FEATURE STORY 
INNOVATION FOR THE NATION

WASHINGTON — Just a few hours after the United States Senate ratified a critical environmental treaty with the potential to slow global warming and accelerate manufacturing in the U.S., two Delaware leaders of that effort — Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons — met with researchers and alumni of the University of Delaware to celebrate the science that makes such progress possible and the Delaware connections that helped make it happen.

The event — UD Day in DC — is designed to demonstrate the impact of federally funded research and is a valuable resource for legislative aides and officers of federal agencies.

“We started this biennial showcase in 2011 because research really is the lifeblood of universities, including the University of Delaware,” said Kelvin Lee, interim vice president for research, scholarship and innovation, in his opening remarks. “It’s vital to our health, it’s vital to our economic wellbeing and it’s vital to society. And the University represents more than $5 billion of economic activity each year throughout the Northeast Corridor.”

With the theme “Innovation for the Nation,” the event included experts in climate change, human health, public policy, agriculture, renewable energy, advanced materials, disabilities studies, space research, sustainability and more.

The gathering was held in the Hart Senate Office Building, just a few blocks from the Capitol, where Carper and Coons had just cast their votes to ratify the 2016 international treaty — known as the Kigali amendment — that would phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), chemical compounds used in air conditioning and refrigeration that have been identified as powerful accelerants of global warming.