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address the world’s most significant issues.
At Duke, research is not only a way to create knowledge and keep the university competitive, it is a primary way our faculty trains and mentors undergraduates, graduate students and professional students. Gifts to Duke research empower faculty and students to team up to solve today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Whether the challenges are intellectual or cultural, student-faculty teams examine subjects up close and also consider the big picture. Learn how Duke research teaches students proper inquiry techniques for their careers or further education.

A new Duke Travels trip will take alumni on a civil rights journey through Alabama this March.

A Bass Connections team created an art installation on view in the lobby of the Rubenstein Arts Center. “This project is emblematic of the integrative and synthetic thinking that society needs to…

For art historians, cemeteries serve as one of the most important ways to not only study the art of a period, but also learn more about the culture, the people, and the customs of a time. The…



The gift by Shari Eberts ’90 and husband, Ken, will establish a named Natural Sciences professorship in Trinity College of Arts & Sciences as part of the Duke Science and Technology initiative…

New Duke Discovery Fund, bolstered by an anonymous $1.6 million gift, will provide rare flexible funding for sciences

There’s a book that Thavolia Glymph has been working on for a decade. It’s about the experience Black women and children had in Civil War…

Three Duke alumnae share how they split their time at Duke between rigorous science courses and a steadfast passion for dance. “When I got to college, it wasn’t really a question of whether or not…

A new initiative developed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Project (SLP), the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the Duke Libraries, the New Georgia…

In August 2013, a team of scientists mounted a camera on a telescope high in the Chilean Andes and pointed it at the night sky to peer into the cosmos.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shines a light on health disparities, efforts to find new ways to reduce them get a boost.

The Mars $750,000 Challenge Match, issued last winter by Board of Visitors member Michael Mars, provides dollar-for-dollar matching funds, up to $750,000, for all new gifts and pledges made to the…

How a robot-shaped like a dragonfly could help with environmental concerns.

The Edeburns show their appreciation for Duke Forest with a well-planned gift.

Duke Law’s Civil Justice Clinic has received a cy …

Jonathon Yuly likes scientific analogies. He loves the weird connections mathematical modeling makes visible — like the fact that…

Duke engineers to lead $7.5 million Department of Defense project to create a “super camera” that can capture and process a wide range of…

As far back as Donna Bernstein can remember, the ethos of giving back has been as much a part of her as her name or the color of her eyes. She comes from strong Jewish roots, and her parents…

The Duke Endowment of Charlotte, N.C., is supporting Duke University’s efforts to expand its faculty in computation, materials science and the resilience of the body and brain by completing the…

Duke Trustee Ned Gilhuly ’82 and wife, Karen, make gift to support Duke’s signature effort to elevate excellence in the sciences.

Funded by five endowments and the Nicholas School’s Annual Fund, the program awards scholarships covering up to two-thirds of tuition to as many as 15 of the most highly qualified MEM or Master of…

Ashley Blawas B.S.E.'18 participated in a Bass Connections marine science project as an undergraduate and parlayed that into continued involvement in Bass Connections in her role as a Ph.D.…

Because of your support of the School of Nursing Annual Fund, amazing students like Oliver Fajardo are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

A new $2.44 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will support a Duke University-led initiative to help utilities and wholesale…

The DLC’s bond with Madagascar has grown even stronger this year with the launch of three training programs that promise to improve lemur care and welfare in both the…

Ten years ago something special happened in the world of financial education.

When artist Judith Snyderman R.N.’64, Hon.’19 was in high school in Brooklyn, New York, her grandmother had a major stroke.

When a professional journal in your field dedicates an entire issue to reviewing your life’s work, you have a unique opportunity to look back on your career.…

Because of your support of the Sanford School of Public Policy Annual Fund, amazing students like Francisco Jeria are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

In 2019, Duke Libraries’ Lisa Unger Baskin Collection went digital and mobile. Comprising more than 10,000 rare books and thousands of manuscripts, journals, items of ephemera and artifacts…

As droughts become more frequent and intense, the fragmentation of water service in the U.S. among tens of thousands of community systems, most of which are small and rely on local funding, leaves…

Because of your support of the Pratt Annual Fund, amazing students like Cassie Shriver are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

On April 22, the Duke Lemur Center, closed to visitors since the beginning of the pandemic, hosted a virtual Earth Day extravaganza with hourly online talks and videos.…

Undergraduates are doing real research in Trinity College of Arts & Sciences – and everyone benefits.

Using a bedroom air filter that traps fine particles of pollution with diameters smaller than 2.5 micrometers can significantly improve breathing in asthmatic children, a new study by American and…

The State of North Carolina enacted Session Law 2020-4, an Act to Provide Aid to North Carolinians in Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Crisis, also known as the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act…

Duke biomedical engineer Nimmi Ramanujam's plan aims to close the cervical cancer inequity gap and catalyze a new model of women-centered health care.

Experiences matter. They inform who we are and how we view the world. And they tell a story of how we interact with and relate to one another.

