ICPG

Seven New Projects Build Intellectual Communities Among Duke Faculty

Sarah Dwyer

Aerial view of Duke's campus with text: Intellectual Community Planning Grants 2023.

The Provost’s Office has awarded Intellectual Community Planning Grants to seven projects led by Duke faculty members. These collaborative projects include faculty from eight schools and two institutes, several staff members, and partners at NC Central University, NC State and UNC–Chapel Hill.

Duke supports its extraordinary faculty by providing them with resources to conduct cutting-edge research and innovative teaching. Fostering collaboration around new and emerging areas of interest, Intellectual Community Planning Grants can be used to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books or other meeting costs, and/or exploratory research (as by a student research assistant) into potential collaborators.

2023 Intellectual Community Planning Grants

Battle of the Blues: A Critical Study of Big-Time College Sport

Lead: Tracie Canada, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology

Bringing concerted intellectual resources and expertise to the challenges facing college athletics and athletes in the years to come

Core Duke Members: Jennifer C. Nash, Jean Fox O’Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies; H. Timothy Lovelace, Jr., Professor of Law and History; Orin Starn, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and History; Charles T. Clotfelter, Z. Smith Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Studies

Core Partners: Jay M. Smith, Professor of History, UNC; Matthew Andrews, Teaching Associate Professor of History, UNC; Erianne A. Weight, Professor of Sport Administration, UNC; Jonathan Weiler, Teaching Professor of Global Studies, UNC

Building Community in Robotics and Automation in Medicine

Lead: Siobhan Oca, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Fostering research collaboration, curricula development and a sense of community in medical robotics and automation

Core Members: Leila Bridgeman, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Daniel Buckland, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine; Boyuan Chen, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Patrick Codd, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery; Xiaoyue Ni, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Brian Mann, Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Weston Ross, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

Climate Change, Food Systems and Sustainability

Lead: Norbert Wilson, Professor of Food, Economics & Community

Creating and sustaining a community of scholarship at the intersection of climate, food systems and sustainability

Core Duke Members: Elizabeth Albright, Associate Professor of the Practice of Science and Policy Methods; Sarah Bermeo, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Saskia Cornes, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Franklin Humanities Institute; Gavan Fitzsimons, Edward & Rose Donnell Distinguished Professor; Lisa Gennetian, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies; Akhenaton-Andrew D. Jones, Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Ryke Longest, Clinical Professor of Law; Brian McAdoo, Associate Professor of Earth & Ocean Sciences; Jarvis C. McInnis, Cordelia & William Laverack Family Assistant Professor of English; Lee Miller, Lecturing Fellow of Law; Michelle Nowlin, Clinical Professor of Law; Martin D. Smith, George M. Woodwell Distinguished Professor of Environmental Economics; Erika Weinthal, Professor of Environmental Policy & Public Policy; Norman Wirzba, Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology

Forging Cross-Campus Connections to Reduce Plastic Pollution: Duke University’s Plastic Pollution Working Group

Co-Leads: Meagan Dunphy-Daly, Lecturing Fellow of Marine Science & Conservation; Michelle Nowlin, Clinical Professor of Law; Daniel Rittschof, Norman L. Christensen Distinguished Professor of Environmental Sciences; Jason Somarelli, Assistant Professor of Medicine; John Virdin, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Marine Science & Conservation

Creating a convening space for Duke students, staff and faculty to collaborate and share their work related to plastic pollution in order to develop and inform policy and management solutions

Also: Zoie Diana, Ph.D. Student and Lead, Plastic Pollution Working Group; Jenna Seagle, M.E.M. Student and Program Manager, Plastic Pollution Working Group

Islamic Studies Community

Lead: Omid Safi, Professor of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

Convening students, faculty and staff interested in the academic study of Islam to help foster a stronger sense of intellectual community among our members across Duke and potentially beyond

Core Duke Members: Ellen McLarney, Associate Professor of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES); Didem Havlioglu, Associate Professor of the Practice, AMES; Mohamed Ben Hammed, Postdoctoral Associate, AMES; Shai Ginsburg, Associate Professor of AMES; miriam cooke, Braxton Craven Distinguished Professor Emerita of Arab Cultures; Sean Swanick, Librarian for Middle East, North Africa & Islamic Studies; Mohsen Kadivar, Research Professor of Religious Studies; Bruce Lawrence, Nancy & Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religion; Mehdi “Mark” Emamian, Research & Development Engineer III, Physics; Hadeel Hamoud, Interim Student Development Coordinator, Center for Muslim Life

Multisectoral Collaboration to Support the Provision of Global Public Goods

Lead: Gavin Yamey, Hymowitz Family Professor of the Practice of Global Health

Developing a research and policy agenda on multisectoral collaboration to support global public goods, such as pandemic preparedness and climate mitigation

Core Duke Members: Osondu Ogbuoji, Assistant Research Professor of Global Health; David McAdams, Professor of Business Administration

Core Partners: Erin Sills, Conger Professor of Natural Resources, NC State; Olga Hawn, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, UNC

Triangle Race, Ethnicity and Politics Incubator

Lead: Candis Watts Smith, Associate Professor of Political Science

Leveraging scholars’ collective strengths on four dimensions: professional relationships and community building; development of a data repository; teaching collaborations; collaboration in research and grants

Core Duke Member: Paula D. McClain, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Political Science

Core Partners: Frank Baumgartner, Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science, UNC; Isaac Unah, Associate Professor of Political Science, UNC; Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, Dan Blue Endowed Chair of Political Science, NC Central University

Learn More

Begin or Test a Faculty Collaboration Through Intellectual Community Planning Grants

Sarah Dwyer

Intellectual Community Planning Grants 2023, Together Duke (text over background of aerial view of campus).

