Each year, Duke University awards Benenson Awards in the Arts, which provide funding for arts-centered projects proposed by undergraduates, including graduating seniors. This year, the Student Arts Award Committee awarded prizes to fifteen students for creative projects spanning film, theater, creative writing, music, dance, and visual art. read more about Announcing the 2025 Benenson Award Winners »
In the latest edition of New in Duke Blue, Antwan Lofton, Vice President of Duke Human Resources, interviews Mohamed Noor, Executive Vice Provost for Duke University.Noor discusses his love for biology as a child, where he thinks Duke can continue to improve in order to live out its academic mission, and what led him to seek out a faculty position at Duke in 2005.“I was invited to serve on a PhD students committee here,” Noor said. “Honestly, it was the graduate students that drew me here... I thought wow, these graduate… read more about New in Duke Blue: A Conversation with Mohamed Noor »
DURHAM, N.C. – In miniature test tubes in biologist Ryan Baugh’s lab at Duke, thousands of tiny wriggling worms – each one a fraction the size of an eyelash – munch on their dinner of bacteria broth.The worms’ soupy meal is laced with a hidden ingredient, invisible so-called “forever chemicals” found in America’s drinking water, our food and farmlands, even lurking in our bodies.It’s a chemical safety test, said Duke postdoctoral fellow Tess Leuthner. The garden- and compost-dwelling worm is helping researchers such as… read more about ‘Forever Chemicals’ Are Everywhere. Most of Their Health Effects Are Unknown »
In this series of four stories, we are highlighting students whose “Why I Learn Languages” essays have been selected as winners of the Trinity Language Council’s 2024 Best Essay competition. Sarah Gorbatov is a junior majoring in Biology and Russian, with a minor in Computer Science, who reconnected with her native Russian through her time at Duke. Read and let Gorbatov tell you, in her own words, how learning languages gave her the tools to reconcile a language of hurt with a language of love. … read more about In Their Own Words: From Hurt to Love, with Nothing Lost in Translation »
Six Duke faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Fellowship in AAAS is considered one of the most distinct honors in the scientific community.The 2024 fellows class consists of 471 scientists, engineers and innovators across 24 AAAS disciplinary sections who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. “This year’s class of fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities,” said Sudip… read more about Five Trinity Faculty Named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science »
Sarah Marion is a Ph.D. candidate in Biology, expected to complete her program in 2025. She received a B.A. in Biology from Brown University in 2012.Prior to beginning her Ph.D. program, Marion held several positions at Duke, including a college advisor in mentoring undergraduate students, a laboratory instructor, a teaching lab manager, and a research associate in evolutionary genetics research. In these roles, she was known for her characteristic enthusiasm and making personal connections to support students in… read more about Biologist Sarah Marion Receives Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring »
Duke University has awarded distinguished professorships to 31 faculty members and will recognize them in a ceremony at the Washington Duke Inn on May 14.“I am very proud to recognize these outstanding faculty colleagues with distinguished professorships,” said President Vincent E. Price. “Through their extraordinary scholarship and teaching, they are advancing solutions, inventions and cures that will uplift humankind and make a lasting difference in the world.”Distinguished professorships honor faculty who are well-… read more about Six Trinity Faculty Members Among Duke's New Distinguished Professors »
Established when Germany was still divided by a wall, Duke in Berlin has provided students with a truly immersive study abroad experience for nearly 40 years. Administered by the Global Education Office (GEO) and sponsored by German Studies, the program is available during both fall and spring semesters as well as the summer — with options to stay in the city anywhere from one semester to a year. Together with the team at GEO, Andrea Larson, Duke in Berlin’s academic director, ensures students are well-prepared… read more about When Berlin Is Your Classroom »
Duke is equipping students to respect differing viewpoints in a variety of ways. This Duke Today series examines the decline in civil discourse and Duke’s efforts to improve campus dialogue.A few years back, Norman Wirzba was pondering how best to get 150 Duke students to have civil, respectful class discussions about climate change, a charged topic that prompts myriad opinions.His solution: food.He and co-organizer Emily Bernhardt knew mealtime conversations land differently than classroom conversations. Your guard is down… read more about Putting Climate Talk on Low Heat »
Bruce Nicklas, Arthur S. Pearse Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology, passed away during the week of February 19, 2025. A trailblazer in cell biology, Nicklas dedicated his career to unraveling the mysteries of chromosome movement. This earned him international recognition for his groundbreaking research on the mechanisms through which cells divide Nicklas joined Duke in 1965 and served as chair of the Zoology Department from 1983 to 1986, before Zoology and Botany merged into what is now Duke's Biology… read more about Duke Remembers Bruce Nicklas »
