Capt. Justin Gilbert believed the new LiveSafe app offered by the UConn Police Department could be a potential lifesaver for students — if only they knew about it. After a semester of availability, the app had only 400 active users. “We weren’t getting much traction,” Gilbert says. “And that was really frustrating because this app has really great safety features.”

As good fortune would have it, marketing professor Joseph Pancras had heard about the app and called the police department to ask a technical question. He reached Gilbert who, upon discovering he was talking to a marketing expert, asked for advice about promoting the app more effectively. Pancras thought it would make an ideal student-led initiative, and last semester he created an undergraduate Special Topics course to market the technology on campus.

The impact was profound. Today, some 3,000 UConn students and employees are using the app, which, among many safety and wellness features, lets students invite friends to monitor their travel when walking or driving, and provides both parties an immediate connection with police dispatchers if help is needed.