Deadline: January 20, 2023 (extended)

Overview

The Provost’s Office is once again offering support to Duke faculty who are interested in convening a group of colleagues to begin or test a new collaboration around a shared intellectual interest.

Project funds ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 will be awarded for use during the 2023 calendar year. Recipients can use funds to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books or other meeting costs, and/or exploratory research (as by a student research assistant) into potential collaborators at Duke, UNC, NC State, NCCU, RTI, or organizations in Durham or the Triangle. Expenses for meetings, travel and in-person events are contingent upon university guidelines.

Recipients from grant cycles in previous years represent a broad range of groups and new projects.

Eligibility

  • Any Duke regular rank faculty member, from any discipline, is eligible to propose and form a new collaborative group.
  • Each group should have at least five participating faculty members.
  • Prospective collaborations may be framed around disciplinary, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary themes. The search function at scholars@duke.edu is a useful tool to find other faculty who share a particular intellectual interest. Other resources to help identify and engage collaborators and stakeholders are available via Duke’s myRESEARCHpath.
  • Proposals should identify a faculty lead organizer (PI).
  • Collaborative groups that include faculty from the schools of Medicine and Nursing are welcome to apply, so long as that contingent does not comprise a majority of committed faculty.

Selection Criteria and Review Process

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Potential to build collaborations in exciting intellectual areas for relevant department(s), school(s) and/or cross-cutting institute(s), whether around fundamental/applied research, innovative teaching and/or community engagement
  2. Demonstration of an organizing group of faculty who have self-aggregated around a shared intellectual interest, and who want to pursue that common interest in a variety of venues (e.g., small monthly meetings, larger quarterly meetings, workshops). Meetings should be designed to facilitate potential collaboration.
  3. Extent to which proposals articulate a clear anticipated outcome and also provide a plan to sustain interactions, prepare joint grant applications and/or create a product such as a class, shared research project, extra- or co-curricular offering, etc.

The review process of submitted proposals will be overseen by the vice provost for interdisciplinary studies and the executive vice provost. All proposals, and discussions thereof, will be kept strictly confidential. The intent is that the collective set of award recipients will reflect the richness of intellectual approaches and modes of inquiry that make Duke a vibrant university.

Proposal Requirements

The Provost’s Office uses Formstack to submit applications.

You will be asked to provide the following information:

  1. A brief (maximum two-page) narrative that articulates (1) the area of shared intellectual interest, (2) the question or problem the group proposes to explore, (3) the proposed faculty group’s unique position and qualifications for engaging in the interest area and/or addressing the question or problem, (4) activities the group plans to conduct during the exploratory period, and (5) anticipated outcome (e.g., sustained interactions, joint grant application, new educational offering, Bass Connections project team proposal, research project)
  2. A proposed budget
  3. Information on other funding already obtained or requested (if applicants receive news about other funding proposals after the deadline, they should provide updated information to Mindy Miller, at mindy.miller@duke.edu)
  4. A listing of the organizing core faculty group with brief (maximum two-page) CVs for each.

 To apply, visit: https://dukeinterdisc.formstack.com/forms/icpg

Timeline

RFP released  10/31/2022
RFP deadline for submission  01/06/2023 at 5:00 p.m.
Anticipated grant recipients notification  02/03/2022
Funds made available (or sooner upon request)  02/10/2023
Funds to be expended by  01/31/2023

Contact

For any questions regarding your proposal, please contact Mindy Miller (mindy.miller@duke.edu).

FAQ

Who can apply?
Any group of Duke faculty members with a regular rank faculty lead organizer (PI) can apply.

Our project idea is not very interdisciplinary. Is this okay?

Yes, we are interested in collaborations of all types, including those framed around disciplinary themes.

Is this our only chance at submitting a project proposal?

No. We plan to continue the program.

Is there an optimal number of faculty for a proposal?

We are expecting to see at least five faculty interested in developing a collaborative group around the shared intellectual interest.

What kinds of items and expenses would ICPG funds be able to cover?

Funds can be used to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books or other meeting costs and/or exploratory research (as by an RA) into potential collaborators at Duke, UNC, NC State, NCCU, RTI, local community organizations, etc. Expenses for meetings, travel and in-person events are contingent upon university guidelines.

What kinds of deliverables do you expect the ICPG groups to produce?

Examples of successful outcomes for an ICPG group include sustained and/or expanding interactions in the group, a joint grant application, a new educational offering or curricular framework, a Bass Connections project team proposal, a research project, a major collaborative research grant, etc. See reports from previous cycles for more examples.

How are the ICPGs different from other proposals, like Bass Connections and Collaboratories?

ICPGs are aimed at faculty groups in the initial stages of exploration of a topic, to begin or test a new collaboration around a shared intellectual interest. Thus, ICPGs provide a smaller level of initial funding. Bass Connections project teams require participation of students at multiple learner levels and a focus on applied problems; the application process also encourages engagement with partners from outside the university (NGOs, government agencies, corporations, etc.). Collaboratories provide support to groups of faculty working on more established projects that seek to provide tangible solutions to targeted problems in specified thematic areas.

