Intersections at Duke: Bridging Disciplines, Solving Problems

This four-part series from Duke Alumni Engagement & Development highlights the power of scholarly collaboration. These conversations bring together faculty who are tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, showing what becomes possible when different perspectives come together. At Duke, this spirit of connection is built into the culture, creating an environment where innovation thrives and big ideas can take shape.

When Science Meets Strategy

Dalia Patino-Echeverri, Gendell Family Associate Professor, Environmental Social Systems; and Jesko Von Windheim Professor of the Practice in Environmental Entrepreneurship

When Patino-Echeverri, an energy systems expert, uncovered a way to make power grids more sustainable, she turned to entrepreneurship professor Von Windheim to help bring the innovation beyond the lab. Together, they cofounded Gridseer, a company changing how we monitor and manage the electric grid. Their collaboration highlights the power of interdisciplinary partnerships and the role Duke plays in turning research into real-world impact.

What Duke provides is infrastructure and culture. We have so much reach at this university. And it’s not just that we are worldwide, but the brand recognition alone is very, very helpful. The Nicholas School is amazing — colleagues really care about the earth and the environment, and that creates an amazing culture, a very, very clear mission to improve the planet. –Jesko Von Windheim 

Jesko has been incredibly patient, he and the rest of the commercialization team explaining to us what we really should care about. It’s like a dream that we have a lawyer who would talk to me for two hours, explain the difference between a patent and property rights. Or someone who knows how to communicate to customers, having the website we have and the materials we have, and going to industrial fairs and presenting our product the way we have presented it. That is at Duke, and I haven’t seen it in any other university. –Dalia Patino-Echeverri 

Listen to the conversation and read more about their collaboration.

Game Theory and Global Health

David McAdams, Professor of Business Administration; and Gavin Yamey, Hymowitz Family Professor of the Practice in Global Health

McAdams and Yamey joined forces to address a critical challenge in pandemic preparedness: ensuring low- and middle-income countries gain timely access to vaccines. Using game theory, they designed incentives for vaccine makers to share doses in exchange for early pathogen data.

I have now, thanks to David, seen how you can use a game theory approach and apply it to some of the kind of challenges that are quite common in global public health. That lens, that way of looking at complex global public health challenges, has been really a revelation to me. –Gavin Yamey

Gavin’s like my way-finder into the global health space. Whenever there’s a situation where game theory could be helpful, he’s able to now identify it … and he reaches out to me and then we work together and solve it. Without Gavin, I would have no idea where to try to apply my own expertise. –David McAdams

Listen to the conversation and read their article, “Using Game Theory to Advance the Pandemic Agreement.”

When Law, Astrophysics and Economics Collide

Dan Scolnic, Associate Professor of Physics; Jonathan Wiener, William R. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law; and Giovanni Zanalda, Professor of the Practice in the Social Science Research Institute

Scolnic, Wiener and Zanalda explore challenges like satellite congestion, space debris and the fading night sky — issues that cross disciplinary lines. Their collaboration shows why tackling global problems requires more than one perspective — and how Duke helps make that possible.

I think curiosity is really what stimulates interesting activities. I think based on my interactions with Dan and Jonathan, they have always been very curious about what others are doing. –Giovanni Zanalda

When I became a professor at Duke, I heard this thing that Duke is interdisciplinary … my reaction for a long time was like, how are professors from other departments going to help me measure the expansion rate of the universe? It just didn’t make sense. And then I started learning that science does not happen in a vacuum, and there are all these decisions from people who study policy or economics that very much affect my world … I started talking to people like Jonathan and Giovanni, and it turns out they’re working on this and it’s like, oh, we could help each other. –Dan Scolnic

We recognize that the world’s opportunities and challenges don’t come divided into disciplines. We need to work together to understand complex problems and to offer solutions. So that’s what’s kept me excited about being here at Duke all this time and finding new colleagues on new frontiers, emerging markets, new scientific discoveries and how they relate to legal and policy questions. –Jonathan Wiener

Listen to the conversation and read about the new SPACE Initiative at Duke (Science & Policy to Advance Cosmic Exploration).

Faith and Forests

Jerusha Matsen Neal, Associate Professor of Homiletics; and Elizabeth Albright, Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of the Practice of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Management

For four years, Neal and Albright have helped bring together Duke researchers and North Carolina clergy at the Duke Marine Lab to explore how science and spirituality can unite in response to the climate crisis. Their interdisciplinary retreat has fostered trust, built community and revealed how faith and environmental science together can empower local leaders to pursue climate justice.

One of the things that was brilliant about this retreat was the organizers saw that we needed time to build trust. It was three days. We were offsite. Faith communities have not been generally good partners for climate scientists. We have been too fearful. We have often relinquished responsibility to other places and other folks. It’s where climate denial has often been seeded and shared. –Jerusha Matsen Neal

For me, it’s seeing and hearing how similar the questions we’re asking are. Our lenses are different, maybe our methods are different. But at the core, we’re asking questions about the nature of humanity and working with communities for a more just future. –Elizabeth Albright

Listen to the conversation and learn about the Ideation Award their team received through Duke’s Climate Research Innovation Seed Program (CRISP).