News

Are you a Duke undergrad interested in the sustainability/environmental field and are seeking mentorship or professional development guidance within this field? Join the CAIRNS Program! The CAIRNS Program is focused on providing mentorship and professional development opportunities for undergrad students from underrepresented backgrounds that are interested in the sustainability and environmental field. During the program, we pair each student with a current Nicholas School graduate student mentor… read more about Join the CAIRNS 2022-2023 Mentee Cohort »

The 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium hosted by the Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program (AADS) will recognize research done by Duke undergraduate students during the academic year 2021-22 in the areas of Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies. Students are invited to submit an application to be selected for inclusion in the symposium by completing this form. The Symposium will take place in-person at 5pm on Monday, April 18th. Location: CMA Resource Room, 0010 Bryan Center. Snacks will be… read more about Duke AADS 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium: Abstract Submissions Open »

Interested in doing research at Duke? Dr. Francois Lutzoni will be hosting undergraduate research workshops for students interested in joining research labs at Duke. This workshop will cover: finding a lab, what to look for in a lab, how to approach a principal investigator, and navigating through interviews.  They will take place March 19, 2022 from 12-1:30pm and March 20, 2022 from 11am-12:30pm.  Use the QR codes on the flyer to sign up! read more about Landing a Lab Workshops - Spring 2022 »

The Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium provides hundreds of students across all fields of the humanities the opportunity to share their work in the professional presentation style most common to their fields. 2022 will be our third year hosting the symposium, and we have had over 1,000 student presenters. The 2022 Macksey Symposium will be hosted virtually and live on April 8-10 for registered presenters and guests. Links will be sent out 48 hours before the… read more about Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium 2022 »

The IRES Track Experimental Linguistics in the Caribbean is recruiting talented undergraduate and graduate students residing in the U.S. from (but not limited to) historically minoritized groups to partake in a full-time 7 week program (June 13 to July 31 2022) to engage in research in experimental linguistics and to benefit from training to conduct research in diverse socio-cultural, geographic and linguistic environments. Applications from undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in… read more about Summer Opportunity: Experimental Linguistics in the Caribbean »

The NCI Division of Cancer Biology is excited to sponsor the DCB Summer Undergraduate Research Program (DCB SURP) in 2022 (formerly the CSBC/PS-ON Summer Research Program). The program includes a 10-week fellowship, $4000 stipend, a 2-day research conference at NIH Bethesda in August 2022, and the virtual mini-DREAM curriculum as an introduction cancer data science. The program covers all expenses, including the student’s stipend, housing at the research institute, and conference travel to the NIH… read more about 2022 DCB Summer Undergraduate Research Program »

“It takes a lot of creativity, creativity in [finding] the resources, when researching remotely,” said Kerry Rork, a senior majoring in Political Science. Rork works on the Dictionary of Art Historians (DAH). At first glance, it may seem unusual for a political science student to work on an art history research project, but Rork has been working on the project since her first year at Duke.   The DAH serves as a database of the major art historians in the Western world. The project is led by Lee Sorensen, the… read more about Context and Creativity: A Look at the Dictionary of Art Historians »

Are you and a group of fellow students excited about testing a new idea or exploring a compelling research question? Do you want to extend work that you started through a course, extra-curricular activity, or Bass Connections, DukeEngage, Data+ or Story+ project?   Bass Connections and the Undergraduate Research Support Office are pleased to introduce a new research grant available for students involved in collaborative team-based research projects. This research award will provide… read more about URS Office introduces new Student Team Grants »

Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, Bass Connections, in partnership with campus partners and the Office of Undergraduate Research Support, will offer research modules designed to provide students (undergraduate and graduate) with foundational knowledge in research practices. Sessions will run for 60 to 90 minutes and will be held via Zoom. Some sessions will include a mix of synchronous and asynchronous content. These sessions are open to all Duke students, staff and faculty (you do not have to be a member of a Bass… read more about URS Partners with Bass Connections to Offer Foundational Research Modules »

Seayoung Lee ‘22 recently received the competitive American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Undergraduate Scholar Award. As Lee continues her laboratory work over the summer in preparation for writing a senior thesis, we got the chance to interview her about this award and the undergraduate research experience at Duke.   Lee came to Duke already knowing she wanted to get involved with research in the biological sciences, but it wasn’t until she took a Writing 101 class, Science and Medicine… read more about Meet Seayoung Lee '22, recently named American Association for Cancer Research Undergraduate Scholar »

Five Duke University undergraduates presented their research at the ACC Meeting of the Minds. The 15th annual meeting of this conference took place April 9-10, 2021, in a virtual format. The 2021 meeting was hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.   The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Meeting of the Minds conference is held each spring and is hosted by one of the 15 ACC member schools. It is funded in part by revenue from athletic events. The conference… read more about 2021 Meeting of Minds  »

Since it was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, COVID-19 upturned university and college campuses across the United States, causing major disruption to student life. As Duke’s campus went into a full lockdown following a steep uptick in COVID-19 infections in North Carolina last spring, Duke’s Harshavardhan (Harsha) Srijay, a 19-year-old second-year undergrad student majoring in math and data science, saw his plans for the 2020 summer crumble. As prior opportunities fell through the cracks, the Duke Plus Data Science… read more about +DS student Harsha Srijay presents at AMIA scientific conference »

