of the day was titled “Introduction to Molecular Quantum Science and Quantum Dots”, and during this session attendees got to hear from Dr. Jing Zhao and Dr. Tomoyasu Mani (you can read more about their research and contributions to the field below)! Instructors were then treated to a tour of some of UConn’s Chemistry lab facilities, for some hands-on experience with our state-of-the-art equipment.

Many thanks to our Faculty Coordinator, Fatma Selampinar, Ph.D., as well as Dr. Zhao and Dr. Mani for their time and efforts in supporting our instructors! We are grateful to all Chemistry instructors who attended as well. See you next year!

 

Dr. Jing Zhao: Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on the optical spectroscopy of semiconductor and metallic nanoparticles, aiming to i) to characterize the optical and structural properties of nanoparticles at the single particle level; ii) to understand the interaction between various materials, e.g. exciton-plasmon interaction between colloidal quantum dots and noble metal nanoparticles; iii) to functionalize the nanoparticles and to control and optimize their properties for biological sensing and imaging, and energy related applications.

Dr. Tomoyasu Mani: Dr. Mani leads a research group focused on exploring photo- and radiation-induced chemical reactions in condensed phases. His work aims to understand how to control electronic excited states, charge and exciton transfer, and spin dynamics in molecules and molecular assemblies. Insights from his research contribute to the development of emerging technologies in quantum information science, biomedical imaging, and green chemistry. His laboratory specializes in the synthesis of molecules with quantum functionalities, as well as time-resolved optical spectroscopy and pulse radiolysis, to investigate ultrafast processes and transient species.

Chemistry (CHEM) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.