Six Groups of Faculty Receive Intellectual Community Planning Grants for 2022

Sarah Dwyer

2022 Intellectual Community Planning Grants.

The Provost’s Office has awarded Intellectual Community Planning Grants to six collaborative projects for the 2022 calendar year. The projects include Duke faculty from several schools and institutes, a number of staff members, and partners at NC State, Eastern Carolina University, UNC–Chapel Hill, UNC–Greensboro, University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Building a Chemical Education Research Community in North Carolina

Lead: Charlie Cox, Associate Professor of the Practice of Chemistry

Core Faculty: Maia Popova, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, University of North Carolina–Greensboro; Maria Gallardo-Williams, Teaching Professor, Chemistry, North Carolina State University; Joi Walker, Associate Professor, Chemistry, Eastern Carolina University; Dorian Canelas, Associate Professor of the Practice of Chemistry

BVLOS Duke Community for Environmental Justice

Lead: Martin Brooke, Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Core Faculty: David Johnston, Associate Professor of the Practice of Marine Conservation Ecology; Brian McAdoo, Associate Professor of Earth & Ocean Sciences; Michelle Nowlin, Clinical Professor of Law

Enhancing Curricular Synergies Between Marine Science and Conservation

Lead: Thomas Schultz, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Marine Molecular Conservation

Core Faculty: Andrew Read, Stephen A. Toth Distinguished Professor of Marine Biology; David Johnston, Associate Professor of the Practice of Marine Conservation; Emily Klein, University Distinguished Service Professor, Earth and Climate Sciences; Shineng Hu, Assistant Professor of Physical Oceanography; Amy Kenyon, Associate Director, Teaching Innovation, Duke Learning Innovation

Geothermal Justice

Lead: Brian McAdoo, Associate Professor of Earth & Ocean Sciences

Core Faculty: Rebecca Simmons, Associate Professor of the Practice of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Neal Simmons, Gendell Family Professor of the Practice of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Chip Bobbert, CoLab Architect, Innovation CoLab; Michael Bergin, Sternberg Family Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

New Pedagogies for Climate With the Duke Campus Farm

Lead: Saskia Cornes, Assistant Professor of the Practice, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute

Core Faculty: Norman Wirzba, Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology; Charles Thompson, Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology; Priscilla Wald, R. Florence Brinkley Distinguished Professor of English; Rebecca Vidra, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy; Luciana Fellin, Professor of the Practice of Romance Studies; Charlotte Clark, Associate Professor of the Practice of Sustainability in the Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy; Bethany Wiggin, Associate Professor of German, Founding Director, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities, University of Pennsylvania; Laura Sayre, independent scholar, University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Social Epidemiology for Place and Health Equity

Co-Leads: Christine Gray, Assistant Research Professor of Global Health, and Emily D’Agostino, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

Core Faculty: Aaron Hipp, Associate Professor of Community Health and Sustainability, North Carolina State University; Chantel Martin, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology, UNC Chapel Hill; Carmen Gutierrez, Assistant Professor, Public Policy, UNC Chapel Hill; Kristen Rappazzo, Epidemiologist, US Environmental Protection Agency

About Intellectual Community Planning Grants

A key goal of the Together Duke academic strategic plan is to invest in faculty as scholars and leaders of the university’s intellectual communities. Intellectual Community Planning Grants (ICPG) foster collaboration around new and emerging areas of interest. Project funds ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 can be used to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books or other meeting costs, and/or exploratory research (as by a student research assistant) into potential collaborators.

Due to the pandemic, ICPG were not offered in 2021. See the 2020 ICPG report.

Explore Shared Interests Through Intellectual Community Planning Grants

Sarah Dwyer

Intellectual Community Planning Grants.

Deadline: November 15, 2021

Overview

The Provost’s Office is once again offering support to Duke faculty who are interested in convening a group of colleagues to begin or test a new collaboration around a shared intellectual interest.

Project funds ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 will be awarded for use during the 2022 calendar year. Recipients can use funds to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books or other meeting costs, and/or exploratory research (as by a student research assistant) into potential collaborators at Duke, UNC, NC State, NCCU, RTI, etc. Expenses for meetings, travel and in-person events are contingent upon university guidelines.

Recipients from grant cycles in previous years represent a broad range of groups and new projects.

 Eligibility

  • Any Duke regular rank faculty member, from any discipline, is eligible to propose and form a new collaborative group.
  • Each group should have at least five participating faculty members.
  • Prospective collaborations may be framed around disciplinary, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary themes. The search function at scholars.duke.edu is a useful tool to find other faculty who share a particular intellectual interest. Other resources to help identify and engage collaborators and stakeholders are available via Duke’s myRESEARCHpath.
  • Proposals should identify a faculty lead organizer (PI).
  • Collaborative groups that include faculty from the schools of Medicine and Nursing are welcome to apply, so long as that contingent does not comprise a majority of committed faculty.

Selection Criteria and Review Process

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Potential to build collaborations in exciting intellectual areas for relevant department(s), school(s) and/or cross-cutting institute(s), whether around fundamental/applied research, innovative teaching and/or civic engagement.
  2. Demonstration of an organizing group of faculty who have self-aggregated around a shared intellectual interest, and who want to pursue that common interest in a variety of venues, e.g., small monthly meetings, larger quarterly meetings, workshops. Meetings should be designed to facilitate potential collaboration.
  3. Extent to which proposals articulate a clear anticipated outcome and also provide a plan to sustain interactions, prepare joint grant applications and/or create a product such as a class, shared research project, extra- or co-curricular offering, etc.

The review process of submitted proposals will be overseen by the vice provost for interdisciplinary studies and the executive vice provost. All proposals, and discussions thereof, will be kept strictly confidential. The intent is that the collective set of award recipients will reflect the richness of intellectual approaches and modes of inquiry that make Duke a vibrant university.

Proposal Requirements

The Provost’s Office uses Formstack to submit applications.

You will be asked to provide the following information:

  1. A brief (maximum two-page) narrative that articulates (1) the area of shared intellectual interest, (2) the question or problem the group proposes to explore, (3) the proposed faculty group’s unique position and qualifications for engaging in the interest area and/or addressing the question or problem, (4) activities the group plans to conduct during the exploratory period, and (5) anticipated outcome (e.g., sustained interactions, joint grant application, new educational offering, Bass Connections project team proposal, research project)
  2. A proposed budget
  3. Information on other funding already obtained or requested (if applicants receive news about other funding proposals after the deadline, they should provide updated information to Mindy Miller, at mindy.miller@duke.edu)
  4. A listing of the organizing core faculty group with brief (maximum two-page) CVs for each.