In a life where everything has come to a halt and a pandemic goes on, it’s hard to find the silver linings. Sometimes it’s only after sifting through the recent past that we realize that even this…

Through strong networks connecting students, faculty and staff across Duke University and Duke Health, a dedicated team has mobilized to engineer solutions to problems created by…

Because of your support of the Graduate School Annual Fund, amazing students like Sinja Küppers are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

A one-dollar bill started it all. In 2011, John and Andrea Pitera had just opened Mojo’s on the Harbor. Brooke Williams, their very first customer, paid in cash and signed their first dollar for…

Steve and Lisa Eisenstein, P’19, P’22, are no strangers to supporting good causes—and not just by opening their wallets. They are active in various philanthropic organizations, including one that…

Collection chronicles social, cultural and historical impact over 80 years.

Yvonne Mowery, M.D., Ph.D., Butler Harris Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology, is one of many physician-scientists at Duke who credits the …

Because of your support of the Trinity College Annual Fund, amazing students like Alexis Zachem are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

When facing an illness such as ALS, one in which there currently is no proven treatment to stop or reverse it, patients often look to clinical trials for options for living longer and better lives…

When COVID-19 arrived on American shores and exploded across the country within a matter of weeks, researchers across Duke hastened into action. Duke scientists in fields from microbiology and…

The Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system, an online open-access global database that maps the movements of sea turtles, whales, sea birds and other migratory species through the open…

Because of your support of the School of Medicine Annual Fund, amazing students like Mahsa Taskindoust ’15 are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

Throughout her more than 30-year career in academic nursing, Diane L. Holditch-Davis, Ph.D., B.S.N.’73, FAAN, saw over and over how Ph.D. students struggle financially. Although tuition is covered…

Everyone from the Jersey Shore remembers the storm. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Mid-Atlantic region with conditions ripe for destruction. …

Barbara Colyear Parkening is a dynamic, independent woman who is deeply passionate about advocating for animals. Meet her and you will immediately hear in her voice a zest for a…

Our Giving Story: Diane L. Holditch-Davis, Ph.D., B.S.N.’73, FAAN, P’12 and Mark Davis Ph.D., B.S.E.’73, P’12

In late July, while on their summer break, Duke Club Cycling riders launched a 12-hour bike marathon to support Duke Health’s COVID-19 Response Funds and local cycling organizations that advocate…

Because of your support of the Nicholas School of the Environment Annual Fund, amazing students like Quentin Cui are able to realize their ultimate aspirations.

With the launch of the Duke Center for Science and Justice, Duke Law School is betting that empirical, interdisciplinary research can produce evidence-based reforms in the criminal justice system…

Interdisciplinary research in the social sciences at Duke is helping to shape policy in Washington.

Sumeeta and Sumit Nanda M.D.’87, P’18, P’19 were impressed with Duke’s efforts to advance precision health and wellness, concepts which were developed by students working with Dr. Geoffrey…

Duke Divinity School will launch a five-year multidisciplinary collaboration that will bring scholars and pastoral leaders together to identify and develop models for strengthening leadership in…

A five-year, $875,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation will help assistant…

A four decade-long relationship with a foundation has led to a historic distribution of $261 million to Duke University that will support science and technology education and…

Michele Cascardi ’88, P’20, P’22, a new member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences External Advisory Board, understands that unrestricted support is especially important because it allows the…

Researchers combine art history and technologies to explore the past.
Research Incubator Awards from the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences (DIBS) supported six interdisciplinary teams in 2019-20. The $100,000 awards promote high-risk/high-return neuroscience…

Basic scientific research in the lab of Hashim Al-Hashimi has the potential to improve our fundamental understanding of genome architecture.

At Duke University School of Nursing, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda Ph.D., the Dorothy L. Powell Term Chair of Nursing, is making sure the next generation of nursing students at Duke understand that public…

Duke Engineering’s new 150,000-square-foot academic building is set to open in 2020, providing a home for the school’s education, research and…

More than 50% of Duke students engage in undergraduate research. It is a cornerstone of a Duke education that helps students develop critical thinking skills and analytical reasoning.

Diagnosing and treating ophthalmic disorders in pediatric patients can require multiple appointments with various specialists.

Austin Allen wants to find out exactly how hard dolphins have to work to avoid boats. By temporarily placing miniature sound and movement recording tags on the animals, Allen and colleagues track…

Dani Moore ’85, president of the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation, wanted to support partnerships between faculty and students to address pressing challenges.

It’s estimated that today 2.4 billion people use unsafe sanitation – and 525,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrheal illnesses linked to it.

Nick Carnes thinks working-class Americans need seats in government, and that all of us deserve more than polarized, angry politics.

Translating research discoveries into patient treatments is challenging work.

Exposomics aims to measure people’s cumulative exposures to environmental contaminants over the course of their life and identify how these combined exposures influence the risk of developing…

The DIBS External Advisory Board pooled $100,000 to fund an additional Research Incubator Award, for a total of six awards granted this year.

Maiken Mikkelsen, the James N. and Elizabeth H. Barton Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, wants to change the world. She aims to develop a small, inexpensive…

Duke is at the forefront of addressing the world’s most difficult challenges: epidemic disease, climate change, energy sustainability and more.

Kay Young ’84, M.D.’90 used her experience as both a professional painter and medical doctor to explore intersections of art and science and how these intersections can impact human experiences.…
Faculty mentors in the sciences, social sciences and humanities provide guidance to students participating in research projects, no matter the size or scope.