As Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and other AI-based digital programs become more common, so does a shared frustration: Speaking with them is shallow and artificial. This is a sign of a deeper struggle with technology’s ability to understand the nuances of human language. To address the root of this issue, among others, Duke’s Computer Science department and Linguistics Program have launched a new interdepartmental major targeting the intersection of these two fields. This new major is one of three such programs in the… read more » about LIN+CS/CS+LIN Major Opens New Pathways
One of the state’s leading political figures joined six Duke faculty, staff and students in being honored for their community leadership and activism at the annual Samuel DuBois Cook Society Awards ceremony Feb. 11 at the Washington Duke Inn. The ceremony was led by Kimberly D. Hewitt, Duke’s new vice president of institutional equity. Hewitt succeeds Benjamin Reese, who retired last year and served as emcee for the Cook Society ceremony for more than a decade. The mission of the Cook Society is to recognize,… read more » about Cook Society Honors Lives Led in Service at Duke and in the Community
An assistant professor in chemistry has been recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for her “potential to revolutionize” the field. Amanda Hargrove has been named a 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry in honor of her success as a chemist. The fellowship acknowledges Hargrove’s work on the small-molecule targeting of RNA, which may hold the key to curing a number of hard-to-fight diseases. “Many of the drugs in our pharmacies today are molecules that work by binding to proteins,” said Katherine Franz,… read more » about Amanda Hargrove Has a Target on Hard-to-Fight Diseases
Composed between 1798 and 1826, a span of not quite three decades, Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets have continued to exude their magic over the rich traditions of Western chamber music for now approaching two centuries. When Beethoven arrived in Vienna from Bonn in 1792, to receive, according to his patron Count Waldstein, Mozart’s spirit from Haydn, the young musician strove to establish himself as a pianist, in order to gain entrance into the salons of the aristocrats who were the principal arbiters of musical taste… read more » about Beethoven’s String Quartets
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Mbaye Lo spoke at Duke's Black Muslim Atlantic Symposium at Duke University, discussing the conflicting narratives about Omar ibn Said, a black Muslim scholar captured in Senegal in 1807 and transported by boat to Charleston, S.C. Lo said scholars have underestimated Said's intellectual and scholarly training and his ability to use that training to compose something that had significant meaning. Read more in Religion News. read more » about New research reconsiders writings of a Muslim slave and scholar
For nearly 48 hours last weekend, about 20 participants filled the Duke Game Lab and—fueled by plenty of coffee, pizza, and snacks—joined minds to bring to life their ideas for games related to a common theme. At the same time, at 933 other sites around the globe, tens of thousands of people were doing the same thing. They were all participating in the Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world’s largest game creation event, where people interested in game development came together all over the world to design, develop, and present… read more » about 48 Hours, Little Sleep, and A Lot of Pizza: Ph.D. Student Brings Global Game Jam to Duke
"I wanted to give people an opportunity to make music who may not otherwise have the chance to do so." Brooks Frederickson, a PhD student in music composition at Duke, has designed a new kind of music-making experience in the Ruby. If you are like most of us, you probably limit your singing to the car, shower, or other private spaces. To fully experience Here to Hear // Hear to Here, a new installation in the Rubenstein Arts Center, you need to bring your signing voice. This installation by music… read more » about 5 Questions for Brooks Frederickson, Creator of Here to Hear // Hear to Here
An exhibit at Duke's Fredric Jameson Gallery focuses on Central American representation and was spurred by an idea from Claudia Milian, who leads Duke's Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South. The story behind this exhibit is spotlighted in Remezcla. read more » about ‘Connected Diaspora’ Exhibition Aims to Boost Central American Representation in the US Art World
Duke senior Liddy Grantland, who is this year’s Duke Chapel Student Preacher, will deliver a sermon in the chapel on Sunday, Feb. 23. A double major in English and African & African American Studies from Columbia, South Carolina, Grantland will preach during the chapel’s 11 a.m. worship service. Her sermon is based on the verses of the Gospel of Matthew that describes Jesus ascending a mountain with three of his disciples and then being transfigured with light. A key passage for Grantland is when the voice of God… read more » about Duke Senior’s Sermon Feb. 23 to Find Equality Before God
Brian Hare, professor of evolutionary anthropology and researcher/founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, was quoted in a article comparing language skills in children and dogs. Read the full article in The Washington Post. read more » about Babies are bad at listening in noisy places. Dogs aren’t. My pets took part in a study to learn why.
