On Aug. 26, 2020, UConn announced that Thanh Duc Nguyen, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering had received $432,990 contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to develop a single-use, self-administered microneedle vaccine technology for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, which can be quickly distributed at home in an epidemic or pandemic to provide effective, long-term protection.