Duke University will soon start working on developing afaculty hiring policy to ensure that the reference check process includes disclosures from candidates of any prior or on-going investigations and findings of harassment,including sexual harassment,and other forms of misconduct university administrators told the Academic Council last week.Universities across the country are reviewing their policies as concerns about“passing the harasser.”The moment is“long overdue,”said Abbas Benmamoun,vice provost for faculty advancement.“We have apractice of disclosing information to institutions that request information about misconduct”if those institutions obtain asigned release from the candidate specifying what information can be released,Benmamoun said.In addition,he added that in some situations Duke is required to disclose outcomes of investigations to federal agencies,including certain agencies that fund research.Benmamoun added that his office works with Duke departments to ensure they ask questions during their interviews of candidates about their experience and commitment to fostering ahealthy and welcoming research,teaching and work environment.Duke also has apolicy of completing investigations even if the person leaves Duke,said President Vincent Price.That means if auniversity does request information and the candidate consents to disclosure,Duke will have an outcome report available to provide.In other action before the council,Sanford School of Public Policy leaders presented aproposal for anew Executive Masters of Public Affairs degree.The target audience is for rising stars in state agencies or leaders of non-profit organizations who would benefit from hybrid learning in public policy while continuing to work.In proposing the degree,school officials noted that it would advance the school’s mission to assist mid-career policymakers who need to upgrade or expand their skills.Ranked among the top public policy schools,Sanford is the only elite policy schools not to offer ahybrid executive education program,said Professor Asher Hilderbrand.The council also approved raising the Margolis Center for Health Policy to institute status.The recommendation now goes to the Board of Trustees for approval.In executive session,the council discussed Duke Kunshan University and the Faculty Handbook policy on consensual and romantic relations between faculty members and students. 查看详细>>

Duke’s vice president and vice provost for climate and sustainability,Toddi Steelman,will travel to Singapore and China from Nov.6-18 to meet with Duke partners and engage in some educational and research climate diplomacy.“The visit is achance to reconnect in person and to energize and reimagine the kinds of work we want to promote together and across our campuses,”said Steelman who leads the Duke Climate Commitment.“This kind of educational and research diplomacy is essential to strengthening the relationship between our countries and is exactly where we should be working to build bridges.”In Singapore,Steelman will meet with faculty and leadership of the National University of Singapore(NUS)and the Duke-NUS Medical School.She also plans to attend The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony,a celebration of five environmental solutions that show the greatest potential to effect change on aglobal scale.The award ceremony is agathering of global climate experts and key foundations.Following Singapore,Steelman will lead adelegation of deans and other senior leaders to Duke Kunshan University.The trip to DKU coincides with the Duke International Forum(DIF)on Nov.17,the focus for which is climate and sustainability.DIF brings together Duke,DKU and Wuhan University faculty,staff and students,academic researchers in China,policy makers,industry leaders and non-profit representatives.Duke representatives in attendance with Steelman include Mary Pat McMahon,Lori Bennear,Jerome Lynch,Brian Murray,Jie Liu,Emily Bernhardt,Tavey Capps,Jackson Ewing,Jonathan Phillips,David Brown,Noah Pickus,Liz Losos and Katie Douglas.“Some of the most difficult challenges of our time,including climate change and threats to human health,will depend on scholars and practitioners from around the world working in partnership to discover and implement solutions,”Duke President Vincent Price said during acelebration of Duke Kunshan’s 10th anniversary in August 2023.Steelman and other members of the group will host alumni events in Singapore,Beijing,Shanghai and Kunshan. 查看详细>>

The Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy was launched in 2016 with seven core faculty and avision to bring the multidisciplinary research and policy analysis needed to address complex health care challenges.A decade later the center now includes 81 core and affiliated faculty from five different schools and asuccessful record of sharing health policy research with policymakers,advancing health care reform and educating anew generation of health policy experts.With that record,Margolis leaders told the Academic Council last week that the next step for the center is to become an institute to help raise Margolis’external reputation,recruit new faculty and grow its educational efforts at amoment when students are looking for additional learning opportunities in health policy.“Our early graduates from our educational programs include three Rhodes scholars and emerging reform leaders across the public and private sectors,”said Gillian Schmidler,Margolis Center deputy director.“Our transition to auniversity-wide institute will be agreat opportunity to further our collaborative work.”Center director Mark McClellan told faculty the center’s strategic approach of connecting scholars to community partners,private enterprise leaders and policymakers to advance evidence-based health policy made the center an ideal candidate to become an institute,the highest level of Duke’s organization of interdisciplinary units.He said the center’s community work had created partnerships around the state to promote health care reform and Medicaid expansion,but that there was more to do in this area.McClellan also noted the prominent work Margolis-affiliated faculty did during the COVID pandemic to address inequities in care and health outcomes.That work both showed the strength of the center’s scholarship and its ability to partner with others at Duke and in community groups.McClellan was asked whether expanding the center into an institute would duplicate the work of other units at Duke Health and the Duke Global Health Institute that work on health policy.He replied that the center’s history of developing joint programs with DGHI and other units,as well as their coordination on initiatives during the pandemic,showed astrong record of cooperation.In this,he received support from Dr.Gavin Yamey,DGHI’s associate director of policy,who listed several efforts,from grant proposals to internships,where cooperation with Margolis benefited both units.“In many ways,our work with Margolis is complementary,rather than duplicative,”Yamey said.The proposal comes as Duke has instituted asystem of reviews for institutes,centers and initiatives.In the past few years one institute has been phased out and two other programs merged into the Nicholas Institute for Energy,Environment and Sustainability.That process included creation of criteria for becoming an institute,criteria that the Margolis Center has met,said Ed Balleisen,vice provost for interdisciplinary studies.The Margolis proposal has been approved by the faculty-led Academic Programs Committee,which reviews all new programs and changes in program status.Following last week’s discussion,the Academic Council has scheduled avote on the proposal at its November meeting. 查看详细>>

DURHAM,NC–Curiosity paradoxically increases people’s eagerness and patience for an answer,finds anew study by Duke neuroscientists.The research might help teachers and students alike by describing aside of curiosity that encourages us to stay engaged instead of seeking immediate relief.Die-hard fans of the Hulu show,"The Bear"are left on the edge of their seats each Sunday,wondering what‘s going to happen in the scrappy Chicago hotdog shop next week.But new research from neuroscientists at Duke University helps explain why viewers may choose to avoid spoilers despite the urge for resolution.“When we think of curiosity,we often think of this need for immediate answers”,said Abby Hsiung,Ph.D.,a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and lead author of the new research paper.“But we found that when people were more curious they were actually more willing to wait.”The findings appeared October 16 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.“When we watch TV shows or football games,we’re watching that information evolve over time,uncertain about how it’s all going to end”,said Hsiung.“I wanted to know if higher curiosity would push people to seek,or to avoid getting an immediate‘spoiler’.”Hsiung drew inspiration from short cooking videos that are popular on Instagram and TikTok.“These videos caught my attention because even though they’re so short,they manage to develop anarrative and suspense so that you’re invested and curious about how the lasagna,for example,will all come together.”So Hsiung got out her digital paintbrush and made aseries of 30-second animated line drawing videos that,like the cooking clips,eventually ended up as something highly recognizable,like ataco or adog.2,043 adults from across the U.S.then watched 25 of these short line-drawing videos online.Participants in Hsiung’s study were asked along the way how curious they were,how they felt,and to guess what the drawing would become.Viewers also had a‘spoiler’button to skip ahead to see the final drawing.Hsiung and her team were surprised to find that when people were curious,they withheld from hitting the‘spoiler’button and kept watching the drawings unfold.It was when people were not curious that they tended to opt for an instant answer.“Curiosity didn’t just motivate getting answers,it increased the value of the journey itself”,said Alison Adcock M.D.,Ph.D.,a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke and senior author of the new report.The study also found that curiosity increased at different stages of watching these videos. 查看详细>>

Crystal Noel and Christopher Monroe of the Duke Quantum Center discus the importance of Federal Investment in Quantum Computing,including the need for investment in the National Quantum Initiative.Crystal Noel is an Assistant Professor of Electrical&Computer Engineering and Physics at Duke University.Christopher Monroe is the Duke Quantum Center Director.Learn more about the research occurring at the Duke Quantum Center:https://quantum.duke.edu/ 查看详细>>

