Exhibit at Wadsworth Atheneum Shows Hartford Roots

Life and art come full circle this month at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, with the opening of an historic exhibition with an unmistakable hometown connection.  Frederic Edwin Church was a prominent American landscape painter in the 1800’s, born in Hartford, and a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. His family wealth came from Church's father, Joseph Church, a silversmith and watchmaker in Hartford.  Joseph subsequently also became an official and a director of The Aetna Life Insurance Company. Joseph, in turn, was the son of Samuel Church, who founded the first paper mill in Lee, Massachusetts in the Berkshires, which allowed Frederic to pursue his interest in art from a very early age, according to the website that features his work.

At eighteen years of age, Church became the pupil of Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York after Daniel Wadsworth, a family neighbor and founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum, introduced the two. Now, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will present “Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage,” bringing together approximately 50 of the celebrated Hudson River School painter’s compositions of sacred terrain in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

“This is a rare opportunity for our audience to explore a side of Church’s working process and fierce entrepreneurship beyond the usual experience of landscape paintings,” says Robert H. Schutz, Jr., Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture Erin Monroe. “Church’s story started in Hartford, so it is particularly fitting for the Atheneum to feature this exploration of his pilgrimage as a way to reconnect the artist with his personal and professional origins.” The exhibition opens to the public at noon on June 2 and is on view through Aug. 26.

A leading painter of 19th-century America, Frederic Church was the most popular and financially successful painter in the United States during his lifetime. As a young artist Church’s first formal training was facilitated by Atheneum founder Daniel Wadsworth, who arranged for Church’s apprenticeship with painter Thomas Cole, the father of the Hudson River School. While committed to the natural sciences, Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900) was "always concerned with including a spiritual dimension in his works".

Organized by Kenneth J. Myers, curator of American art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, “Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage” explores the enduring appeal of pilgrimage through a lesser-known body of work resulting from the artist’s journey to powerful sites of spiritual and historical significance in the late 1860s.

As he further established his career, Church traveled to remote places to sketch majestic scenes unfamiliar to his American audience, turning them into dramatic, large-scale paintings. These travels provided Church with ideas and material to produce major paintings for his wealthy patrons, including prominent American industrialists and financiers such as Hartford’s Timothy Mather Allyn, J. Pierpont Morgan and firearms manufacturer Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt.

From 1868–1869, Church, his wife and their young son visited the lands of modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and southeastern Turkey, with Church taking expeditions to Athens, Damascus, Petra, Baalbek and Jerusalem. Church made countless small-scale pencil drawings and oil sketches on these trips, noting observations including colors, light, time of day and even weather patterns. Upon returning to his New York studio Church created large-scale compositions.

“These historic views are especially compelling and relevant now,” says Monroe. “It is a chance to foster conversation around the destruction and urgent need for preservation of cultural heritage sites in the 21st century.”

An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.  Tours of “Frederic Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage” are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. from June 9–Aug. 26. Free lectures include “Sacred Geographies: Frederic Church, the Holy Land, & the Hudson Valley” with Yale University professor Jennifer Raab, June 12 at 6 p.m. “Art After Dark: Rock the Kasbah” on June 7 at 5 p.m. will feature live music, exhibition tours and an outdoor bazaar; tickets are $5-10.

Another Federal Agency Says School Buses Should Have Lap/Shoulder Belts; Most States, Including CT, Don't

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week recommended to states that all new large school buses be equipped with both lap and shoulder seatbelts, the first time such a recommendation has been issued for the vehicles by the agency. The board also recommended requiring collision-avoidance systems and automatic emergency brakes on new school buses, but the follow-through on the recommendations falls to states and local jurisdictions.  The NTSB recommendation is not a federal requirement, and comes three years after a similar call by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Connecticut, as most states, does not require lap and shoulder seat belts in school buses.

The NTSB recommendations, made to the 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, all of which lack requirements for lap/shoulder belts on large school buses, were accompanied by a recommendation to the states of Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York to amend their statutes to upgrade their seat belts requirements from lap-only belts to lap and shoulder belts.

