Equipping Graduate Students to Tackle Emerging Challenges

The Office of the Provost and The Graduate School have selected three proposals to establish new Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Collaboratives (IGECs). Made possible by a generous grant from The Duke Endowment, these IGECs will launch in Fall 2026 and offer graduate students unique opportunities to tackle complex societal challenges alongside peers and faculty from across campus.

Through seminars, working groups and projects, students will receive applied training and gain exposure to emerging issues at the intersection of disciplines — preparing them to emerge as leaders and experts in a wide array of careers. Graduates will earn a Ph.D., master’s or professional degree in their discipline program along with an interdisciplinary certificate specific to their IGEC. In addition to enriching graduate education, the IGECs are designed to foster new faculty collaborations across fields and catalyze innovative research.

“We are thrilled to be able to support these innovative new programs, which we see as an exciting model for interdisciplinary graduate education,” said Edward Balleisen, vice provost for interdisciplinary studies. “We expect that these programs will amplify the ability of graduate students to foster boundary-crossing inquiry among faculty and their peers.”

The IGECs focus on three urgent areas: the societal impacts of AI, the health effects of climate change, and the application of information sciences to improve public-sector services. Each IGEC will receive $2.2 million over five years to provide partial funding for participating Ph.D. students, as well programmatic funding and program coordination.

Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Collaboratives (IGECs)

Society-Centered AI

Leads: Christopher Bail, Professor of Sociology; Brinnae Bent, Executive in Residence in the Engineering Graduate and Professional Programs

Core Members: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Distinguished Professor of Practical Ethics; Xiaowei Yang, Professor of Computer Science

Rapid adoption of AI, particularly generative AI (GAI), is reconfiguring our world, including labor markets, socioeconomic mobility, criminal justice and information consumption. Despite their potential to improve society, GAI models exhibit human biases and flaws. Traditional builders of AI receive little training about the promotion of values and morals in society and technology, and humanities scholars and social scientists interested in influencing AI development need technical training in computer sciences.

The Society-Centered AI collaborative aims to design AI systems that prioritize human values, develop flexible and efficient technical systems, and measure AI’s societal impacts. It will bring together faculty leaders spanning three of the four divisions within The Graduate School. Students will be required to complete courses across three tracks — philosophy and ethics, computer science and engineering, and social science — fostering a new generation of scholars with both technical expertise and critical insight into the ethical, legal and social dimensions of AI.

IMPACT: Interdisciplinary Methodological Program for Advancing Climate Training

Leads: Hayden Bosworth, Professor in Population Health Sciences; Dana Pasquale, Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences; Sudha Raman, Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences

Core Members: Prasad Kasibhatla, Professor of Environmental Chemistry; Drew Shindell, Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Earth Science; Junfeng Zhang, Professor of Global and Environmental Health; Scott M. Lynch, Professor of Sociology; Judith Ledlee, Executive in Residence in the Pratt School of Engineering

Climate change is among the biggest threats humans face, affecting health through direct pathways (extreme temperatures, acute weather events, poor air quality) and indirect pathways (disruption of social, political and economic determinants of health). Despite the existence of interventions and policies that can mitigate impacts on human health, such as poor air quality and heat exposure, critical gaps persist between our understanding of mechanisms, context and outcomes, and solutions.

The Interdisciplinary Methodological Program for Advancing Climate Training (IMPACT) collaborative aims to equip doctoral students with versatile methodological skills to engage with these complex systems. It will bring together faculty and students from population health sciences, environmental science, engineering and sociology to focus on understanding and addressing the impact of climate change on health. IMPACT scholars will receive interdisciplinary training in exposure science, environmental chemistry, climate modeling, health impact assessment, social determinants analysis, cardiovascular risk trajectories and implementation science. They will gain a mechanistic understanding of climate change interactions with air pollution and chronic diseases, enabling them to develop sustainable, equitable and marketable interventions.

Information Science and Engineering for the Public Sector (ISEPS)

Lead: Heileen Hsu-Kim, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Members: Mark Wiesner, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Marc Jeuland, Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy; Vahid Tarokh, Rhodes Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Dalia Patino-Echeverri, Gendell Family Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy; David Carlson, Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Public-sector institutions are essential for securing basic societal needs such as environmental quality, public safety, energy systems and transportation networks. Effective administration of these services relies on the collection and management of data and information. Ongoing improvements in sensing and monitoring are expanding the quantity and scope of data. However, full use of the resulting databases is stymied by lags in workforce capacity, particularly with expertise in AI tools, and by concerns of information security. Traditional academic programs often provide limited exposure and training in information science, and programs specializing in information science and AI rarely direct attention to the most significant public-sector needs.

The Information Science and Engineering for the Public Sector (ISEPS) collaborative is designed to empower future professionals with the knowledge and tools of information science and AI to address public-sector challenges. ISEPS seeks to inspire participants to pursue careers at the intersection of engineering and public policy, focusing on the effective and ethical delivery of public services. By treating data as a public good, the collaborative promotes innovative, data-driven solutions while addressing critical concerns around data security, privacy and ethics. This IGEC will convene graduate students from diverse fields — including engineering, public policy, environmental and social systems, biostatistics and computer science — offering a comprehensive curriculum that includes a core overview course, electives spanning three domain areas (public sector services, data science, information governance and policy), seminars, workshops and external engagement opportunities.

About the Selection Process

Duke faculty were invited to submit proposals for IGECs. The call generated strong interest, with submissions representing faculty from six schools, including all divisions of Arts & Sciences, and three university-wide interdisciplinary units. Proposals were reviewed by the Duke Interdisciplinary Strategy Council, a university-wide body composed of faculty from all schools, along with other faculty and administrators. Final selections were made following an interview process.   

“The complexity and diversity of ideas brought forward through this process demonstrate the commitment of Duke faculty to both meeting the evolving interests of our graduate students and leveraging discovery to address current global challenges,” said Suzanne Barbour, dean of The Graduate School and vice provost of graduate education. “These programs will provide our students with a unique blend of skills, mentorship opportunities, and experiences that will benefit them beyond their time at Duke.”