Advancing Leadership and Scholarship: Academic Freedom and Collaboration in Action
2025 Annual Meeting and Joint Conference with the Asian/Asian-American Faculty & Staff Association at UConn
October 4th, 2025
The Grossman Auditorium, 400 Farmington Ave, Farmington, CT 06032
Open to professors, researchers, students, and industry professionals
08:30 – 09:00 Check-in and member enrollment
Greetings
09:00 – 09:10 Welcome by Xi Chen, CAPA President and
Cuihong Li, President of UConn's Asian/Asian-American Faculty & Staff
Opening Remark
09:15 – 09:30 Dr. Anne D'Alleva, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Connecticut / President of Binghamton University
Keynote
09:30 – 10:15 Haifan Lin, Yale University / FAPA president
10:15 – 10:30 Coffee/Tea Break/group photo
Panel: Leadership and Career Advancement in Academia
10:30 – 11:45
Moderator: Xiaomei Cong, Associate Dean of Research, Yale Nursing School
Bruce Liang, Dean, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Zhan Li, Dean, Fairfield University, Dolan School of Business
11:45 – 12:30 William Tong, J.D., the CT Attorney General
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch and Social
Keynote
1:30 – 2:00 Ted Yang, Regent of Connecticut State
Colleges and Universities / founder / author / chairman and directors
Panel: Strategies for Funding Applications
2:00 – 3:20
Moderator: Jing Yan, Department of Cellular & Developmental Biology, Yale University
Thanh D. Nguyen, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UConn
Shue Wang, Chemistry and Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Department, University of New Haven
Qin Yan, Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine
Xi Chen, Public Health and Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University
3:15 – 3:30 Coffee/Tea Break
Panel: Research to Reality: Pathways to Entrepreneurship
3:30 – 4:30
Moderator: Penghua Wang, Associate Professor of the Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, UConn Health
Lily(Yingcui) Li, Ph.D., President of The Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SAPA) in Connecticut
“University Technology Entrepreneurship: A Fresh Perspective”
Mingyu Qiao, Assistant Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Nutritional Sciences, UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
Min Yi, President of Boston Capital Investment Club
Yvonne Zhao. Regional Innovation Officer
4:30 – 4:45 Closing remark, Yongli Zhang, Department of Cell Biology, Yale, President, Asian Faculty Association at Yale (AFAY), CAPA-CT VP.
4:45 – 5:15 CAPA-CT Business Meeting
Conference organization committee: Xi Chen, Yongli Zhang, Xinyi Lu, Miaowei Weng, Yanhua Yang, Qian Wu, Jing Yan, Ting Zhou, Zuohong Pan, Chong Qiu, Wang Penghua, Grace Chun Guo. Cuihong Li
The CAPA-CT Board wants to express deep gratitude for Dr. Riqiang Yan, (Chair of Neuroscience Department) and Bruce Liang (Dean of School of Medicine) at UConn Health and all others who have made contributions and assistance to the conference.