Connecticut’s legislature has previously debated a lap-and-shoulder belt requirement on school buses, but has failed to pass such a requirement, including, most recently, last year. Legislation that would have imposed a requirement in Connecticut, effective in 2022, failed to gain approval from the Transportation Committee after a public hearing.

Last summer, Nevada joined California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas in enacting laws requiring seat belts. The law in Louisiana requires school buses be equipped with seat belts, but this is subject to appropriation for the purchase of such buses and the state legislature has not provided funding to trigger the requirement. Similar language in Texas’ law was removed in 2017, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt said at the close of Tuesday’s NTSB meeting this week, which included a review of two 2016 school bus crashes that killed 12 and injured 37, “The recommendations that we issued and reiterated today, if acted on, will help ensure that new school buses are manufactured with tried and true occupant protection such as lap-shoulder belts, as well as collision avoidance technology such as automatic emergency braking.”  The meeting was held just days after a school bus accident in New Jersey that killed a young student and teacher.

The recommendation comes three years after a similar stance from the then-Administrator of NHTSA, Mark Rosekind:  "The position of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that seat belts save lives," Rosekind said in November 2015. "That is true whether in a passenger car or in a big yellow bus. And saving lives is what we are about. So NHTSA's policy is that every child on every school bus should have a three-point seat belt."

“The main hold up continues to be funding,” State Rep. Fred Camillo of Old Greenwich, who introduced Connecticut legislation to accomplish that objective, told CT by the Numbers last year.  Passage has been elusive here, and elsewhere, despite the change in position by NHTSA more than two years ago.  The federal agency previously viewed school buses as safe without seat belts, because of their construction.

That changed in 2015.  Since then, as Connecticut’s Office of Legislative Research noted in a 2016 report to the legislature, “NHTSA has been exploring ways to make seat belts on schools buses a reality.” NHTSA points out that seat belts have been required on passenger cars since 1968; and 49 States and the District of Columbia have enacted laws requiring the use of seat belts in passenger cars and light trucks.

The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents testified against the measure last year, calling for approval to be “postponed” until a series of questions – ranging from the use of bus monitors to the cost of seat belt maintenance to district liability from unused seat belts – could be answered.

The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) – representing local elected school boards across the state – also voiced their opposition at a January 30, 2017 public hearing.  CABE officials expressed concern about “years of busses” that would “need to be replaced or retrofitted.”  They also noted that lap belts “would not work best for 5-year-olds and 18-year-olds alike.”  In addition, questions were raised about students who might “unclick the belt” and the liability of bus drivers if they did.

Camillo initially proposed the bill in 2011 after a Rocky Hill student was killed in a school bus crash.  Last year in Connecticut, in March, after a school bus accident in Canterbury sent five students to the hospital, public discussion on the pending proposal was renewed, but the legislature ultimately did not take action.  “This accident today is just another reminder that we really need to do something regarding this issue. We don’t want to wait for another tragedy to occur,” Camillo told the Norwich Bulletin.  Later that month, five people were injured after a crash involving a school bus in North Haven.

At NTSB, Robert L. Sumwalt was sworn in as chairman last August, after being nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He began his tenure at the NTSB in August 2006 when President Bush appointed him to the Board and designated him as Vice Chairman. In November 2011, President Obama reappointed him to an additional five-year term as Board Member.

The NTSB this week also called for “facial recognition data to catch driver license fraud at every opportunity, with data shared across states. It demands that certified medical examiners effectively play their role in denying medically unfit drivers a medical certificate.”  Added Sumwalt:  “Action on the safety recommendations issued and reiterated today will constitute a crackdown, but only from the point of view of drivers who put the safety of our children and other road users at risk. Such a crackdown is long overdue.”