DURHAM,N.C.–What do frog eggs have in common with anti-aging creams?Their success depends on agroup of chemical compounds called retinoids,which are capable of generating and re-generating tissues.A new study in plants shows that retinoids’tissue-generating capacities are also responsible for the appropriate development of roots.If you’ve ever planted aradish seed,you know that the first thing it does is develop along vertical root.Give it abit more time,and it will get smaller roots that run perpendicular to the plant’s stem.Over time,these lateral roots will branch repeatedly and spread out,forming aweb that stabilizes and feeds the plant.These lateral roots don’t just spring out randomly.They appear and then branch out at regular intervals along amain axis,following arhythm.What regulates and determines their development and rhythm was not known,until now.In anew study,appearing August 26 in the journal Science,a research team led by Alexandra Dickinson,assistant professor at the University of California,San Diego,and Philip Benfey,the Paul Kramer Distinguished Professor of Biology at Duke University,identifies the compound that plays akey role in triggering the development of plants’lateral roots.The research team had agood suspect:retinal,a type of retinoid,looked like it would fit the bill.In humans,as well as all vertebrate animals,turning afertilized egg into an embryo with alittle beating heart requires that stem cells differentiate,specialize,and generate specific tissues,such as bones,blood vessels and anervous system.This process is kickstarted and regulated by retinal.Animals can’t produce their own retinal,though,they must ingest it from plants,or from animals that eat plants. 查看详细>>

At Duke,innovation is everywhere.Our faculty,students,staff,and alumni are working to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges in healthcare,teaching,business,engineering,science,the arts,energy,and beyond.With dedicated programs and opportunities,Duke empowers all members of our community to innovate in their fields—from business and medicine to climate and racial justice—and turn their ideas into impact.We invite you to learn more about how Duke innovates together. 查看详细>>

The Research Triangle is home to three of the world‘s top research universities,which attract more than$3.5 billion in research funding each year.In this video,Duke President Vincent Price and his counterparts discuss how collaboration sparks local entrepreneurship.. 查看详细>>

Carolina and Duke may have aheated rivalry on the court,but there’s more collaboration than competition when it comes to academics.The Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies utilizes the strengths of the two universities—one public and one private—to offer graduate students at both institutions an unparalleled experience.The program grew out of the collegiality that has long existed between the German studies programs at both universities,as evidenced by their shared Works in Progress series—meetings where colleagues present their work for feedback—and graduate students’ability to take certain classes at either institution.As the broader impact of that cooperation became clearer,it only made sense for the universities to do something larger—something more official.“It occurred to us that it would be an incredible idea to try to formalize this process and to really pool the resources of these two great universities,”says Eric Downing,chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at UNC-Chapel Hill,who has been with the program since it first launched over adecade ago. 查看详细>>

In an accelerated semester,Brandon Fain has alot to cover in each of his computer science courses.But even with more academic content squeezed in less time,Fain thinks it’s important to start each class checking in on his students.He takes apoll,and he sees some of the same responses every week:Tired,anxious,uncertain.But he says about 50 percent are also saying things like“excited”or“hopeful.”“The challenges faced by our students are not related to the content,”Fain said during afaculty panel last week during Parents Weekend.“The difficulty is that they are trying to survive in apandemic,they have families who are ill,they are dealing with racism,they are stressed,they do not know their future and worry about being able to get ajob.”While by most accounts the semester has been asuccess–research labs are successfully open,COVID numbers reasonably low and the combination of in-person and remote learning has shown signs of in innovation–there have also been indications that stress and exhaustion have taken atoll.As the semester speeds to an early end just amonth away,Duke leadership and faculty members have this week been sending reminders about the importance of wellness and resources for support to their students and colleagues.Academic Council Chair Kerry Haynie began last week’s faculty council meeting asking faculty members to check in on the wellness of their students.Sanford Dean Judith Kelley sent amessage to the Sanford community saying“our students need our support now more than ever.“Recognizing the importance of overall health and wellbeing,we have encouraged Sanford faculty to be creative in course delivery and to remind students of Duke’s wellness resources available to them.Our students deserve and are receiving afull high-quality Duke education–taught by the best faculty.We are also committed to students’overall health as part of their Duke experience.” 查看详细>>