“I try to recruit people who have experience with failing and know how to deal with it,” Johnsen said. “Because in biology, we fail so often. Plan A and plan B never work. If you’re super lucky, plan C will work, but usually we’re using plan D.”“I might be one of the only Duke faculty who dropped out of college,” says Sönke Johnsen. Johnsen didn’t just drop out of college. He also had a very unusual career trajectory. On his way to becoming a Biology professor at Duke, Johnsen was a kindergarten teacher, a carpenter,… read more about Freedom to Fail: A Journey to Success, Courtesy of Failure »
DURHAM, N.C. -- A few things come to mind when we imagine the “alpha male” type. They’re the ones calling the shots, who get all the girls. But there’s a downside to being a strong and powerful alpha stud -- at least if you’re a baboon.Studies show that despite their high rank, the No. 1 males in baboon society are also some of the most stressed out, as measured by their high levels of glucocorticoids, the hormones involved in the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.But the leaders’ stress burden comes from a surprising source. New… read more about Being a Ladies’ Man Comes at a Price for Alpha Male Baboons »
Charmaine Royal, the Robert O. Keohane Professor of African & African American Studies, Biology, Global Health and Family Medicine & Community Health was recently selected as one of The Hastings Center 2024 Fellows. The Hastings Center fellows are a distinguished group of around 300 experts whose work has shaped scholarship and public understanding of ethical challenges in health, healthcare, science and technology. These prestigious fellowships reflect influence in advancing ethical scholarship, policy and… read more about Charmaine Royal Named 2024 Hastings Center Fellow »
DURHAM, N.C. -- Since the first fiber optic cables rolled out in the 1970s, they’ve become a major part of everything from medical devices to high-speed internet and cable TV. But as it turns out, one group of marine mollusks was way ahead of us.A new study reveals that clams called heart cockles -– so-named because of their heart-shaped shells -- have unique structures in their shells that act like fiber optic cables to convey specific wavelengths of light into the bivalves’ tissues.Researchers from Duke University and… read more about To Build Better Fiber Optic Cables, Ask a Clam »
A flip, a flap, a slow twirl and a splash of colors. Few things are as iconic as butterfly wings. For most of us, they are one of nature’s jewels: colorful, iridescent, a sign of warmer days. For Anyi Mazo-Vargas, they are a portal into nature’s secrets.The newly hired assistant professor of Biology uses butterflies, in particular their wings, to understand how nature’s huge diversity in forms, colors and body shapes develops over one organism’s lifetime and evolves over millions of years. Butterflies are particularly… read more about Anyi Mazo-Vargas Unveils Secrets in Butterfly Wings »
DURHAM, N.C. -- When we talk about the microbiome, most of us think of the trillions of microorganisms that live in our bodies, supporting everything from digestion to mental health.But plants have a world of microbes living on and inside them too. And evidence is beginning to emerge that these hidden residents play a key role in promoting plant health, in part by helping their immune system identify which bacteria to attack and which ones to tolerate.In a new study, researchers find that disruptions to the community of… read more about Crop Diseases, Spoilage Can Hurt the Food Supply. Could Plant Prebiotics Help? »
Richard Alan White, a longtime botany professor who led Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke for more than a decade and became a national leader in undergraduate education, died Aug. 10 of congestive heart failure at home with family. He was 88.A native of Philadelphia, White became interested in plant life visiting the historic Bartram’s Garden near John Bartram High School, which he attended. He received a B.S. and M.S. degree from Temple University and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1962.He… read more about Duke Flags Lowered: Richard White, Former Trinity College Dean, Dies at Age 88 »
Tony Cheng, Jean Philippe Gibert and Masayuki Onishi received NSF Early Career Awards this spring. (Photos courtesy of John West/Trinity Communications, Gibert and Onishi) Three Trinity faculty are among the recipients of the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Career Awards. Tony Cheng, assistant professor of Sociology, Jean Philippe Gibert, assistant professor of Biology, and Masayuki Onishi, also an assistant professor of Biology, are this year’s awardees.… read more about Three Trinity Faculty Receive NSF Early Career Award »
Dorian McMillan, Senior Laboratory Administrator in the Department of Biology, is one of three staff members whose services have been recognized with this year’s Dean’s Pillar of Excellence Award. Her colleagues in Biology describe her as proactive and self-motivated — always seeking out new opportunities to improve processes and achieve better outcomes. They also say she approaches challenges with optimism and resilience, inspiring her colleagues to do the same. “She doesn’t wait for instructions but instead takes the… read more about Dorian McMillan Receives Dean’s Pillars of Excellence Award »
A Duke alumna and a graduating senior have been awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for graduate study at Stanford University. Linda Zhang, class of 2020, and Duke University senior Daniel Collins, class of 2024, have each received up to three years of financial support at Stanford University. Zhang and Collins are members of the seventh Knight-Hennessy cohort and are among the 12 Duke students who have received the scholarship since the program welcomed its first class in 2018. Linda Zhang, from Tianjin, China, is… read more about Duke Senior, Alumna Receive Knight-Hennessy Scholarship »