Noah and Olivia Top Names for CT Newborns in 2017; In US it was Liam and Emma

The most popular names for children born in the United States in 2017 were Liam for boys and Emma for girls.  Connecticut, however, had different top choices, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration.  The state’s most popular names for newborns were Noah and Olivia. The top five female names in Connecticut in 2017 were Olivia (230), Emma (219), Ava (169), Mia (162) and Sophia (159).  The leading names selected for boys were Noah (222), Liam (208), Logan (189) Jacob (187), and Michael (175).

Olivia and Noah were also the leading names selected for newborns in Connecticut in 2016; Noah also topped the list in 2015 in Connecticut, when the top female name was Sophia.  In 2014, Olivia and Mason were the top choices in Connecticut.  In 2013 it was Olivia and William; in 2012 Mason and Emma were most frequently selected.

Nationally, it was the first time that Liam was atop the list of popular male names, after Noah was number one for the previous four years, Jacob for the 14 years before that, and Michael every year from 1961 to 1998.

Among girls names selected across the country, Emma has been the most popular for the past four years, Sophia for the three years before that and Isabella for the previous two years.  Emma also topped the list in 2008, after Emily had done so every year from 1996 through 2007.  From 1970 through 1995, Jennifer led the list for 15 years, Jessica for 8 years and Ashley for two years.

Since 2010 nationally, the top boys names are Noah (145,195), Jacob (140,091), Mason (133,535), Liam (133,019) and William (131,241).  The top girls names this decade are emma (158,573), Sophia (152,936), Olivia (147,486) Isabella (142,064) and Ava (125,937).  Ranking at the bottom of the 200 most popular for boys are King, Jase, Maximus and Maverick, each chsen for more than 15,000 baby boys.  At the bottom of the 200 most popular girls names since 2010 are Eliza, Angela, Athena and Leilani, each selected as the names for more than 12,000 baby girls.

One hundred years ago, in the decade beginning in 1910, the most often used boys names were John, William, James, Robert and Joseph; for girls, it was Mary, Helen, dorothy, Margaret and Ruth.

https://youtu.be/aQhssyOhLUk

Yale Cancer Center, Globally-Connected Students Honored by World Affairs Council

The World Affairs Council of Connecticut marked Connecticut’s global leadership in cancer research and innovation at the organization’s 2018 Luminary Awards program.  The Council honored Yale Cancer Center, a ground-breaking center for global health, as the 2018 Luminary Award recipient, noting that “innovations made here in Connecticut impact health on a global scale.” The Yale Cancer Center is one of the select few centers in the nation and the only one in southern New England designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. Through pioneering research, health innovations, and breakthrough treatments, the Yale Cancer Center is leading the world in cancer research for the betterment and advancement of our global community.

“Through collaboration among world-class institutions of education, healthcare, bio-pharma, and research here in Connecticut, the state has developed a health ecosystem that enables scientific risk-taking and fosters a well-developed network of some of the world’s premier hospitals,” the Council website pointed out.

Honored at the event, and participating in a conversation moderated by CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Max Gomez, highlighting their work in the field, were:

• Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, described as the “Father of Immunotherapy”
• Patricia LoRusso, DO, a transformational leader in cancer clinical trials
• Vincent DeVita, MD, a pioneer of chemotherapy and founder of the leading international textbook of oncology, “Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology”
• Joan Steitz, PhD, an international pioneer in understanding the role of RNA in biology & cancer development & progression

Also in attendance to receive the Yale Cancer Center’s recognition was Dr. Charles Fuchs, Director of the Yale Cancer Center, Physician-in-Chief of the Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Richard & Jonathan Sackler Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.

The annual Luminary Award is the signature event of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut. It honors one or more individuals or an organization from Connecticut that has profoundly influenced global affairs, with a strong emphasis on achieving the overall betterment of the world.  Past recipients include United Technologies, AmeriCares, ESPN International, and Hole in the Wall Gang Camps.

In addition to the focus on the work of the Yale Cancer Center, a number of students were recognized for their accomplishments by the World Affairs Council.