Duke dance alumna Anne Talkington discusses how her research in biology, mathematics, and her training as a dancer came together to film a dance representing her graduate thesis work for the "Dance Your Ph.D." competition. Anne Talkington is an alum of the Duke dance program, having studied with the program between 2012 and 2016 in addition to her majors in biology and mathematics. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Department of Mathematics, UNC-CH in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and paid a… read more » about Dance Your PhD with Anne Talkington
Meet Duke senior Naomi Lilly (photo, far right) before she launches NAL-Nay Lilly, a networking platform for diverse creative talent in this student-to-student interview. Duke senior Naomi Lilly has just launched a new kind of online community. Her company, NAL-Nay Lilly is “creating networking opportunities for silenced voices in the media industry.” Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of this arts project, which is informed by Lilly’s own creative practice, her experiences in Duke in LA and NYC, and… read more » about People of Duke Arts: Naomi Lilly ’20 is Disrupting Arts and Entertainment
It’s no surprise that pre-modern maps look a lot different than modern ones. Cartographers and surveyors of the past didn’t draw perfectly to scale. Their works included inconsistent heights, strange topographies, and even non-linear perspectives. Often, those oddities are considered mistakes—errors resulting from inadequate technology than we can correct with new tools like GIS mapping software. But two Duke scholars are taking the opposite approach, asking what could we learn about the medieval and early modern world if… read more » about Building Sandcastles with History: Recreating the Vision of Pre-Modern Mapmakers
Duke University senior Azim Dharani has been awarded a 2020 Churchill Scholarship to pursue a year of graduate study at Cambridge University in England. Dharani, a senior Angier B. Duke scholar from Lewisville, Texas, is completing a major in chemistry and minors in computational biology and classical archaeology. He is the 22nd Duke undergraduate to receive this honor. Dharani’s chemistry adviser and one of his recommenders, Stephen Craig, was Duke’s 12th recipient. “Azim and the Churchill Scholarship are… read more » about Duke Senior Awarded Churchill Scholarship
*/ /*-->*/ Voter turnout among young Americans has been dismal since 18-year-olds earned the right to vote with the passage of the 26th amendment in 1971. While 18–29 year-olds account for nearly 22% of the voting age population, they made up just 13% of the voting electorate in 2018 – and that’s an improvement over previous years. By not voting, younger Americans miss out on representation, policies and civic benefits that come with the practice, researchers say. But it’s not that younger Americans are apathetic about… read more » about Why Young People Don’t Vote – And How to Fix That
Ingrid Daubechies has built a career on breaking barriers and following ideas. “I was always interested in what makes things work,” Daubechies, the James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering told the Wall Street Journal in a feature story published this week. Her study of mathematical structures called wavelets – now regularly referred to by others as “Daubechies wavelets” – made possible a wide use of data compression in a large number of applications common to everyday life – from… read more » about Ingrid Daubechies, Making Waves
A $5 million gift from the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation will provide opportunities for Duke University students to work with faculty on complex societal problems, Duke President Vincent E. Price said Monday. The gift is in support of Duke’s Bass Connections program, a university-wide initiative that enables undergraduate and graduate students to work alongside faculty on research teams addressing urgent issues ranging from reducing health inequities, to developing sustainable energy solutions, to ensuring fair… read more » about $5 Million Gift Will Support Bass Connections Program
A profile of Duke mathematician Ingrid Daubechies was published in the Wall Street Journal. read more » about Mathematics Pioneer Ingrid Daubechies Has More Barriers to Break
It’s been over three years since the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) opened in D.C. in September 2016, but the excitement around it doesn’t seem to have dimmed much. Chances are, you’re going to have to get your tickets three months in advance if you want to visit. Infants need their own timed pass, too. On Friday, January 17, Duke’s From Slavery to Freedom Lab hosted a panel in conjunction with the Franklin Humanities Institute on the topic of contemporary Black arts and icons. The panel… read more » about Curating a New Portrait of Black America
In February of 1969, more than 50 student members of the Afro-American Society at Duke University entered the Allen Building and staged a takeover of administrative spaces. Their demands varied, but first on the list was “the establishment of a fully-accredited department of Afro-American Studies.” The university had admitted its first black students just six years earlier. Against a national backdrop of social change and racial tension, the student protestors felt they had exhausted the proper channels. And their actions… read more » about Always in Motion: 50 Years of Black Studies at Duke
