The Duke Undergraduate Research Support Office is currently accepting internal applications for Duke undergraduate students to attend the 2026 ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference and present their research in the form of oral presentations, poster presentations, or performances. This conference brings together undergraduates from the 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Schools to celebrate research and inquiry across disciplines. This year’s conference will be hosted by the Florida State… read more about Call for Applications: ACC Meeting of the Minds - April 2026 »
Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) hosts summer undergraduate research opportunities that address ORNL’s scientific mission: materials, neutron sciences, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, and national security. This program encourages undergraduate students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by providing research experiences at ORNL, the largest Department of Energy science and energy lab. The program lasts 10-12 week,… read more about Summer 2026 Oak Ridge National Lab Internships – Priority Call for Duke Undergrads »
Keshav Jha received a summer 2025 conference award from the URS Office to present at the 67th Annual AAPM Meeting in Washington, DC! Learn more about this experience.This past weekend, I had the opportunity to present my research at the 67th Annual AAPM Meeting in Washington, DC, alongside Victoria Parker and Joseph Farina. The conference brought together physicists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and students from around the world, all united by a shared passion for… read more about URS Conference Stories: Keshav Jha »
Update: As of 6/4/25, applications are closed. Are you an undergraduate at Duke looking to dive into research or present your work at a professional conference this summer? The Undergraduate Research Support (URS) Office is now accepting applications for Summer 2025 Assistantship and Conference Grants!URS Assistantship Award URS Assistantship Awards provide funds for wages for students to assist faculty on a… read more about CLOSED: URS Awards for Summer 2025 »
This Spring semester, Janet Jiang (2024) was awarded a URS Conference Grant to attend and present at the 2024 Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education.At the Symposium, Janet presented work on the relationships between students' modality, discussion behavior, and class sentiment in a hybrid course where students could self-select their modality for each lecture.When asked how the conference experience shaped her research goals, Janet described the learning experience: "The questions I received… read more about URS Conference Stories: Janet Jiang »
In the Summer of 2023, Julia Davis (2024) was awarded a URS Deans' Summer Research Fellowship award to explore parental engagement in families under the mentorship of Dr. Kenneth Dodge.Throughout the summer, Julia lead an evaluation of a pilot prenatal navigation program for 300 moms in eastern North Carolina using a survey of her own design. Julia also analyzed initial data from the pilot program.When asked how the DSRF experience shaped her view of her research, Julia emphasized the relationships she built… read more about Deans' Summer Research Fellowship Stories: Julia Davis »
In the Fall 2023 semester, Yuxi Long (2024), Yingjie Xu (2024), and Shiyou Wu (2024) utilized a URS Conference Grant to attend and present at the 28th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming. At the conference, they presented work on a distributed computing framework for the functional programming language Haskell. When asked how the conference experience shaped his research goals, Yuxi noted: "I received feedback on the future possibilities of our prototype and the challenges of each possibility… read more about URS Conference Stories: Yuxi Long (2024), Yingjie Xu (2024), and Shiyou Wu (2024) »
This Fall semester, Orion Kornfeld (2025) utilized a URS Conference Grant to attend and present at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference.At the conference, Orion presented work that measured wear in the teeth of Eocene (30 million year old) fossil hyraxes. Through analyzing changes in tooth wear patters, diet could be inferred, and dietary changes over time could reveal climactic changesWhen asked how the conference experience shaped his research goals, Orion commented on the new field… read more about URS Conference Stories: Orion Kornfeld »
This previous summer, Jayden Cyrus (2024) was awarded a URS Deans' Summer Research Fellowship award to investigate the role of the loss of spastin gene in the development of Autosomal Dominant Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (AD-HSP). The onset of AD-HSP can impair the motor function of the legs. Under Dr. Nina Sherwood's mentorship, Jayden explored the cellular pathway of the Draper engulfment receptor in Drosophilia larvae. "My DSRF experience allowed me to continue my research and get a… read more about Deans' Summer Research Fellowship Stories: Jayden Cyrus »
