Gift Made to Help CETA Students

The University has received a gift from Z-Medica Corporation to support CETA students in their out-of-class activities. The gift of $15,000 is designated for the CETA Dean’s Discretionary Fund, and Dean Lou Manzione plans to use the fund to support activities like the water availability projects in India and Kenya being conducted by the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders and participation in clubs like the Society of Automotive Engineers’ entry in the fSAE international race car competition.


The founder of Z-Medica is Francis X. Hursey, a 1977 graduate of the College of Engineering here and a member of the CETA Board of Visitors. As Dean Manzione points out, Mr. Hursey “has been an active and generous supporter of the college.” He was recognized by the University with a Distinguished Alumni Award at Commencement in May 2006.

Hursey is the inventor of QuikClot®, a hemostatic agent that rapidly stops severe arterial or venous bleeding outside of surgical settings. Z-Medica was launched to market the product and provides it to the military, first responders, and homeland security people, as well as to sports enthusiasts. His development of QuickClot® earned Hursey a spot on the Top 50 list published by Scientific American. In addition, he was named 2003 defense researcher of the year by both Scientific American and Popular Science.

On presenting the gift to the University, Hursey said, “On behalf of the entire Z-Medica team, we are honored to help fund the outstanding work and research being done by the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture. My educational experience at the University of Hartford greatly contributed to my career success and my hope is this donation will help students to continue to have the same experience in the future.”