Executive Director, Office of Communications

Jessica McBride, PhD

Dr. Jessica McBride is the Executive Director of the Office of Communications at UConn's College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. She is responsible for developing and implementing communications and marketing strategies to highlight the College's unique research strengths, outstanding academic offerings, and extensive community impact. An alum, Jessica earned her Ph.D. from UConn in 2017.


Author Archive

Elderly woman's hands

UConn Health Team to Investigate Link Between Gut Microbiome and Aging

The adage tells us the way to someone’s heart is their stomach; a pair of UConn Health researchers are learning the same can be said for the aging process. Drs. Yanjiao Zhou and Ming Xu have received a $2.7 million award from the National Institutes of Health to gain a better understanding of how the […]

OVPR Announces Scholarship Facilitation Fund Awards

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has recently finalized award decisions for the Scholarship Facilitation Fund (SFF) Program. Through this program, the OVPR is able to provide up to $2,000 to UConn faculty across all disciplines, on a competitive basis, to promote, support, and enhance research, scholarship and creative endeavors. For a […]

Two women with their backs to the camera embracing

UConn Researcher Receives CDC Grant to Develop Social Media-Based Intervention to Prevent Gun Injury

UConn's Caitlin Elsaesser has received a $250,000 award from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to research how social media contributes to youth firearm violence.

An aerial view of Fairfield Way, showing the word "UConn" spelled out in brick work.

UConn Wins Record Grants and Contracts Funding in FY2020

In fiscal year 2020, researchers from UConn and UConn Health secured nearly $286 million in research and other types of sponsored funding, the most in the University’s history.

A view of Fairfield Way including some fall color

OVPR Announces Research Excellence Awards

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) recently announced recipients in the 2020 Research Excellence Program (REP) for the Storrs/regional campuses and UConn Health. The primary goal of the REP is to provide seed funding to fuel innovative research, scholarship, and creative endeavors with strong potential for significant extramural funding and/or achievements consistent […]

Team members Juan Pablo Suárez (in grey), Juan Pablo Fili (in black), and Facundo Martín (in red) working with Bibliohack prototype scanner at the Departamento General de Irrigación in Mendoza, Argentina

OVPR Funds Five Projects in the Arts & Humanities

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) recently announced recipients of the second annual Scholarship and Collaboration in Humanities and Arts Research (SCHARP) Program. SCHARP awards aim to support innovative works of scholarship and creative activities in the arts and humanities that have the potential to transform a field of study, impact the […]

A computer-generated illustration of a coronavirus microbe

UConn Funds Five COVID-19 Research Projects, Announces Additional Funding

The Office of the Vice President has announced five awards to researchers as part of its new internal funding program to address the urgent needs presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

cancer cell

UConn Health Researcher Receives Patent for Cancer-fighting Antibody

UConn Health professor of cell biology Kevin Claffey recently received a patent for a novel antibody designed to target an important cancer cell membrane protein.

Morning traffic on I84 westbound in East Hartford.

Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center Receives 5-year Extension to Improve and Expand Safety Analysis Tool

The Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center has received a five-year extension from the Connecticut Department of Transportation for their project to develop a customized highway safety analysis tool for improving the safety of Connecticut’s roads. Since 2015, the Center, located at the University of Connecticut’s Connecticut Transportation Institute, has been developing a data-driven process to […]

endothelial cells and the extracellular matrix beneath them, from an in in vitro experiment

UConn Health Researchers to Study Role of Endothelial Splice Factor in Alzheimer’s, Dementia

Patrick Murphy, Center for Vascular Biology, in collaboration with Dr. Riqiang Yan of the Department of Neuroscience, have received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes for Health to investigate the changes in RNA regulation within the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and Dementia.