This Spring semester, Margarita Krylova (2026) used a URS Conference Grant to attend and present at the National Collegiate Research Conference.At the conference, Margarita presented her project which explores how the enzyme SMARCAL1 provides potential theurapetic benefits in glioblastoma cells. Margarita's project was mentored under the guidance of Dr. Matthew Waitkus. "Attending Harvard’s annual National Collegiate Research Conference provided me with invaluable insights into my research," … read more about URS Conference Stories: Margarita Krylova »
This previous summer, Amiya Mehrotra (2024) was awarded a URS Deans' Summer Research Fellowship award to study of how higher education can most effectively promote political participation in its programming under the mentorship of Deondra Rose.Amiya worked with Professor Nancy Thomas at Tufts’ Institute for Democracy and Higher Education to use National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) data to identify an institution that has particularly extraordinary rates of student voter… read more about Deans' Summer Research Fellowship Stories: Amiya Mehrotra »
This previous summer, Andrew McCallum (2024) was awarded a URS Deans' Summer Research Fellowship award to better understand the Archive of Terror, a museum dedicated to preserving the record of Paraguay’s dictatorship. Under Dr. Christine Folch's mentorship, Andrew was able to travel to Paraguay to see the system that facilitated the reign of terror under which the country suffered suffered."My DSRF experience allowed me to ground my research in the realities of Paraguay’s past and present. The… read more about Deans' Summer Research Fellowship Stories: Andrew McCallum »
The Undergraduate Research Support Office is pleased to announce that Duke has been chosen to extend the Duke Amgen Scholars Program for Summer 2024. The program has hosted 57 Amgen Scholars representing 40 universities from 23 states since 2019. The new cohort of Amgen Scholars will arrive at Duke in Summer 2024. These students will be paired with faculty mentors who lead cutting-edge research in biotechnology and drug discovery. Engaging in independent research aligned with the lab's ongoing projects… read more about Undergraduate Research Support Office Awarded Renewal of Amgen Scholars Program »
This Fall semester, Griffin Storm (2026) used a URS Conference Grant to attend and present at the UNC Water & Health Conference.Griffin is currently beginning his first research portfolio under the Hart Leadership Program. His project explores the history of the privatization of water, and what role privatization has (if any) in current times."The conference was extremely informative -- the privatization of water is inevitable, especially where water goes untreated and unmanaged by governments. It exposed me… read more about URS Conference Stories: Griffin Storm »
Join URS, OUE and the Academic Advising Center for the 2023 Undergraduate Research Summit on Saturday, Oct 7th from 12p-4p in French Family Science Center. The Summit will feature interactive workshops to better understand undergraduate research, how to land a lab, preparing for a senior thesis, and more! Locopops and lunch provided. We’re excited to see you there! Register online. read more about 2023 Undergraduate Research Summit »
Come join the Undergraduate Research Support Office team for the URS Mixer on Wednesday, September 20 from 4-5:30pm in East Duke 209. Along with the URS team, we will have representatives from MUSER, Bass Connections, DEAL, Pratt School of Engineering, Marine Lab Scholars, and DAEs for you to connect with, as well as student currently engaged in research. Light snacks will be provided. We are excited to see you there! read more about URS Mixer »
Did you just complete a summer research project? Do you want a chance at publication? Duke Vertices is accepting submissions for their Fall 2023 issue! Make sure to read the submission guidelines and submit your work to Duke's premier undergraduate research publication by August 28th. read more about Submit Your Research to Duke Vertices Undergraduate Research Journal »
Article by Sarah Rogers, which originally appeared on the Duke Engage website, November, 2022. Image and link taken from Sanford School of Public Policy. Learn more at: Sanford's website read more about Sanford School of Public Policy 2023 Graduation Stories: Quinn Smith »
Visit the Opportunities page to apply for URS summer grants! read more about URS Summer Grants - now open! »
The Deans' Summer Research Fellowship applications are now open! Find more information at https://undergraduateresearch.duke.edu/opportunity/urs/deans-summer-res…; read more about Deans' Summer Research Fellowship Apps Open! »