Hartford Public High School student MaSei Pan, who will be attending Central Connecticut State University this fall to study international affairs, received the Peter G. Kelly Global Scholar Award.  She arrived in the U.S. six years ago as a refugee from Thailand.  She grew up in a refugee camp, was delayed in starting school until age 8, and came to the U.S. without knowing English.  Today, she excels in school and uses her experience to help others, including newly arrived immigrants.

The Global Engagement Award was presented to RHAM High School student Skylar Haines, who traveled to Mexico to teach English at the Serapio Elementary School, and subsequently organized fundraisers to purchase a computer lab and musical instruments for the school. She has also written a book of poetry about her experiences.

Global Engagement honorees were Maria Hoffman of Glastonbury High School, who focused on climate change and elephant migration in Botswana, and a trio from Westminster School in Simsbury, Shane Wahlberg, Lucas Wahlberg and Carson Roth, who devoted their attention to Sustainable Farming and Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba.

Reversal of Fortunes: A Decade Up, A Decade Down for Connecticut’s Economy

Connecticut’s economy is now smaller that it was 2004. The state’s lackluster performance stands in sharp contrast with all of the other New England states, whose economies have seen real growth, as have those of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. The state’s economy contracted in 2017, as it did in 2014 and 2016, and its overall performance for the year ranked 49th, topping only Louisiana. An analysis by the University of Connecticut’s Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA) points out that since 2008, Connecticut’s economy, measured in real GDP (corrected for inflation) has contracted every year, except for 2015. That year’s positive blip of 1.1 percent growth was quickly overtaken by contraction in the two subsequent years.

The suddenness of this persistent downturn for Connecticut has been dramatic.  Between 1997 and 2007, the state’s economy grew by 3 percent annually, outpacing Massachusetts (2.9%), Rhode Island (2.5%), and New York (2.3%), based on the compound rate of annual real GDP growth.  In the decade since, through 2016, the Connecticut economy contracted by 0.9 percent annually while Massachusetts and New York grew by 1.6 percent and Rhode Island by .6 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Bureau reports the state's GDP shrank 0.2 percent last year—one of just three states with negative growth— after contracting by 0.3% the previous year.  At the same time, the national economy expanded 2.1 percent, CBIA recently pointed out.  CBIA economist Pete Gioia said “We are missing the economic growth party that the region and most of the country are experiencing."  He noted that through March this year, Connecticut has recovered just 80 percent of all jobs lost in the 2008-2010 recession, the slowest recovery in New England. The U.S. has recovered 219 percent of jobs lost.

At the same time the state economy has contracted, Connecticut has seen 78 continuous months of job creation, measured year over year, since 2010, the CCEA analysis acknowledges. While private sector jobs are now above their previous peak, public sector jobs- including those at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun - have been contracting, and will likely continue to contract for a couple more years, points out Center Director Fred Carstensen.  He adds that jobs created in the private sector have been broadly of lower quality than that of jobs lost. Thus real personal income, like real output, has been contracting even as employment has grown.  So the common focus on job creation has been deceptive: rising job numbers has not meant economic growth.

Adding to the complexity of the situation in Connecticut, Carstensen explains, is the increasing number of residents who work out of state. Since 2016, more than 35,000 additional Connecticut residents have found job outside of the state —so the number of Connecticut residents employed is near an all-time peak. Unfortunately, those 35,000 all pay their income tax first to the state where they work, thus contributing to the fiscal crisis in Connecticut, Carstensen noted.

In 2017, Massachusetts led the way in New England with 2.6 percent growth, followed by 1.9% in New Hampshire, with Rhode Island (1.6%), Maine (1.4%), and Vermont (1.1%) all showing growth, unlike Connecticut. In November, 2017, the Connecticut Department of Labor reported that total payroll employment in the state had fallen below the level of February, 1989, according to CCEA.

“The dramatic reversal in fortunes for Connecticut, shifting from a decade and more of strong growth to a persistently contracting economy, is nearly unprecedented among state economies.  The next Governor and Legislature need to make a determined effort—absent to date—to understand what drove this climatic reversal of fortunes in Connecticut’s economy health.  Such an understanding is central to adopting policies and initiatives to reverse the state’s decline,” Carstensen argued.