Daniel Sprague '21 was recently profiled by Duke Research and shared several valuable insights about undergraduate research here at Duke University. His story highlights the interdisciplinary nature of research, but he also makes a point about the need for flexibility.  "Research is a slow iterative process and it rarely ever works how you expect it to."  Sprague had the opportunity to work in two unique labs at Duke and contributed to published work as early as his sophomore year.  Read the full story… read more about Meet a Duke Senior at the Intersection Of Computation, Neuroscience and T-Pain - Duke Research »

Duke University had 28 undergraduates virtually present at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) on November 7. The annual symposium showcases North Carolina undergraduate student research and creative work and provides undergraduate scholars in all fields a forum to share the results of their work through posters, presentations, performances, and works of art. More than 400 students from colleges, universities and community colleges in North Carolina participated.… read more about Duke Students Participate in State Research Symposium »

Matt Hartman, Author When you run scientific studies that include infants, something will always go wrong. Families will be late or sick. The babies won’t behave. Or maybe, as happened at the Wilbourn Infant Laboratory at Duke (WILD), you’ll have to make a last-minute run to the store to buy a big pack of toothbrushes. In an interactive study, 20-month-old infants played with a variety of objects—things like a fake cookie and a toy apple, all of which the researchers had ensured were safe for infants. “We had it… read more about Undergraduates Are Doing Real Research in Trinity College, And Everyone Benefits »

October 1, 2020 Kathryn Kennedy The annual American Statistical Association DataFest held at Duke each spring gives hundreds of students a glimpse of statistics and data science in practice, bringing real challenges to life in a collegial, competitive setting. Due to COVID, this year’s virtual version took place over several weeks – rather than a couple days – and focused on emerging data sets related to the pandemic and its effects. Two of those projects caught the attention of another organization whose members were… read more about COVID-Inspired Statistics Projects Earn Accolades in Global Competition »

Matt Hartman, Author One was supposed to be saying goodbye to her childhood home on the other side of the Atlantic. Another was meant to be working with refugees in Ireland. Two more had plans for research projects in Africa. None of it happened. With international travel grounded thanks to COVID-19, all of the plans that Duke students carefully laid for the summer came apart at the seams. But Duke’s inherently global nature remains—evident in its diverse student body and celebrated by the Global Baton project… read more about Purpose from Disruption »

This year’s ACC Meeting of the Minds was set to take place from March 20-22, 2020, but was canceled due to public health concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Please click here to download a complete program, including student abstracts. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Meeting of the Minds conference is held each spring and is hosted by one of the 15 ACC member schools. This year, it was set to be held here in North Carolina at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is… read more about 2020 Meeting of the Minds »

2019 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND CREATIVITY SYMPOSIUM Colleges, universities and community colleges in North Carolina host a symposia each year to showcase NC undergraduate student research and creative work. SNCURCS provides undergraduate scholars in all fields a forum to share the results of their work through posters, presentations, performances, and works of art. The State of NC Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium was co-hosted by Duke and NC School of Science and Math on November… read more about State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Ekim Buyuk '19 presented a poster on "The Impacts of Increased Corporate Ownership of Multi-Family Rental Complexes on Housing Stability in Durham". This report aims to uncover the systemic forces behind the displacement of tenants in Durham by investigating the differences in eviction rates… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Ekim Buyuk »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Angela Tawfik  '19 presented a poster on "Senses of Venice". Senses of Venice, an innovative and immersive exhibition at Duke University Libraries opening July 2019, brings to life the first accurate map of Venice. Produced in 1729 by the artist Ludovico Ughi, the map was sold to… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Angela Tawfik  »

Each year, usually in late March or early April, 5-10 outstanding undergraduate researchers (accompanied by a faculty/staff member) from each ACC university gather at a host university to present their research, either verbally or as a poster.   At most universities, the student delegates are chosen through a refereeing process.  To be invited to the conference is a real honor. In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Daniela Flamini '19 presented a poster on "Lessons in Journalism from Argentina: How Fact-Checking Signals the Rise of Counter-hegemonic Narratives in Truth Production." In news environments all around the world, journalists are frazzled about what they consider to be a deplorable state of… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Daniela Flamini »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Malavika Puri '19 presented a poster on "Development of a High-throughput Screen and an RNA-focused Small Molecule Library to Target the Long Noncoding RNA MALAT1". The long noncoding RNA MALAT1 has been found to be overexpressed in many different cancers and is correlated with low survival… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Malavika Puri »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Caroline Westwood '19 presented a poster on "Postural Stability under Dual-Task Conditions: Development of a Post-Concussion Assessment for Lower Extremity Injury Risk". Concussions are an unfortunate consequence of sports participation. They affect motor control, neurocognitive performance… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Caroline Westwood »

In March 2019, the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference was held at the University of Louisville and six remarkable Duke University seniors were chosen to present their work to their ACC peers. During the 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds, Qiang Zhang '19 presented a poster on "Music and Spirituality: The Psychological Impact of Music on Feelings of Spirituality and Connectedness " Music is a staple of human culture, a powerful tool that has connected individuals across space and time. Within music psychology, the emotion of “… read more about 2019 ACC Meeting of the Minds- Qiang Zhang »