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Faculty to Pursue Collaborations through 2019 Intellectual Community Planning Grants

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) are available to groups of faculty.

These grants cover the cost of food, meeting venues, external speakers or other meeting costs, and exploratory research into potential collaborators at Duke and elsewhere. The offices of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Executive Vice Provost oversee this seed grant program.

For the 2019 calendar year, eight groups received Intellectual Community Planning Grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

Big Data and Social Interactions

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This group will facilitate interactions among faculty who want to learn how technological advancements and big data can improve our understanding of the ways in which social norms and interactions affect individuals’ and firms’ behavior. The primary goal is to produce sustained interactions and research papers capable of being published in leading scholarly journals. A kick-off event will include a visiting speaker. Subsequent meetings will invite faculty to provide overviews of recent research and discuss new ideas; review colleagues’ early-stage research ideas; and share early work with a guest speaker who is a pioneer in the field.

Lead: Jillian Grennan, Fuqua School of Business
Chris Bail, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Sanford School of Public Policy
Ines Black, Fuqua School of Business, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Ofer Eldar, Law School, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Sarah Gaither, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Sharique Hasan, Fuqua School of Business, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Rachel Kranton, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
David Robinson, Fuqua School of Business, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

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

An emerging community of theoretical chemists at Duke is spread across schools and departments. This group has begun to organize a Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Theoretical Chemistry, which will help strengthen the pool of graduate student applicants from North America. The Intellectual Community Planning Grant will enable the participation of more faculty (those who could not fully fund a student on their own) and support team-building excursions. All faculty will present multiple seminars and mentor the summer undergraduate researchers.

Lead: David Beratan, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University Energy Initiative
Hashim Al-Hashimi, School of Medicine
Volker Blum, Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University Energy Initiative
Patrick Charbonneau, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Stephen Craig, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University Energy Initiative
Bruce Randall Donald, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology
Jianfeng Lu, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Michael Rubinstein, Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Warren S. Warren, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine
Weitao Yang, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University Energy Initiative

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

A working group of Duke faculty, staff, administrators, and students will explore overlapping and complementary interests in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts, and humanities (broadly referred to as STEAM), and promote more robust interdisciplinary research, coursework, and public engagement in this space, both within and beyond Duke. The group will organize a half-day forum to catalog and describe innovative STEAM activities occurring at Duke and spark new collaborations among faculty, students, staff, and administrators.

Lead: Misha Angrist, Social Science Research Institute, Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Sanford School of Public Policy
Co-lead: Jory Weintraub, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Project manager: Ariana Eily, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Nicolette Cagle, Nicholas School of the Environment
Aria Chernik, Social Science Research Institute, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Claudia Gunsch, Pratt School of Engineering, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Energy Initiative
Jules Odendahl-James, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Nimmi Ramanujam, Pratt School of Engineering, School of Medicine, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Nina Sherwood, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Kearsley Stewart, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Victoria Szabo, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

Health as an Ecosystem: Expanding Our Imaginations of Health

In ecology, an ecosystem is a community of living organisms and their interactions with the abiotic environment. Dynamic and complex, they may flourish in settings of balance, diversity, and responsive resilience, or they may flounder in contexts of deficit and disruption. This group will apply the ecosystem concept to health and explore new perspectives on health systems, population health, well-being, and disease. During monthly meetings, members will consider a range of questions and engage in activities whose focus will encompass capstone projects, seminars, and future grant proposals.

Lead: John Moses, School of Medicine, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Co-lead: Jennifer Lawson, School of Medicine, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Charles Nunn, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Richard Di Giulio, Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering
Alice Ammerman, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Eliana Perrin, School of Medicine
Eric Richardson, Pratt School of Engineering
Jan Holton, Divinity School
Brett McCarty, Divinity School
Bill Walker, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Peter English, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Gopal Sreenivasan, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Norman Wirzba, Divinity School, Nicholas School of the Environment
Jon Fjeld, Fuqua School of Business, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Ray Barfield, School of Medicine, Divinity School, School of Nursing, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Warren Kinghorn, School of Medicine, Divinity School, Duke Initiative for Science & Society

Launching a Triangle-Wide Seminar in the Economics of Education

Currently, there is no regular forum for economists from the Triangle to discuss new empirical work on the economics of education. This group will change that by organizing a one-day workshop. Hosted by the Center for Child and Family Policy, the event will include invited presenters, discussants, and a keynote speaker. It will also serve as a means to explore the possibility of launching a year-long seminar series in 2019-2020 on the economics of education.

Lead: Sarah Komisarow, Sanford School of Public Policy
Charles Clotfelter, Sanford School of Public Policy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Helen Ladd, Sanford School of Public Policy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Marcos Rangel, Sanford School of Public Policy
Beth Gifford, Sanford School of Public Policy, School of Medicine

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

Marine medicine is focused on research that cuts across disciplines, including cross-species comparative analyses of cancer protective mechanisms, understanding the risk of disease from exposure to environmental toxins, and discovery of new drugs from marine compounds. This working group will convene monthly and invite guest speakers to provide critical feedback on papers and proposals. Members will also host an annual symposium with a keynote speaker and a networking event to establish collaborations between faculty across the School of Medicine and the Nicholas School of the Environment, and create a long-term strategy for sustained interactions.

Lead: Andrew Read, Nicholas School of the Environment
Richard Di Giulio, Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering
Will Eward, School of Medicine
Jason Somarelli, School of Medicine
Tom Schultz, Nicholas School of the Environment
Meagan Dunphy-Daly, Nicholas School of the Environment

Parasite-Host Evolution Network Optimization (PHENO) Working Group

Better methods are needed to identify new pathogens or known animal pathogens with the potential to infect humans and cause disease. Given that pathogens transmit through chains of contact, network-based approaches that represent these epidemiological pathways offer great promise. Through regular meetings, this group of faculty and postdocs will investigate the application of network approaches to a wide range of disease systems and aim to develop new and fundable research projects.

Lead: James Moody, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Social Science Research Institute
Charles Nunn, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Craig Rawlings, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Gregory Gray, School of Medicine, Duke Global Health Institute
Chris Woods, School of Medicine, Duke Global Health Institute
Meira Epplein, School of Medicine
James Herrera, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Dana Pasquale, Duke Network Analysis Center

Social Studies of Science Working Group

The social study of science, often referred to as science and technology studies, is an interdisciplinary field whose scholars explore topics ranging from the ethical implications of data hacking and the politics of nuclear power to questions of personhood emerging from neuroscience. This group will bring together faculty who are interested in the rapid scale-up of research in the biomedical sciences, data and computational sciences, and environmental sciences as well as the increasing overlap of science and technology studies, medical humanities, and environmental humanities. Members aim to build a network of Duke and Triangle faculty and foster linked research endeavors.

Lead: Harris Solomon, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Nicole Barnes, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Global Health Institute
Nima Bassiri, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Paul Bendich, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Rhodes Information Initiative at Duke
Mark Olson, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Cate Reilly, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Gabriel Rosenberg, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Priscilla Wald, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Initiative for Science & Society
Ara Wilson, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke Initiative for Science & Society

Read about the 2018 recipients of Intellectual Community Planning Grants and view the 2017 summary report.
See all current initiatives in the Together Duke academic strategic plan.
Access the RFP for Research Collaboratories in Energy and Water Resources; Race, Religion, and Citizenship; and Population Health (due February 15).