To apply, visit: https://dukeinterdisc.formstack.com/forms/icpg_fall2021

Timeline

RFP released

10/1/2021
RFP deadline for submission

11/15/2021
Anticipated grant recipients notification

12/10/2021
Funds made available (or sooner upon request)

1/7/2022
Funds to be expended by

12/31/2022

Contact

For any questions regarding your proposal, please contact:

Mindy Miller, manager, strategic projects: mindy.miller@duke.edu

FAQ

Who can apply?

Any group of Duke faculty members with a regular rank faculty lead organizer (PI) can apply.

Our project idea is not very interdisciplinary. Is this okay?

Yes, we are interested in collaborations of all types, including those framed around disciplinary themes.

Is this our only chance at submitting a project proposal?

No. We paused the program in 2021 due to the pandemic, but we plan to put out a call for proposals again in 2022.

Is there an optimal number of faculty for a proposal?

We are expecting to see at least five faculty interested in developing a collaborative group around the shared intellectual interest.

What kinds of items and expenses would ICPG funds be able to cover?

Funds can be used to cover the cost of meeting venues, external speakers, event materials, books, or other meeting costs, and/or exploratory research (as by an RA) into potential collaborators at Duke, UNC, NC State, NCCU, RTI, etc. Expenses for meetings, travel, and in-person events are contingent upon university guidelines.

What kinds of deliverables do you expect the ICPG groups to produce?

Examples of successful outcomes for an ICPG group include sustained and/or expanding interactions in the group, a joint grant application, a new educational offering or curricular framework, a Bass Connections project team proposal, a research project, a major collaborative research grant, etc. See reports from previous cycles for more examples.

How are the ICPGs different from other proposals, like Bass Connections and Collaboratories?

ICPGs are aimed at faculty groups in the initial stages of exploration of a topic, to begin or test a new collaboration around a shared intellectual interest. Thus, ICPGs provide a smaller level of initial funding. Bass Connections project teams require participation of students at multiple learner levels and a focus on applied problems; the application process also encourages engagement with partners from outside the university (NGOs, government agencies, corporations, etc.). Collaboratories provide support to groups of faculty working on more established projects that seek to provide tangible solutions to targeted problems in specified thematic areas.

New Faculty Collaborations Flourish in a Challenging Year

Alicia Wolverton

Images of Duke buildings in a collage.

Last January, ten groups of Duke faculty looked forward to beginning work on their 2020 Intellectual Community Planning Grants (ICPG). The COVID-19 pandemic interfered with their plans, but the groups succeeded in making strides and will continue to pursue their goals this year. Here are brief updates.

Transformative Learning: A Shared Intellectual Interest across the University

Cori Crane (lead), Deb Reisinger (lead), Joan Clifford (lead), Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Alessandra Dinin, Jennifer Hill, David Malone, Liliana Paredes, Melissa Simmermeyer

Screenshot and collage.
Left: “Shifting Perspectives“ blog series; right: collage from art therapy workshop, “Who am I as a learner?“

This group’s aim was to explore transformative learning in undergraduate education in the members’ disciplines and across units. Members met monthly to discuss selected readings, including Patricia Cranton’s book “Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning: A Guide to Theory and Practice.” Three meetings were held in person before the pandemic caused the remainder to take place virtually. For two of the meetings, outside speakers were invited to share their scholarship. In February, Dr. Stacey Johnson (Vanderbilt) spoke on perspective transformation among language learners of minoritized communities and gave a keynote at the Duke Language Symposium. In October, Dr. Richard Kiely (Cornell) met with the group twice and gave a public talk.

Inspired by Cranton’s discussion of arts-based activities as stimulus for reflection, members participated in a summer workshop by the Art Therapy Institute of NC. The group also began a blog series, “Shifting Perspectives,” and posted an Introduction, When Teachers Are Learners and Reclaiming and Reframing the Disrupted Year of Learning.

Bridging Social Determinants of Health with Clinical Extensions of Care for Vulnerable Populations

Donald H. Taylor (lead), Ebony Boulware, Nadine Barrett, Carolyn Barnes, Rosa Guarda-Gonzalez

Advertisement for Misinformation and Mistrust symposium
The Misinformation and Mistrust symposium took place on October 2, 2020.

ICPG funds supported two virtual symposia to facilitate discourse around the social determinants of health and key issues to bridge with community partners.

A research symposium, A Call to Action: Identifying Next Steps to Address Biomedical, Health Care, and Social Drivers of COVID-19 Disparities, attracted 1,296 attendees and provided a venue for discussion among a mix of faculty from the School of Medicine, Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the social sciences. The second symposium, Misinformation and Mistrust: COVID-19 Conversations on Race and Gender Equity, engaged 325 participants.

The group’s symposia planning led to a U54 supplement to an NIH grant that was submitted through a shared vision of a project on adequate COVID testing in key areas of underserved populations.

Human Rights Futures

James Chappel (lead), Kathi Weeks, Robin Kirk, Adam Rosenblatt, Liliana Paredes, Marion Quirici, Jen Ansley, Emily Stewart

Liat Ben-Moshe.
The Human Rights Futures group invited Liat Ben-Moshe to talk about her new book, “Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition.” The online event will take place on February 17.

To begin thinking about the future of the Duke Human Rights Center (DHRC), this group held numerous meetings with graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty members who are interested in this topic. They came up with ideas for house courses and other initiatives that ended up being stalled due to the pandemic, but the discussions helped inform their vision of how to proceed.