The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), under the direction of Carstensen, is a University Center located within the School of Business at UConn.  CCEA specializes in economic impact and policy analysis studies, as well as advising clients regarding business strategy, market analysis, and related topics.  CBIA’s research department, led by Goia, provides in-depth economic and policy analysis and survey research assistance to CBIA’s legal, insurance, and human resources divisions and member companies.

Quasi-Public Agencies Avoid Many Requirements, Controls

In addition to an array of nearly 100 state agencies of varying sizes and responsibilities, Connecticut has 15 quasi-public agencies, which operate under different rules of the road from run-of-the-mill state agencies. The main reason for establishing the “quasis,” as they’re often called, “was their organizational location outside the structure of state government,” according to a report this year from the Office of Legislative Research (OLR).  Thus, “they could avoid many of the requirements and controls imposed on governmental agencies.”

That status, according to OLR, meant “they could respond to problems and opportunities faster and more efficiently than a comparable state agency, while maintaining a degree of oversight and accountability.”

Some, such as the Connecticut Airport Authority, which runs Bradley International Airport and other airports in the state, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, Access Health CT and the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation are relatively well known.  Others, such as the State Education Resource Center or the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, less so.

The full list of 15 quasi-public state agencies:

1. Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated (CII);
2. Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA);
3. Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA);
4. Connecticut Student Loan Foundation (CSLF);
5. Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA);
6. State Housing Authority (SHA);
7. Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA);
8. Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA);
9. Connecticut Lottery Corporation (CLC);
10. Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA);
11. Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange (doing business as Access Health CT);
12. Connecticut Green Bank (CGB);
13. Connecticut Retirement Security Authority (CRSA);
14. Connecticut Port Authority (CPA); and
15. State Education Resource Center (SERC).

Each quasi-public organization has its own governing board, and funding sources for quasi operations varies, ranging from fees to ticket sales.

The law requires each quasi-public agency to submit an annual report to the governor and auditors of public accounts, OLR explains.  The report must, at a minimum, include:

• a list of all bonds issued for the prior fiscal year, including their cumulative value, value of outstanding bonds, and the state's contingent liability;
• a list of all projects, other than those pertaining to owner-occupied housing or student loans, receiving financial assistance during the preceding fiscal year, including each one's purpose, location, and funding amount;
• a list of all outside individuals and firms receiving more than $5,000 in loans, grants, or payments for services;
• a balance sheet showing all revenues and expenditures;
• the affirmative action policy statement, a description of the agency's workforce composition, and a description of its affirmative action efforts; and
• a description of planned activities for the current fiscal year

The law also prohibits quasi-public agencies from contracting with the same financial auditor or auditing firm for more than six consecutive fiscal years and each quasi-public agency must submit two quarterly reports to the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA).

All quasi-public agencies (except the Connecticut Lottery Corporation) must obtain the state treasurer's approval before borrowing any money or issuing any bonds or notes that are guaranteed by the state or for which there is a capital reserve fund that the state contributes to or guarantees.

The newest of the quasi-public agencies is the Connecticut Port Authority, established by the state legislature in 2015.

CT Employment Lags New England States; Slight Job Growth is Anticipated

Connecticut has recovered the number of private sector jobs lost during the previous recession. However, during the past six years, Connecticut’s job growth has been significantly slower than the nation’s and that of our neighbor states, according to the new issue of The Connecticut Economic Digest, produced by the state Department of Labor. Between March 2012 and March 2018, Connecticut’s nonfarm employment is up 3.0 percent, with the private sector up 61,900 jobs (4.4%) and government employment down 12,100 jobs or 5.0%.  In total, Connecticut’s employment increase over the six-year period is the lowest among the six New England states, at 3 percent.  The others: Massachusetts, 10.1%; New York, 9.3%, New Hampshire, 8.0%; Rhode Island, 7.0%; Maine 4.8%; and Vermont, 3.2%.

