UConn lab getting expansion to study impacts of heat, other conditions 

The University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute is undergoing a $1 million expansion to help further its studies on how heat impacts the human body.  

More specifically, a new lab will let researchers recreate heat, humidity, sunlight, altitude and other conditions laborers face while working outside.  

“It's only getting hotter and climate change is making it very challenging for the laborer to be able to do their job, stay productive, stay safe,” institute President of Occupational Safety and Athlete Performance Robert Huggins said.  

The new lab continues the growth of the institute, which was founded in 2010 in Stringer’s honor.  

He was a Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, but died from a heatstroke during the 2001 training camp.  

His widow, Kelci, eventually chose to partner with UConn’s College of Agriculture Health, and Natural Resources to open a facility dedicated to studying heat.  

KSI has expanded its research beyond athletics, including a partnership with the military on how heat and other conditions impact soldiers.  

Huggins said the institute has also been looking at how heat and other factors create dangers for people who work outside.  

The new lab will include a new climate-controlled room that’s bigger and more advanced than the rooms the institute already has.  

The rooms allow researchers to control and even isolate elements to study the effects. Test subjects have space to move around and mimic activities for both sports and work.  

Huggins said the institute also examines which measurements, such as the wet globe bulb temperature, best gauge the dangers of weather conditions.  

Additionally, his lab tests equipment that can help monitor a person’s health in real time, such as censors that alert when someone needs to hydrate.  

The institute also takes its work out in the field, bringing research and equipment to sites with the military, employers or athletic event organizers.  

That includes ice baths and other safety measures to ensure a quick response.  

Huggins said someone faces serious health risks if their core temperature exceeds 104 degrees.  

That includes potential long-term, even permanent, organ damage if that temperature is not brought down to a safe level within 30 minutes.  

“The longer your body temperature is over our threshold for cell damage, which would be 104 degrees or higher, the longer the consequences or the sequela could be,” he said.  

UConn is paying for the new lab, but Huggins said the institute covers its expenses through payments from partners seeking specific research. 

He hopes construction will finish by the end of August.