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>>

Dr.Viviana Martinez-Bianchi has long been focused on health equity.When the coronavirus pandemic struck,she turned to the local community,helping launch an effort to get better information in the hands of area Hispanic residents.Together with her pediatrician colleague Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti,Martinez-Bianchi launched acampaign called Latin-19 in March to help educate North Carolina’s Latinx communities about COVID-19.A professor of family medicine at Duke Health,Martinez-Bianchi is also advising the N.C.Department of Health and Human Services in its efforts to inform Latinx communities about the coronavirus.Thus far,that population has suffered disproportionately during the pandemic.Martinez-Bianchi,who is originally from Argentina,was profiled recently in North Carolina Health News,and her work has also been highlighted in recent stories in IndyWeek and the Duke Chronicle.She also joined fellow Duke professors Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda and Dr.Gabriela Maradiaga at arecent Duke Media Briefing on how the coronavirus is affecting the Latinx population.Read more on Duke Today. 查看详细>>

The Office of Information Technology’s popular Learn IT Lunch series returns Sept.4 with seven workshops that showcase tools to help you become more efficient and collaborative in your day-day work.In anew twist,organizers will offer Duke community members the option of participating online using the Zoom video conferencing tool.“People have been asking for this for awhile,so we’re going to try it out and see how it goes,”said Christine Vucinich,Duke OIT’s training and education practitioner and organizer of the Learn IT Lunch series.Information on how to connect remotely will be posted here prior to each session.The hour-long workshops,which begin at noon on most Wednesdays,are in the Edge Workshop Room in Bostock Library.The workshops are open to Duke students,staff and faculty.There’s no need to register;you can bring your own lunch.Last spring,Cherrita McCoy,a staff assistant in Duke University Hospital’s Pediatric Department,attended aworkshop offering crowd-sourced tech tips.After wanting to check out asession for awhile,it was the first time she was able to attend aworkshop.She said it won’t be her last. 查看详细>>

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke will offer 159 courses during its fall semester beginning on Sept.9,including aclass exploring an African-American architect’s grand scheme for the Duke University campus and the popular“Symposia:Scientific Excursions and Diversions,”featuring Duke,UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C.State faculty speakers.The line-up includes seven evening classes and four that meet on weekends.Registration opens on Aug.6 and 7.OLLI at Duke‘s other fall offerings range from“Modernism and the Mexican Aesthetic”to“Lincoln’s Real Virtues,”from“Fall Crops at the Duke Campus Farm”to“Sci-Fi Goes to the Movies.”For the full list of September-early December courses and registration details,click here.It‘s all part of anational network of 123 campus-based chapters,each unique,but joined by acommon commitment to learning for the love of it.Instructors,many of them volunteers,share their expertise and passions in courses spanning such diverse topics as art,finance,film,health,politics,music,dance,history,technology,writing and more.There are no tests,papers or grades.The classroom environment is casual and informal. 查看详细>>

A scientist working in optical spectroscopy and microscopy techniques at Duke has been awarded more than$670,000 by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative(CZI),the organization announced March 19.Martin C.Fischer,associate research professor in chemistry and physics at the Trinity College of Arts&Sciences,received the funding related to the new Advanced Light Imaging and Spectroscopy(ALIS)facility,which he directs.ALIS’focus is developing novel instrumentation to visualize the physical structure of and chemical information in complex materials.Access to those instruments will be offered broadly across Duke.“Microscopy is acritical tool that allows researchers to actually see biology and life happen instead of just inferring from disparate data points,"said CZI co-founder Priscilla Chan."Our hope is that microscopy will help scientists identify the causes and effects of diseases.We need to keep advancing these tools to make big breakthroughs in understanding disease.” 查看详细>>

As Deb Johnson sat in an advising meeting with afirst-year Duke student,she clasped her hands in excitement as the student mentioned her interest in animals and biology.“What are you doing for spring break?”asked Johnson,assistant vice provost for undergraduate education.“You should really think about puppies!”Johnson,one of about 300 pre-major advisers at Duke,suggested acourse that studies the relationship between humans and dogs as part of“Spring Breakthrough,”a program that offers students gradeless classes over spring break.Johnson retired as assistant vice provost for undergraduate education in January after 15 years in the position.She still works part-time for the University as apre-major adviser.“Duke students are curious,fascinating,smart and ready to help the world,”Johnson said.“In most cases,I’m just there to point them to resources.It’s such ajoy to be part of their journey.”Pre-major advising is among the ways Duke employees can be part of astudent’s experience at Duke.From advising student organizations to overseeing awork-study or internship,employees find the relationships with students valuable.Joshua Lazard has learned the best way to connect with students is to spend time with them outside of aclassroom or office.Lazard,the C.Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement at Duke University Chapel,is the adviser for the Duke gospel choir United in Praise.He meets with the choir,comprised of 14 students,once aweek to rehearse for fall and spring concerts.“I bring my authentic self to that time,”he said.“I want to create aspace where students feel comfortable being themselves.It’s not valuable to me or the students if they’re worried about saying the right thing rather than sharing how they’re really feeling.”Authenticity is an important attribute for Sonja Likness when she chooses Duke students who will work in University Communications as interns.Likness,Duke’s director of social media and content strategy,manages 10 students who help operate the Duke University and Duke Students Facebook,YouTube,Twitter,Instagram,Medium and Snapchat accounts.Likness guides students in finding the right balance between using their own voice and making sure Duke’s message is clear.In return,students keep Likness informed about the best way to communicate with their classmates.“We’ll say,‘oh astudent would never read this email’and my students will tell us that it is the best way to get in touch with them,”Likness said.“I feel like I’m supposed to be in amentor role,but they teach me so much.It’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job.” 查看详细>>