In an effort to learn how people form opinions, Duke sociologist Craig Rawlings turned to an unusual test group -- book clubs. Rawlings and fellow researcher Clayton Childress at the University of Toronto enlisted members of book clubs across the country to read a work of historical fiction -- Jarrettsville, by Cornelia Nixon. The book is centered on real-world events in the post-Civil War period and touches on issues of gender, race and southern identity. Study participants read the book on their own and were surveyed… read more » about Wine, Conversation and New Points of View
In chimpanzee society, males spend their entire lives in the group where they were born, cooperating to defend their territory, while females tend to move away. But some chimp females seem less willing to cut the apron strings. New findings from researchers at Duke University and North Carolina State University show that female chimpanzees with high-ranking mothers are more likely to be homebodies. The study suggests that the perks of having a powerful mom can make it worthwhile for some females to stay and reproduce in the… read more » about Female Chimps With Powerful Moms Are Less Likely to Leave Home
A new exhibit in the Divinity School underscores that sometimes the most powerful messages of peace come from the people most involved in fighting wars. The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School, in collaboration with the Center for Documentary Studies, the Human Rights Center, the History Department, and the Graduate Liberal Studies Program, all at Duke University, is hosting an exhibit titled “Waging Peace in Vietnam: US Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War.” The exhibit website provides additional… read more » about Setting the Record Straight About Vietnam Protest Movements
DURHAM, N.C. -- Few singers reach their sunset years with the same voice they had in younger days. Singing sparrows are no different. Duke University-led research reveals that elderly swamp sparrows don’t sound quite like they used to -- nor do they strike the same fear in other males who may be listening in. Humans are remarkably good at guessing a person’s age just by hearing their voice. But this is the first time the phenomenon has been demonstrated in wild animals, said Duke biology professor and study co-author Steve… read more » about Male Sparrows Are Less Intimidated by the Songs of Aging Rivals
A startling experimental discovery about how fluids behave started a wave of important mathematical proofs. Duke mathematician Alexander Kiselev comments in the article in Quanta Magazine. read more » about For Fluid Equations, a Steady Flow of Progress
The Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2020 Dean's Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts in mentoring, teaching, and creating an inclusive environment for graduate education at Duke. The recipients will be honored at a reception on Wednesday, March 25. Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Faculty William Darity, Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Jennifer Roizen, Assistant Professor of Chemistry David Wong, Susan Fox Beischer and George D. Beischer… read more » about 10 Dean’s Awards Recipients Named for 2020
Duke Economics professor Peter Arcidiacono has been named as one of the top education scholars in the United States by American Enterprise Institute director of education policy studies and Education Week blogger Frederick M. Hess. The ranking was released Wednesday, January 8. Coming in at #152 on the list, Arcidiacono specializes in research involving applied microeconomics, applied economics, and labor economics, with a focus on education and discrimination. Most recently, his work… read more » about Professor Peter Arcidiacono Recognized for Contribution to U.S. Education Policy Research
Last week’s killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani has raised a number of legal and strategic questions for which there seem to be no consensus, including among Duke faculty. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., a professor of the practice of law and executive director of the law school’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, said President Donald Trump’s directive to kill Soleimani was “lawful self-defense” as authorized by the United Nations Charter, not an unlawful assassination. “Because Soleimani was engaged in… read more » about Killing of Iranian Commander Raises Legal, Strategic Questions
Beneath Duke University’s Perkins library, an unassuming, yet fiercely original approach to video games research is underway. Tied less to computer science and engineering than you might expect, the students and faculty are studying games for their effects on players. I was introduced to a graduate researcher who has turned a game into an experiment. His work exists between the humanities, psychology, and computer science. Some games, particularly modern ones, feature complex economies that require players to collaborate as… read more » about Games, Art, and New Frontiers
Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Professor Satti Khanna discusses translating works from poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla. Read the full article in The Hindu. read more » about Satti Khanna and the art of translation