As the DHRC deepens its collaboration with the Health Humanities Lab and the Disability and Access Initiative, ICPG funds will support a speaker and two workshops for students about disability, human rights and the university in Spring 2021. The grant also gave members some intellectual space to imagine the parameters of a FOCUS cluster, Envisioning Human Rights, and allowed for Robin Kirk to bring in guest speakers and facilitators to her course on fiction, futurism and human rights.

Housing and Health: A Multisector Community-driven Approach to Achieving Health Equity

Donna J. Biederman (lead), Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Daniel Richter, Jennifer (Kate) Hoffman, Don Bradley, Donald H. Taylor, Lorraine C. Taylor, Ashanti Brown

Zoom screenshot
Screenshot from one of the group’s virtual meetings

The group was able to hold two planning meetings with administrators from the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) in July and November. Participants agreed that a more strategic approach to research involving DHA would be needed before engaging residents. The pandemic also caused scheduling difficulties with the group’s second community partner, El Centro Hispano. The group’s current plan is to give a presentation at an upcoming LATIN-19 (Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19) meeting to ask for volunteers to participate and provide community expert feedback on housing and health issues among the Latinx community.

North Carolina Saltwater Intrusion and Sea Level Rise

Justin Wright (lead), Emily Bernhardt, Nathaniel Chaney, Jean-Christophe Domec, Jennifer Swenson, Ryan Emanuel, Marcelo Ardon

The working group following their meeting
Members of the working group following a meeting

The primary goal of this project was to bring together scientists from across the state whose research focuses on the implications of sea level rise and salt water intrusion on natural ecosystems. The group hosted a workshop in February 2020, which was attended by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from Duke, North Carolina State University, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service. Members presented their findings and approaches, identified key knowledge gaps and explored how bringing together different disciplines could lead to productive new approaches.

For many people, the workshop marked the first time meeting new colleagues and hearing about existing datasets and novel applications. This interaction kick-started several collaborative efforts. To date, the group has submitted one grant proposal and is completing a second proposal. Members continue to use a Google Group for sharing ideas for future proposals and collaborations.

Light-based Methods in Neuroscience and Biology

Eva Naumann (lead), Roarke Horstmeyer, Jenna McHenry, John Pearson, Junjie Yao, Stefano Di Talia, Mike Tadross

Using all optical neural activity monitoring and manipulating in the translucent zebrafish
Using all optical neural activity monitoring and manipulating in the translucent zebrafish

This group aimed to cross-pollinate ideas among neuroscientists, engineers and data scientists. Members took part in an in-person kickoff meeting but had to postpone their plans to host seminars and discussions. Virtual meetings helped forge stronger contacts between the group members, and faculty have already initiated three new collaborations.

Entity Resolution with Applications to Public Policy and Business

Victor Bennett (lead), Rebecca Steorts (lead), David Banks, Ines Black, Sharique Hasan, Jerry Reiter

Diagram.
Diagram from Rebecca Steorts’ webpage on selected research and software

Based on implementation of the novel Entity Resolution algorithm developed by Rebecca Steorts, the group spent time getting the code required to run the process up and running on Duke infrastructure. Master’s student Davis Berlind was able to run the process on some real-world data used to measure automation in the U.S. economy. With advising, he was also able to provide reports comparing the performance of the routine to other routines on these data. To further the collaboration, Victor Bennett took a training course to learn Spark, the multiprocessor parallel processing system on which Steorts’ code was implemented. The performance on the real-world data was less than expected, which was helpful to learn – the group concluded that their collaboration has a lot to contribute by improving the algorithm’s performance on commonly used data in business and public policy research.

Developing a Neuroethics and Theological Studies Network

Patrick Smith (lead), Brett McCarty (lead), Farr Curlin, Warren Kinghorn

Zoom meeting screenshot.
“Linking Social Justice and Brain Injury Through Theology” panelists at the 2020 International Neuroethics Society conference

In lieu of an on-campus gathering, this group began by spending a day on Zoom workshopping a coauthored manifesto and ideas for articles and grants. Patrick Smith has been in dialogue with the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences about a series of public conversations they are developing to catalyze work toward a science of social harmony and everyday morality. Brett McCarty engaged with Deborah Jenson to explore ideas. An unexpected fruit of the group’s efforts has been a growing network of national and international collaboration. The grant allowed the group to bring together international scholars working on questions regarding the intersection of theology and neuroethics, which led to Smith’s participation on a panel, “Linking Social Justice and Brain Injury Through Theology,” at the 2020 International Neuroethics Society Annual Meeting. “The grant allowed my research trajectory to take up important discussions at the intersection of theology, neuroethics, and social justice,” said Smith.

Duke SciReg Center: Science in Regulation, Law, and Public Policy

Pate Skene (lead), Michael B. Waitzkin, Jeff Ward, Jonathan Wiener, Mark Borsuk, Kate Konschnik, Lori Bennear, Sarah Rispin Sedlak

This group began with a planning meeting for the core group of faculty. With help from a summer research student, Sophie Mouros, the group conducted a survey of centers and courses at other universities that address the intersection of science and technology with regulation, law and policy. Members then conducted phone interviews with leaders of relevant centers and courses. Learning that most of those offerings are narrowly focused, they concluded that educating Duke faculty and students on the range and depth of the federal regulation of science – and on their ability to participate in that process – could position Duke to play a leadership role in this area.

