Distinguished Alumna to Speak at Manchester Community College Class of 2021 Commencement Ceremony

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MANCHESTER, Conn. (May 18, 2021) – The speaker at MCC’s 57th Commencement Ceremony will be Dr. Carol Lynn Curchoe Burton ’00. A video recording of her remarks will be presented via the college website on Thursday, June 10.

Burton, a native of South Windsor now based in San Diego, is the founder of ART Compass, (www.artcompass.io) a mobile application platform for in vitro fertilization laboratory management. She has published in numerous scientific journals and popular press. She is the author of The Thin Pink Line (Nova Science Publishers, 2021), a critical exploration of historical perspectives and controversial topics in modern gynecology.

She was awarded the Manchester Community College Alumna of the Year award in 2019. She will address graduates and their families and friends and share the ways in which, after struggling to earn her high school GED, she first began to transform her life at MCC.

“The teachers and classes I had at MCC gave me the foundation for who I am,” Burton said. “I realized I could learn things even if they were hard.”

She went on to do academic research focused on animal cloning and she was a postdoctoral fellow in human embryonic stem cell research. Burton is also founder and served as CEO of 32ATPs, where she applied her knowledge of biochemistry and biotechnology to the field of renewable energy, creating a patented biological supercapacitor.

She is certified by the American Board of Bioanalysts as a technical supervisor of human embryology. She holds a bachelor of science degree in molecular and cellular biology, and a master’s degree and PhD in the physiology of reproduction, all from the University of Connecticut. She earned an associate degree in general studies from MCC.

Burton also served as the State of Utah’s Science Advisor from 2013 to 2014 and has served as a mentor at several nonprofit organizations for underrepresented people in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) fields.