Health Care and Social Assistance makes up the largest combined industry sector in the state, as in all of the New England states, comprising over 18 percent of Connecticut employment. In the past five years (year ending 2nd Quarter 2012 to 2nd Quarter 2017) Health Care has grown by approximately 5,000 jobs while Social Assistance has added nearly 10,000, according to the data.

Accommodation and Food Services is the third largest growing sector, adding more than 11,000 jobs from 2012 to 2017. This is consistent with changing consumer preferences and is also occurring at the national level, report authors Matthew Krzyzek, Economist, and Patrick Flaherty, Assistant Director of Research, at the Department of Labor, point out.

The occupational category of Transportation and Warehousing has seen strong growth in recent years. From 2012 to 2017, the sector has added nearly 5,000 jobs including 2,300 since 2015, largely due to online retailers such as Amazon adding warehouses and distribution centers in the state.  The consumer preference shift to online shopping is seen as responsible for the increase in Transportation and Warehousing employment, but has also negatively impacted Retail Trade, which lost jobs throughout 2017.

Manufacturing, the sector with the most losses since 2012, is down 8,600 jobs in the five-year period. Educational Services employment (public and private) which has long been a sector with employment growth, declined during the 2015 to 2017 period, influenced by decreases in school-aged population and state and local budget issues.

Current projections for Connecticut, for the two-year period from the second quarter of 2017 to the second quarter of 2019, suggest overall employment in Connecticut will increase by 1.1 percent. Connecticut’s projected 2017- 2019 job growth is slower than projected by most other states, although it is faster than the growth projected by seven states, including Delaware, Kansas and Maine, the Department of Labor review and analysis indicate.

Projections for the New England states range from anticipated growth of 2.9 percent in Massachusetts to .2 percent in Maine.  Connecticut’s expected job growth is second lowest among the six states.

Major Industries that are projected to have the largest percent employment increases are the Other Services, Leisure and Hospitality, and Construction sectors, which are projected to grow 3.0 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.1 percent, respectively.

The occupational groups expected to increase the most are Personal Care and Service Occupations, up 3,664 jobs, Food Preparation and Serving Related, up 3,592 jobs, Transportation and Materials Moving Occupations, up 2,367 jobs, and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical, up 2,308 jobs, according to the analysis.  The three major occupational groups projected to decline over the two-year period are Office and Administrative Support, down 1,736 jobs, Sales and Related, down 979, and Production Occupations, down 160 jobs.

“Connecticut’s short-term projections show that Connecticut’s slow employment growth over the recent few years is likely to continue, and sectors will continue to shift. Manufacturing is picking up while Education expected to slow. Connecticut is also part of a national trend which sees increases in warehousing and transportation while retail is under pressure,” the analysis points out. “Our best judgment is that the rapid growth seen in early 2018 will moderate but that growth will continue through the end of the projections period.”

Trinity's Berger-Sweeney, Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Yale Faculty Are Among American Academy Inductees

The 238th class of new members of the highly selective American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to be inducted later this year, include many household names - and one prominent local individual.  The academy is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, and its members include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, and artists, as well as civic, business, and philanthropic leaders. Being added to the ranks this year are, among others, former president Barack Obama; actor Tom Hanks; Netflix CEO W. Reed Hastings Jr.; NASA climatologist Claire L. Parkinson; Supreme Court Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor;  pediatric neurologist Huda Y. Zoghbi - as well as Trinity College President and Professor of Neuroscience Joanne Berger-Sweeney and three Yale professors in the schools of divinity and medicine.

“This class of 2018 is a testament to the academy’s ability to both uphold our 238-year commitment to honor exceptional individuals and to recognize new expertise,” said Nancy C. Andrews, the academy’s chair of the board. “John Adams, James Bowdoin, and other founders did not imagine climatology, econometrics, gene regulation, nanostructures, or Netflix. They did, however, have a vision that the academy would be dedicated to new knowledge—and these new members help us achieve that goal.”