Opioid Detection Technologies and Their Application to Addressing Various Aspects of the Opioid Crisis

Michael Gehm (lead), Jason Amsden, Nabarun Dasgupta, Jeffrey Glass, Joel Greenberg, Rachel Greenberg, Sonia Grego, Andrew Muzyk

The group was able to hold an in-person kickoff meeting and three information-sharing meetings where the members introduced their connections to the theme. Application-area experts from medicine and public health discussed the detection needs in their areas while the engineering experts discussed the capabilities of their detection modalities. Since a core aspect of this project was to transport scientific equipment to Texas in order to acquire baseline opioid signatures with the group’s detection equipment, and since many faculty were overwhelmed with COVID-related activities, all members agreed that activity should be suspended for the duration of the pandemic.

About Intellectual Community Planning Grants

A key goal of the Together Duke academic strategic plan is to invest in faculty as scholars and leaders of the university’s intellectual communities. To foster collaboration around new and emerging areas of interest, Intellectual Community Planning Grants are available to groups of faculty. Learn more, read about the 2019 recipients and see all Together Duke initiatives.

From Marine Medicine to the Economics of Education, Faculty Build New Collaborations

Sarah Dwyer

Intellectual Community Planning Grants.

Eight Duke University faculty groups shared updates on the work supported by their 2019 Intellectual Community Planning Grants (ICPG). Although many groups’ plans were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, they logged a number of accomplishments and intend to further their collaborations.

Big Data and Social Interactions

Jillian Grennan (lead), Chris Bail, Ines Black, Ofer Eldar, Sarah Gaither, Sharique Hasan, Rachel Kranton, David Robinson

Word cloud.

The group held a kick-off event featuring Amir Goldberg of Stanford University. Goldberg’s 90-minute lecture, “Timing Differences: Discursive Diversity and Team Performance,” was attended by about 40 faculty and graduate students from Fuqua and the broader Duke community. This interaction led the group to a new research project in collaboration with a startup firm that uses AI to generate productivity scores for employees in real time. The group began coordinating with the startup to run a randomized control trial where managers are given tips on how to enhance team productivity based on the AI-generated predictions.

Building Duke’s Community of Theoretical Chemists via a Summer Undergraduate Research Program

David Beratan (lead), Hashim Al-Hashimi, Volker Blum, Patrick Charbonneau, Stephen Craig, Bruce Randall Donald, Jianfeng Lu, Michael Rubinstein, Warren S. Warren, Weitao Yang

Students and faculty in 2019.
Selected students and faculty in 2019

This group launched a seven-week summer undergraduate research program for rising seniors studying in the U.S., Canada or Mexico who are interested in theoretical and computational chemistry. Research themes include electronic structure theory, quantum dynamics, polymer theory, theoretical biophysics, statistical mechanics, drug discovery, energy science and biochemistry. The program received support from the Department of Chemistry, the Duke University Energy Initiative and the National Science Foundation.

Exploring STEAM (Science, Arts, and Humanities) at Duke

Misha Angrist (lead), Jory Weintraub (lead), Ariana Eily (project manager), Nicolette Cagle, Aria Chernik, Claudia Gunsch, Jules Odendahl-James, Nimmi Ramanujam, Nina Sherwood, Kearsley Stewart, Victoria Szabo

The STEAM working group brought together members of the Duke community from a broad array of disciplines to explore the current status of STEAM interdisciplinary work around campus. The group met multiple times to define its goals, which included developing and distributing a campus-wide survey, creating a method for compiling STEAM resources and activities, and planning and implementing the first STEAM forum. The survey resulted in over 90 responses from faculty, staff and students of all levels. In completing the STEAM survey, the forum, and the postforum survey, the group laid a foundation for furthering STEAM at Duke.

Health as an Ecosystem: Expanding Our Imaginations of Health

John Moses (lead), Jennifer Lawson (lead), Charles Nunn, Richard Di Giulio, Alice Ammerman, Eliana Perrin, Eric Richardson, Jan Holton, Brett McCarty, Bill Walker, Peter English, Gopal Sreenivasan, Norman Wirzba, Jon Fjeld, Ray Barfield, Warren Kinghorn

Climate Change, Health and Social Justice lecture series.

Members of this group laid a foundation by making new connections across Duke. During a Science & Society dinner, for example, they met with graduate students from the School of Medicine, Science & Society, Environmental Toxicology who expressed interest in continued engagement. The group also benefited from monthly calls with the AAP Chapter Climate Advocates network and reviewed opportunities for future activities. In addition, the group organized a three-part lecture series, Climate Change, Health, and Social Justice, hosted by the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine. The first event, From Planet to Patient, will take place on January 13, 2021 (register here).

Launching a Triangle-Wide Seminar in the Economics of Education

Sarah Komisarow (lead), Charles Clotfelter, Helen Ladd, Marcos Rangel, Beth Gifford

Held at the Sanford School of Public Policy, the inaugural Triangle Economics of Education Workshop featured four presenters from local universities and one presenter from out of state. Sarah Turner of the University of Virginia gave the keynote address on college affordability, tailored to higher education costs in North Carolina. The group received 17 research paper submissions from researchers at 29 institutions, including local universities, government agencies, think tanks and national or international universities. The workshop’s 60 attendees spanned multiple schools, departments and programs at Duke and came from surrounding universities as well.

Marine Medicine: Multidisciplinary Research at the Nexus of the Environment and Human Health

Andrew Read (lead), Richard Di Giulio, Will Eward, Jason Somarelli, Tom Schultz, Meagan Dunphy-Daly

Marine Medicine team members in 2019.

Over monthly meetings, this group created a strategy for long-term funding support of an Oceans and Human Health Initiative. Members also submitted two review papers, one of which has already been published (Schmaltz et al. 2020. Plastic pollution solutions: emerging technologies to prevent and collect marine plastic pollution. Environment International). They hosted a virtual Oceans and Human Health Symposium, which included faculty, outside speakers, postdocs, graduate students and undergraduates. The group succeeded in obtaining funding from the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Seaworld/Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions (Catalyst Award).

