Joint Safety Team

The Joint Safety Team (JST) in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Connecticut is a student-led initiative to build laboratory safety culture within academic labs, expand graduate student understanding of industry laboratory safety culture, and for students to build professional capacity through building and leading projects. If you are a current graduate student bursting with ideas and looking to make an impact on this department while building your professional network and those all-important “soft” skills, contact Jessica A. Martin at jessica.a.martin@uconn.edu.

The Stall Street Journal

The Joint Safety Team is the creator of the "Stall Street Journal," an effort to bring laboratory safety information (and other fun updates!) to the public. We would like to thank Dr. Christian Bruckner for his active role in this project.

Undergraduate Lab Safety Posters

Starting in Spring 2019, Jasmin Portelinha and Cristin Bosko have been working with the staff in Teaching Laboratory Services (TLS) in the Department of Chemistry to create updated, eye-catching signs to promote safety culture and awareness amongst undergraduate students in the teaching labs. We would like to thank Eric Krantz for his active role in this project.

Below are posters that have been designed by our team.

2019 Safety Poster

Industry Laboratory Tours

The Industry Laboratory Tour series was designed to expose graduate students to safety cultue in industrial labs, as well as provide information and networking opportunities for those whose goal is to go into an industry career upon graduation. We would like to thank Drs. Christian Bruckner, Jing Zhao, Mark Peczuh, and Amy Howell, for supporting these tours.

Saint-Gobain Research North America

On Wednesday, November 13th, 2019, 9 students from the Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Materials Science attended a tour of the Saint-Gobain Research facility in Northborough, MA coordinated by Jessica A. Martin. A volunteer carpool was provided by members of the JST: Gillian Macusi and Cristian Aviles-Martin.

We would like to thank the following scientists and engineers for sharing their work with us: Julie Dicorleto (Director), Nicolas Orf (Group Leader/Principal Scientist/External Relations Manager), Morgane Laurent (Senior Research Engineer), Denis Cetin (Senior Research Engineer), Michael Lemberger (Forming & Additive Manufacturing R&D Manager), Sarah White (EHS Engineer), Steven Jacek (Research Engineer), George Glavin (R&D Manager, Materials Characterization), Steven Gunnard (Senior Technical Specialist/Lead Person), Milo Howard (Sr. Lab Supervisor), Julie Dinh-Ngoc (Sr. Research Engineer, Materials Engineering), and Lisa Johnson (Analytical Chemist, Materials Characterization).

On Friday, April 5th 2019, 12 students from the Department of Chemistry, the Institute of Materials Science (IMS), and the Department of Physics attended a tour of the Saint-Gobain Research facility in Northborough, MA coordinated by Jessica A. Martin. A volunteer carpool was provided by members of the JST: Gillian Macusi, Cristian Aviles-Martin, and Jasmin Portelinha.

We would like to thank Sarah White, Health, Safety, and Environment Engineer, for organizing and hosting our tour, as well as the following scientists who shared their science with us:

Maureen Brosnan, Principal Scientist, Abrasives

Nicolas Drolet, R&D Manager, Surfaces and Polymeric Materials

Ying Wang, Principal Scientist, Surfaces and Polymeric Materials

To learn more about Saint-Gobain, visit http://northboro.saint-gobain.com/

Also, check out InNOVAte 2019, a new program they have launched this year to challenge and encourage others to generate innovative ideas to disrupt the built environment value chain: https://www.nova-saint-gobain.com/en/innovate-2019-challenge#SGNAsocial

Boehringer-Ingelheim (BI)

On Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 17 students from the Department of Chemistry, the Institute of Materials Science, and the Biomedical Engineering Department attended a tour of the BI facility in Ridgefield, CT coordinated by Jessica A. Martin. A volunteer carpool was provided by members of the JST: Cristian Aviles-Martin and Jessica A. Martin.

We would like to thank Diana Arciniegas and Dr. Ling Wu for hosting our tour, and the great scientists that showed us around their labs and answered our questions in a Q&A panel.

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 18 students from the Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Materials Science (IMS) attended a day-long tour of the BI facility in Ridgefield, CT coordinated by Jessica A. Martin. A volunteer carpool was provided by members of the JST: Gillian Macusi, Weiyu Zhang, Cristian Aviles-Martin, and Jasmin Portelinha.

We would like to thank Diana Arciniegas and Dr. Ling Wu for organizing and hosting our tour, as well as the following scientists who shared their science with us: Sarah Low, Jim King, BC Naranyana, Chen-ming Lee, Emmanuelle Balme, Alex Villalobos, and Khoa Nguyen.

To learn more about BI, see "Boehringer Ingelheim: A Brief History" at the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKhWm5cyBFs

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

On Friday, November 8th, 2019, 13 students from the Department of Chemistry, the Molecular and Cell Biology Department, and the Department of Chemical Engineering attended a tour of the Alexion Pharmaceuticals facility in New Haven, CT coordinated by Jessica A. Martin. A volunteer carpool was provided by members of the JST: Gillian Macusi, Cristian Aviles-Martin, and Jessica A. Martin.

We would like to thank Adam Lucka, Director of Product Development Operations, for organizing and hosting our tour, as well as Caitlin Boland, Andrea Kadilak, Nick Morse, Mark Lefers, and others for sharing their experiences in an informal panel discussion with our group.

To learn more about Alexion Pharmaceuticals, visit https://alexion.com/.

Hosting Seminar Speakers

Paul Lawrence, PhD of Biocogent LLC

On Thursday, October 24th, 2019, Dr. Lawrence was hosted by the JST to give a talk called “Ancient Viruses and How They Influence Humanity” in the Department of Chemistry Seminar Series which included some fascinating updates about the R&D work he is doing at Biocogent LLC. Dr. Lawrence spent the day talking research with graduate students and faculty while admiring the amazing view from the 4th floor Graduate Student Lounge.

To learn more about Dr. Paul Lawrence