The 238 newly elected members represent 25 categories and 125 institutions. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The full class of new members is available at www.amacad.org/members.

“This is truly a great honor that I share with my family and friends and with Trinity College, which I’m privileged to serve,” said Berger-Sweeney. “To be elected to the academy is an extraordinary highlight of my career in science and education.”

Berger-Sweeney has served as president of Trinity College since July 2014. Over the past four years, she has, among other accomplishments, overseen the completion of the college’s strategic plan, Summit, which will guide Trinity toward its bicentennial in 2023 and beyond; the creation of the Bantam Network mentoring program for first-year students; the launch of the Campaign for Community, a campus initiative promoting inclusiveness and respect; and the expansion of Trinity’s footprint to Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford.

Before coming to Trinity, Berger-Sweeney served for four years as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. Prior to Tufts, she spent 13 years as a member of the Wellesley College faculty and as associate dean from 2004 to 2010. Berger-Sweeney received her undergraduate degree in psychobiology from Wellesley College and her M.P.H. in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. While working on her Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Berger-Sweeney did the proof of concept work on Razadyne, which went on to be the second-most-used Alzheimer’s drug in the world. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Health (INSERM) in Paris, France.

Also being inducted in this year's class are John J. Collins of the Yale Divinity School and Gerald I. Shulman and Haifan Lin of the Yale School of Medicine.

Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale.  A native of Ireland, Professor Collins was a professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago from 1991 until his arrival at Yale Divinity School in 2000, and previously taught at the University of Notre Dame. He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dr. Shulman is the George R. Cowgill Professor of Medicine, Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Physiological Chemistry at Yale University, where he serves as Co-Director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center and Director of the Yale Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Shulman has pioneered the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy to non-invasively examine intracellular glucose and fat metabolism in humans for the first time.

Haifan Lin is Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology, and Professor of Genetics and of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences; and Director of the Yale Stem Cell Center. Current study is focused on molecular mechanisms underlying the self-renewing division of stem cells. There is a focus on small RNA-mediated epigenetic programming and translational regulation that are required for the self-renewal of germline and embryonic stem cells, according to the Yale website, which notes that he continues to explore the clinical implications of recent findings.

https://youtu.be/RK5vvvRhGEA

Pratt & Whitney to Receive State's Medal of Technology

Pratt & Whitney has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the Connecticut Medal of Technology in recognition of its accomplishments in creating the groundbreaking geared turbofan (GTF) technology with unprecedented reductions in fuel consumption and noise, representing an incredible technological achievement in mechanical engineering and aircraft propulsion. It marks the first time in recent memory that the Medal will be presented to a business; previous recipients have been individuals.  David B. Carter, Senior Vice President of Engineering will accept the award on behalf of Pratt & Whitney at the 43rd Annual Meeting & Dinner of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) on Thursday, May 24, 2018 at the Red Lion Hotel in Cromwell.

Pratt employs thousands of engineers and workers with headquarters, research and development organizations and production facilities in Connecticut. United Technologies Corporation, parent company of Pratt & Whitney, spent more than $10 billion on research before launching the GTF engine.

With more than 8,000 engines sold to date, the GTF represents several hundred billion dollars of economic activity in Connecticut over the next few years. Numerous airline customers have chosen Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower® turbofan engines because of the superior architecture and performance, as well as economic and environmental benefits.

“At Pratt & Whitney, we are in a very competitive industry and our continued success depends on our people driving innovation into every part, process and service,” said Carter. “Our customers have depended on Pratt & Whitney innovators literally for generations, and with the GTF, they can continue to count on us for the next generation.”

“From the smallest detail of our engine design to the last stage of our manufacturing line, they are continuously improving how our engines are designed, manufactured and serviced. In the GTF alone, we matured or invented at least 48 technologies to drive performance benefits and we have over 3600 patents and patent applications filed globally to protect our investment in innovative GTF architecture. These technologies go beyond the gear and include advancements to the fan blade, engine core, materials, monitoring systems and a host of others.