Parasite-Host Evolution Network Optimization (PHENO) Working Group

James Moody (lead), Charles Nunn, Craig Rawlings, Gregory Gray, Chris Woods, Meira Epplein, James Herrera, Dana Pasquale

Network.

The group met multiple times to discuss potential grant mechanisms that would fit members’ interest in exploring how the potential intersection of social, epidemiological and evolutionary approaches might add to the ways in which we understand the spread of parasite and parasite-like diseases. While they did not submit a proposal based on this focus, the members got to know each other better and were poised to pursue opportunities related to COVID-19. They received two new grants (NSF-RAPID with Moody, Keister, Pasquale; CDC including Pasquale, Moody, Woods among many others) and used data on parasite-human interaction networks as a foundation for COVID-19 simulation work (Nunn, Moody, Pasquale).

Social Studies of Science Working Group

Harris Solomon (lead), Ara Wilson, Gabriel Rosenberg, Nima Bassiri, Cate Reilly, Nicole Barnes, Evan Hepler-Smith, Priscilla Wald, Mark Olson

This group made substantial headway on its aim of collating syllabi for members’ teaching efforts that relate to science and technology studies (STS). This emphasis on teaching proved especially useful to bridge the different levels of seniority in the group. Members now actively share their projected teaching schedules and think together about two other aims of the group: informing students more clearly about related courses in members’ cluster of teaching; and working within the limitations of individual unit constraints and needs to avoid scheduling those courses at the same time, which will better enable access for students.

About Intellectual Community Planning Grants

A key goal of the Together Duke academic strategic plan is to invest in faculty as scholars and leaders of the university’s intellectual communities. To foster collaboration around new and emerging areas of interest, Intellectual Community Planning Grants are available to groups of faculty. Learn more, read about the 2020 recipients and see all Together Duke initiatives.

Ten Groups of Faculty Receive Intellectual Community Planning Grants for 2020

Sarah Dwyer

Campus in winter.

The Provost’s Office has awarded Intellectual Community Planning Grants to ten groups for the 2020 calendar year.

A key goal of Together Duke is to invest in faculty as scholars and leaders of the university’s intellectual communities. To foster collaboration around new and emerging areas of interest, Intellectual Community Planning Grants (ICPG) ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 are available to groups of faculty. Recipients can use the funds to support the exploration of new collaborations, covering the cost of meeting venues, food, external speakers or other meeting costs, and research to identify potential collaborators at Duke and elsewhere.

The 2020 grants include faculty from all of Duke’s schools as well as the University of North Carolina, NC State University, and NC Central University.

Bridging Social Determinants of Health with Clinical Extensions of Care for Vulnerable Populations

Bridging team members.

This group will establish a partnership between Duke’s Clinical Translational Science Institute and the Social Science Research Institute in order to develop a portfolio of scholarly activity that tackles the interplay of social determinants of health, clinical health outcomes, and the advancement of health equity. Members will develop a compilation of resources to facilitate interdisciplinary and collaborative research and take advantage of short-term synergies that allow for additional coauthored publications. They will also develop research proposals to design and test one or more interventions.

Developing a Neuroethics and Theological Studies Network

Developing Neuroethics team members.

What can theological studies contribute to neuroethics, and vice versa? How can the engagement of theological studies with neuroethics best be facilitated? How can further interdisciplinary collaboration at Duke shape such dialogue? This group seeks to foster and expand the work of an emerging international cohort of scholars working at the intersection of theological studies and neuroethics.

Duke SciReg Center: Science in Regulation, Law, and Public Policy

Duke SciReg ICPG members.

Bringing together Duke faculty and students from STEM disciplines, law, and policy, this group will seek to facilitate the provision of timely comments from Duke experts to state and federal agencies on pending regulations that implicate scientific and technical issues. Following a series of conversations and planning events, members hope to establish a center at Duke that would create a unique model for interdisciplinary education in science, law, and policy through actual participation in the regulatory process.

Entity Resolution with Applications to Public Policy and Business

Entity Resolutions ICPG members.

This collaboration will enable the formation of a multidisciplinary lab of social scientists, public policy analysts, business scholars, mathematicians and statisticians who seek to understand the practical issues related to entity resolution (ER)—the processes of removing duplicates from large databases and engaging in accurate record linkage across databases. There will be regular meetings of the member research groups to explore applications of ER tasks in public policy and business; one Ph.D. student will work on a project to implement members’ developed tools into software for public distribution and a working paper.

Housing and Health: A Multisector Community-driven Approach to Achieving Health Equity

Housing ICPG members.

Combining a community engagement process with interdisciplinary expertise, these faculty hope to address social, economic, and environmental influencers of health, with the eventual goal of transforming Durham into a healthier place for its most vulnerable residents. Members will participate in an interactive, facilitated pre-planning meeting and four design-thinking workshops with community partners, followed by a post-workshop debrief and a meeting to determine next steps and future directions.

Human Rights Futures

Human Rights ICPG members.

This community of human rights scholars plans will discuss a new temporal framing for human rights: one that remains aware of past grievances and the need for reparations, but that places such awareness in the service of a sustainable and desirable future. Involving graduate and undergraduate students, the group will explore a number of ideas for how this multiyear project might come to life. Following several working lunches, the group plans to launch a “speculative fiction book club,” host a guest speaker, and convene a day-long workshop.

  • Lead: James Chappel, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Kathi Weeks, Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Robin Kirk, Cultural Anthropology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Adam Rosenblatt, International Comparative Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Liliana Paredes, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Marion Quirici, Thompson Writing Program, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Jen Ansley, Thompson Writing Program, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Emily Stewart, Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute

Light-based Methods in Neuroscience and Biology

Light-based ICPG members.