A new white paper from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy outlines the policy needs for incorporating artificial intelligence(AI)into diagnosis and other types of clinical decision support software with effective innovation,regulation and patient protections.“AI is now poised to disrupt health care,with the potential to improve patient outcomes,reduce costs,and enhance work-life balance for healthcare providers,”said Greg Daniel,PhD,MPH,Deputy Director for Policy at Duke-Margolis.But apolicy process is needed.“Integrating AI into healthcare safely and effectively will need to be acareful process,requiring policymakers and stakeholders to strike abalance between the essential work of safeguarding patients while ensuring that innovators have access to the tools they need to succeed in making products that improve the public health,”Daniel said.The Food and Drug Administration(FDA)released their updated Software Precertification(Pre-Cert)Pilot Program working model 1.0 on Jan.7,which aims to regulate digital health technologies in ways that foster innovation and protect patient safety.The Duke-Margolis paper,which was developed with the input of amulti-stakeholder working group,addresses the major challenges currently hindering safe,effective AI health care innovation,including these near-term priorities: 查看详细>>

Duke University just wrapped up atwo-day conference(link is external)on health,health policy and medical innovation in New Delhi,India,held December 13-14.Over 100 participants from dozens of partner organizations and Duke attended the conference.What emerged from the discussions is the recognition that Duke has amulti-faceted research approach to health issues.“What this conference gives is asynergy of efforts,”says Namrata Jha,executive director of Duke University India,an office founded last year to facilitate research,partnerships,alumni connections,student learning and other Duke activities in India.“Many Duke faculty are working in different states in India,with different partner organizations.Coming together will give them aplatform to connect the dots.”In India,state governments determine health policy and funding,and access and quality vary from place to place.Duke faculty are working with Indian partners to promote access to medical services,support innovative treatments and design assessments that can lead to improved quality for achanging population in India.“Citizen aspirations and expectations are changing,and that affects[Indian health]policy,”says Yamini Aiyar,the president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research,a public policy think tank in India. 查看详细>>

When he graduated from high school,Liam Pulsifer had lost some of his enthusiasm for learning.While pleased he had been accepted to Duke,he wasn’t ready to dive immediately back into the books.A gap year in India learning Hindi brought back the energy.“More than anything,I think Iregained my enthusiasm for college and for learning,”said Pulsifer,who is now aDuke junior.“By the end of high school,I was tired:tired of school,tired of classes,tired of the competition and the frustration.When Icame back from my gap year,I realized Ihad remembered all the aspects of school life that Iloved and made me want to go to college in the first place.”Students such as Pulsifer like the experience that comes from agap year.Duke officials appreciate the maturity and learning the experience provides students.Now,a new Duke Gap Year Program may mean more students will take advantage of the opportunity.Students accepted to the Duke Gap Year Program will receive between$5,000 and$15,000 toward the cost of aproject either of their own design or to participate in an existing program approved by Duke Undergraduate Admissions. 查看详细>>

During this past summer’s Duke Middle East in Europe program(link is external),nine Duke students spent their mornings in classrooms learning about migration,geopolitics and identity.In the afternoons,the group traveled by train across Berlin to help develop digital classes for fellow students with one notable difference–the online learners are refugees.Berlin is the home to Kiron Open Higher Education(link is external),a nonprofit founded to support displaced people who wish to access higher education and take university-level coursework.As interns at Kiron,the students contributed to the academic programs,worked in donor relations and pitched in with other day-to-day work.“Through Kiron,the students learned about the nonprofit world,online education and social entrepreneurship,”says Banu Gökariksel,an associate professor of geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,who co-directed the program.“This experience also encouraged our students to understand what it means to be 20 years old,fleeing awar without any papers or diplomas and to think about how you would create alife for yourself,”Gökariksel adds.Many refugees fleeing the war in Syria have found their way to Germany,and the capital is ahub for asylum seekers arriving from countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East. 查看详细>>