Duke University’s culture of interdisciplinary collaboration attracts exceptional faculty and students, adds a critical dimension to teaching and promotes study at the frontiers of research.
Learn moreDuke’s university-wide interdisciplinary institutes and initiatives connect faculty and students across schools to tackle pressing 21st-century challenges.
Interdisciplinary research at Duke takes many forms and can range from a single scholar to a broad team of investigators expanding the frontiers of knowledge.
Today’s challenges demand new forms of expertise. Duke gives students opportunities to explore issues across disciplines, departments and methods.
The interdisciplinary experience at Duke goes beyond the classroom and laboratory as faculty and students work to put knowledge in the service of society.
Five groups led by Duke graduate students received Duke Support for Interdisciplinary Graduate Networks (D-SIGN) grants for the 2016-17 academic year, becoming the first cohort of students to make use of this new program from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies. D-SIGN’s purpose is to enable graduate students to build or extend […]
Last year 19 Duke graduate students received 2016-2017 Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies. The disciplinary homes of these students ranged from engineering, environment and biology to history, theology and medicine. A key feature of Together Duke, the university’s new academic strategic plan, GSTEG allows […]
After working together for weeks, English Ph.D. candidate Meghan O’Neil and her Story+ team of undergraduate students delivered a digital research guide and a set of digital exhibits to their client. The most valuable part of the experience for O’Neil, however, was the community she developed. “It’s all about creating dynamic learning communities and about […]
Last fall Brenna Forester (Ph.D. in Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment) participated in two workshops hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) in Knoxville to inform her dissertation research in the emerging field of landscape genomics. She was among 19 Duke students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) […]
To strengthen his dissertation research on the Sufi spiritual movement, History doctoral student Daanish Faruqi traveled to Jordan and Turkey to help Syrian refugee communities through relief foundations operated by Sufi networks. He was among 19 Duke students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2016-17 for training beyond their core disciplines. His […]
Mark River is a Ph.D. candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment working in the Duke University Wetland Center. For his dissertation research on how phosphorus is transported by particles in stormwater, he wanted to tap into the resources at Virginia Tech’s National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NanoEarth). River was among […]
What do managers of coral reefs need to know about coral restoration methods before they start new restoration projects? Elizabeth Shaver, a Ph.D. candidate in Marine Science and Conservation at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, set out to answer this question in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and The Nature Conservancy. […]
Eight months before defending her dissertation on the effects of genetic variation on signaling dynamics, Biology student Selcan Aydin spent two weeks in San Diego building skills needed for the modeling and data analysis challenges of her research. She was among 19 Duke students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2016-17 for […]