Jacquelynn (Jackie) Garofano

Jacquelynn (Jackie) Garofano is the chief technology officer at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, an applied technology and training non-profit organization. Since joining their executive team in April 2021, she has played a pivotal role in the organization’s significant growth, securing more than $20 million in federally funded programs to the State. Garofano leads several federal programs funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Navy, Air Force, Army and Department of Energy, in collaboration with national labs and consortiums, universities, global industrial corporations and subject matter experts in the areas of applied R&D for additive repair, smart manufacturing, and digital transformation initiatives.

Garofano began her career as a research scientist at United Technologies Research Center (now RTX) in 2011, after earning her doctorate in materials science and engineering at UConn. Her academic and professional careers have been marked with honors, including being named to two “40 Under 40” lists early in her career. In 2020, she was named the recipient of the Petit Family Foundation Women in Science Leadership Award; the Spark Award for mentorship by the Society of Women Engineers; and was a named a Women of Innovation® for the second time as a finalist in the large-business category, having won the collegian award in 2011.  

Garofano serves on the external advisory boards of Institute of Materials Science and the Connecticut Manufacturing and Simulation Center. She has 12 technical publications to her credit, holds three U.S. patents and is a member of two honors societies, Alpha Sigma Mu (2010) and Epsilon Pi Tau (2023).