This group aims to cross-pollinate ideas among neuroscientists, engineers, and data scientists. Each meeting focus on related questions requiring interdisciplinary engagement (e.g., How can we use light-based methods, such as scanless holography, adaptive optics, computational optics approaches, and genetically encoded activity sensors and actuators such as bacterial opsins, to investigate neural function?) Members will share information about resources for addressing these questions and communicate across Duke to strengthen imaging infrastructure.

North Carolina Saltwater Intrusion and Sea Level Rise

NC Saltwater ICPG members.

Predicting the impacts of sea level rise and the accompanying saltwater intrusion on freshwater coastal wetlands is a complex challenge. While the formation of “ghost forests”—the rapid death of trees due to salt stress—is gaining attention, our understanding remains fragmented. This group will convene a one-day workshop to develop an overarching research framework, with the goals of then pooling resources, sharing data, and submitting joint grant proposals.

Opioid Detection Technologies and Their Application to Addressing Various Aspects of the Opioid Crisis

Opioid ICPG members.

How can novel detection technologies be brought to bear on the opioid crisis? Members of this group will explore that question by undertaking two parallel activity streams: monthly collaboration meetings to share information; and acquisition of initial compound signatures on two fundamental detection technologies (X-ray diffraction and mass spectrometry). These faculty will pursue increased cross-disciplinary understanding of the opioid crisis and its detection needs; a baseline signature library of relevant compounds to support future analysis and design; and one or more joint proposals on topics related to detection and the opioid crisis.

Transformative Learning: A Shared Intellectual Interest across the University

Transformative Learning ICPG members.

This group’s primary goal is to identify transformative learning moments among Duke students. Members will meet monthly to develop a shared knowledge of transformative learning practices and assessment. They will host a dinner with Dr. Stacey Johnson of Vanderbilt University, a renowned expert in transformative learning in language education, convene two campus-wide discussions, and invite a nationally recognized speaker to give a public talk. The group will create a shared toolkit of assessment tools for transformative learning and develop conference proposals and a publication to showcase this work.

  • Co-lead: Cori Crane, Germanic Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Co-lead: Deb Reisinger, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Co-lead: Joan Clifford, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Thompson Writing Program, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Alessandra Dinin, Office of Assessment, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Jennifer Hill, Office of Assessment, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • David Malone, Program in Education, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Liliana Paredes, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
  • Melissa Simmermeyer, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Read about the 2019 recipients of Intellectual Community Planning Grants and view the 2018 summary report.

See all initiatives in the Together Duke academic strategic plan, including the current RFP for Collaboratories for Research on Immigration or on Science, Technology & Ethics (deadline: January 24, 2020; to learn more, attend an information session on Thursday, January 9, from 3:00 to 4:00 in the Karl E. Zener Auditorium, 130 Sociology-Psychology).

Inaugural Duke STEAM Forum Brings Together the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities

Sarah Dwyer

STEAM participants.

By the STEAM at Duke Team

If you were in the Ruby on September 18, you caught a glimpse of the beginning of something big.

The inaugural Duke STEAM Forum was designed to give visibility and voice to those who are passionate about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) at Duke. The forum was put forward by the team behind an Intellectual Community Planning Grant devoted to bringing together the sciences, arts and humanities at Duke, made available through the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies. We lovingly call ourselves the Duke STEAM Team.

By providing space for collaborative brainstorming, highlighting speakers who lead incredible STEAM initiatives, and learning lessons from an expert who brings STEAM into his work and his classroom, the afternoon was full of energetic chatter revealing the value of STEAM, our goals, ideas to foster its growth, and knowledge of where we need to provide support to bring this all to fruition.

The first STEAM forum filled the Ruby lounge with about 50 attendees featuring participants from Duke Gardens, the Nasher, Duke Forest, OIT, the Co-lab, Duke Libraries, and so much more. There was also a mix of undergraduates, graduate and professional students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. This shows just how STEAM@Duke cuts across many dimensions of our learning, our service, and our scholarship at every level.

We kicked off the event with opening remarks from Jory Weintraub, the director of science communication for the Initiative for Science & Society. He made the case for why STEAM is important and why we are poised to make strides with STEAM here at Duke. Then he turned over the reins to Ariana Eily, who facilitated the afternoon sessions. We dove into a brainstorm to get our ideas flowing for what we want to do with STEAM and what we need to do it—all recorded on the wall with sticky notes. This was followed by vignettes of STEAM initiatives taking place at Duke and more dialogue about existing projects, including The Art of a Scientist, The Enviro-Art Gallery, the SLIPPAGE Lab, the Calla Campaign, THE_OPER&, and HEAR at Duke.

In having this collection of STEAM-minded folks in one room for the first time, we wanted to give them as much time to interact and talk to each other as we could. Sharing ideas, resources, questions, and more to put some energy behind STEAM at Duke.

To close, Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth delivered a wonderful address capturing the spirit of STEAM and its ability to change the world.

In bringing together the arts and the sciences, we learn so much more about the world and human experiences in it. We can paint a more complete, more compelling, and more authentic picture of our world.

The STEAM forum is just the first in a wave of STEAM-centric things coming from the Duke STEAM Team. We are conducting a survey to get a sense of our thoughts on STEAM, gathering a list of STEAM resources, compiling a report on STEAM at Duke which will be out soon, and developing a website to be home to STEAM all across Duke’s campus. Collectively, we’re a team of a postdoc, an MA student, an undergraduate who is working with the CAST program, and faculty from different departments. We look forward to seeing the way STEAM grows at Duke!

Originally posted on the Duke Arts website

  • Read about the 2019 recipients of Intellectual Community Planning Grants.
  • See all current initiatives in the Together Duke academic strategic plan.