Pratt & Whitney has had a long-term commitment to and association with the State of Connecticut. “The State of Connecticut is proud to award the Connecticut Medal of Technology to Pratt & Whitney,” said Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

Malloy said that “Connecticut is the proud home of some of the nation’s most talented aerospace and defense manufacturers and suppliers, and Pratt & Whitney is certainly among them. This company continues to conduct cutting-edge aerospace research, providing exciting new opportunities for top engineering and science graduates from our state’s colleges and universities. We applaud Pratt & Whitney for their ongoing innovations and continued commitment to the State of Connecticut.”

The Connecticut Medal of Technology is awarded to individuals, teams, and companies/non-profits or divisions of companies/nonprofits for their outstanding contributions to the economic, environmental and social well-being of Connecticut and the nation through the promotion of technology, technological innovation, or the development of the technological workforce.

By highlighting the importance of technological innovation, the Medal also seeks to inspire future generations to prepare for and pursue technical careers to keep Connecticut and the nation at the forefront of global technology and economic leadership.

The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering was chartered by the General Assembly in 1976 to provide expert guidance on science and technology to the people and to the state of Connecticut, and to promote the application of science and technology to human welfare and economic well-being.

Modeled after the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, this award is bestowed by the State of Connecticut, with the assistance of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, in alternate years with the Connecticut Medal of Science.

The Connecticut Medal of Science was presented last year to Professor Robert Schoelkopf, Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics and Director of the Yale Quantum Institute.  Previous Connecticut Medal of Technology recipients include Cato T. Laurencin (2016) Professor at the University of Connecticut andCEO, Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and Frederick J. Leonberger (2014), Principal of Ovation Advisors, LLC and Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (ret.), JDS Uniphase Corporation.

For more information about the Academy, visit www.ctcase.org.

CT Ranks 15th Among Best States for Millennials, Analysis Reveals

The only state in the nation with a higher percentage of millennials living with their parents than Connecticut is New Jersey.  That is just one finding in a study of the best and worst states for millennials, in which Connecticut ranked fifteenth overall.  Why do so many millennials in Connecticut live with mom and dad in Connecticut?  Analysts say that high housing costs are to blame. Pushing Connecticut toward the top is the state’s third place ranking in the Education & Health category.  Pulling the state down are rankings of 41^st in Affordability, 29^th in Economic Health and 23^rd in Quality of Life.  The state ranked 17^th in Civic Engagement among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The best states for millennials, according to the analysis by the website WalletHub, are the District of Columbia, North Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Iowa, Wisconsin, Utah, Nebraska and Colorado.  Among the other New England states, New Hampshire came in at #12, Vermont at #14, Rhode Island at #26 and Maine at #28.

Connecticut's #15 ranking is filled with plusses and minuses in the component elements of the study.  The state, for example, has the 7th highest average annual cost of early childcare as a share of average earnings for millennials, at 23.85 percent. In housing cost for millennials, Connecticut ranks 38th, the average two-bedroom rent being 36.99 percent of this age group's average earnings, WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez points out.

The state has the second highest percentage of millennials who visited a dentist in the past year at 74.60 percent; the 8th highest percentage of millennials who had a routine checkup in the past year at 66.37 percent; and the 7th smallest percentage of millennials with no doctor visits in the past year due to cost, at 11.70 percent.

According to the Pew Research Center, millennials are expected to overtake Boomers in population in 2019 as their numbers swell to 73 million and Boomers decline to 72 million. Generation X (ages 36 to 51 in 2016) is projected to pass the Boomers in population by 2028.

The five dimensions, mentioned above, were weighted to determine an overall score on a 100 point scale using thirty relevant metrics including the cost of living, rate of home ownership and insurance, average student loan debt, voter turnout rate, unemployment rate, percentage diagnosed with depression and the average price of a latte at Starbucks.

Data used to create the rankings were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Council for Community and Economic Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Health Foundation, TransUnion, Corporation for National and Community Service, Indeed, Child Care Aware of America and WalletHub research.