While pursuing her degree in electrical and computer engineering at Duke, Cassidee Kido participated on three Bass Connections teams that helped fuel her passion for energy and the environment. Now a project manager at Energy Solutions, she reflects on the ways her project teams honed her skills and inspired her current work.

Engineering professors, Sophia Santillan and Rebecca Simmons, have been crucial role models for Sydney Hunt as a Black and Hispanic woman in STEM. From the start of her first year, she spent time during office hours and lunches having conversations with them about diversity and retention in STEM fields.

In 2013, the first Bass Connections research teams embarked on ambitious projects to tackle real-world challenges ranging from gender inequality in STEM education to children’s mental health to climate policy in the U.S. to rural poverty. Since then, the program has supported nearly 500 interdisciplinary teams and brought together more than 4,000 faculty, students and staff to conduct cutting-edge research spanning dozens of disciplinary fields and world regions.

A 2022-2023 Bass Connections team is digging into the richness of dirt and fungi to inform the development of a unique art project called “Soil and Spirit.”

The 2021-2022 school year marked a series of welcome returns for the 1,200 students, faculty, staff and community partners who participated in Bass Connections. Our 61 year-long project teams resumed their in-person work on campus, many teams participated in their first fieldwork since 2019 and we were once again able gather together in Penn Pavilion to celebrate the year through our annual Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase.

These 10 seniors are among the nearly 600 Duke undergraduates who participate in Bass Connections each year. For some students, taking part in collaborative, interdisciplinary research confirmed and deepened their interests; for others, the experience opened up entirely new paths. Many students found ways to take their research further through honors theses and other opportunities.

DukeEngage independent project participant Naman Parikh ’24 was chosen as the first-ever Chelsea Decaminada Memorial DukeEngage Fellow, which recognizes a passion for international service and doing good in the world. The fellowship was established by the Decaminada family in memory of their daughter, Chelsea ’15, who was part of the 2013 DukeEngage-Kolkata (India) program.

The Duke University Energy Initiative has unveiled its newest cohort of Energy Data Analytics Ph.D.

On October 30, 2019, the Duke Women's Forum hosted a panel titled "Duke Women STEAMing Ahead: A View from the Front Lines of Technological Innovation." The panel of business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs spoke about what it takes to defy industry stereotypes and trailblaze in the tech industry, the skills needed to thrive in the 2.0 Economy, and what we can do to ensure that the next generation of women follows their lead.

The Duke University Energy Initiative has appointed Dr. Eric Rohlfing as an executive in residence.

Rohlfing--spouse of Dr. Celeste Rohlfing (T'79) and parent of Meg (T'09) and Anne (T'12 & M'16)--will join Duke this fall after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where his roles included directing the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

The Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2019 Dean's Awards recognizing outstanding efforts in mentoring, teaching, and creating an inclusive environment for graduate education at Duke. The recipients will be honored at a ceremony on Wednesday, March 27. | Details

Guinness World Records has now confirmed that a team of Duke University undergraduates have designed and built the most fuel-efficient vehicle prototype in history: a hydrogen fuel cell car that gets the equivalent of 14,573 miles per gallon. Duke Electric Vehicles (DEV’s) record-breaking run took place on Saturday, July 21 at Galot Motorsports in Benson, North Carolina.

Last weekend, the Duke Electric Vehicles team attempted to beat the world record for most fuel-efficient prototype vehicle—and came very, very close! MORE TO COME, for sure. #goduke

This week the 

In March 2018, the Duke University Energy Initiative sent a team of 11 undergraduate and graduate students to Los Angeles to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods. Organized by the nonprofit Grid Alternatives, Solar Spring Break places student teams in communities across the country, where they help homeowners save money and send more clean energy to the electric grid.