Academic Departments & Research Centers
Academic Departments
Biomedical Engineering
Duke BME is consistently ranked among the top graduate biomedical engineering programs
Research Areas of Focus
- Bioelectric Engineering
- Biomaterials
- Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
- Biomedical and Health Data Sciences
- Biomedical Imaging and Biophotonics
- Biomedical Technology Design (MedTech)
- Biosensors and Bioinstrumentation
- Computational Modeling of Biological Systems
- Drug and Gene Delivery
- Immune Engineering
- Neural Engineering
- Synthetic and Systems Biology
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Duke CEE is pursuing discoveries that improve the fundamental health, safety and resilience of society
Research Areas of Focus
- Computational Mechanics and Scientific Computing
- Environmental Health Engineering
- Geomechanics and Geophysics for Energy and the Environment
- Hydrology and Fluid Dynamics
- Risk & Resilient Systems
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Duke ECE is conducting advanced research in all major areas of electrical and computer engineering
Research Areas of Focus
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning
- Metamaterials
- Quantum Computing
- Nanoelectronic Materials and Devices
- Sensing and Imaging
- Trustworthy Computing
Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
Duke MEMS is designing the future of mechanical systems and materials
Research Areas of Focus
- Aerodynamics and Aeroelasticity
- Autonomous Systems
- Biomechanics and Biomaterials
- Computation & Artificial Intelligence
- Energy Systems and Materials
- Soft Matter and Nanoscale Materials
Duke MEMS also participates collaboratively in the Duke Materials Initiative and in Duke's University Program in Materials Science and Engineering. More at dmi.duke.edu »
Research Centers
Accelerating Innovation
EnE: Institute for Enterprise Engineering
Duke Engineering's Institute for Enterprise Engineering provides working professionals with high-impact skills
For Working Professionals
- Executive Short Courses
- 4-Course Graduate Certificates
- Online Master's Degrees
- Through education partner Coursera:
- Online Certificates
- Online Specializations
Topic Areas
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
- Blockchain
- Computing Fundamentals
- Cybersecurity
- Engineering Management
- Financial Technology (FinTech)
- Game Design, Development & Innovation
EngEn: Duke Engineering Entrepreneurship
Duke EngEn is a bold initiative that integrates needs-driven design experiences, entrepreneurial education, startup resources, and a leadership team of successful entrepreneurs to deliver technological solutions to societal needs in health, defense, climate and beyond.
GUIde Consortium for Aeroelasticity
Government, university and industry (GUI) consortium addressing challenges related to controlling the vibration of bladed disks.
Advanced Computing & Intelligent Systems
Agile Waveform Design for Communication Networks in Contested Environments UCE
A US Air Force Research Laboratory-Air Force Office of Scientific Research University Center of Excellence
A five-year, $5 million AFOSR program at Duke to develop methodologies for novel waveform design and optimization techniques that are both agile to changing network dynamics and robust to adversaries in contested environments, with provable bounds on performance.
NSF AIICE: Identity-Inclusive Computing Education
A National Science Foundation INCLUDES project
This $10 million NSF project at Duke aims to develop tools and strategies in computing education that increase the entry, retention and course or degree completion rates of high school and undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups. It is led by led by Nicki Washington, professor of the practice in Computer Science, and Shaundra Daily, professor of the practice in Electrical & Computer Engineering and in Computer Science.
More about AIICE »
NSF ATHENA: Edge Computing Leveraging Next-Generation Networks
Supported by the National Science Foundation
An NSF-supported project led by Duke that brings together a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, statisticians, legal scholars and psychologists from seven universities. It will transform the design, operation and service of future systems from mobile devices to networks. It is committed to educating and developing the workforce, cultivating a diverse next generation of edge computing and network leaders whose core values are driven by ethics and fairness in AI. As a nexus point for the community, this institute will spearhead collaboration and knowledge transfer, translating emerging technical capabilities to new business models and entrepreneurial opportunities.
IARPA EURIQA: Error-Corrected Universal Reconfigurable Ion-trap Quantum Archetype
Supported by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
A five-year, $31.9 million IARPA project at Duke to address qubit degradation with ion technology for quantum information applications.
NSF STAQ: Software-Tailored Architecture for Quantum Codesign
Supported by the National Science Foundation
A Duke-led, seven-university, $15 million NSF collaboration with the goal of building the world’s first practical quantum computer.
STAQ involves physicists, computer scientists and engineers from Duke, the University of Maryland, the University of Chicago, Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of New Mexico.
QSA: Quantum Systems Accelerator
A US Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Center
Duke is one of 14 U.S. institutions in a five-year, $115 million effort by DOE to forge the technological solutions needed to harness quantum information science for discoveries that benefit the world.
Spectator Qubit MURI
A US Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
This team of researchers, led by Duke, received more than $9 million from the ARO to investigate the “spectator qubit” approach to improving quantum computing systems.
Materials Discovery & Development
DMI: Duke Materials Initiative
DMI provides strategic leadership by harnessing the distinct combination of interdisciplinary expertise in technical and societal disciplines, research focus, development of advanced experimental and computational tools and paradigm-shifting education available at Duke.
SPICES: Spinodal-Hardened High-Entropy Ceramics MURI
An Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
Led by Duke, ONR SPICES MURI will create AI tools to design recipes for a new class of materials tailored to super-hard, high-temperature applications. Read an article about SPICES research »
Meta-Imaging MURI
A US Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
This AFOSR MURI, led by Duke, exploits breakthroughs in the fields of metasurfaces, computational design, fundamental modal optics, and information theory to enable a new paradigm for sensing, processing and computing by utilizing metasurfaces to detect additional degrees of freedom of the light field and process the information at the speed of light—all while reducing the size and weight of imaging systems.
CMIP: Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics
A Duke research enterprise exploring the capabilities and limitations of electromagnetic metamaterials.
FIP: Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics
A Duke-based research and training effort focused on information science, quantum optics, optoelectronics, information spaces and biophotonics.
X-Ray Diffraction Scanner
Sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security
Designing and developing a new type of security scanner that can detect an object's shape and molecular composition.
Personal, Environmental & Population Health
CAGT: Advanced Genomic Technologies
CAGT at Duke is a team of world-leading engineers, scientists, and physicians working to integrate advanced genomic technologies, adapt them to help unravel disease biology, and discover new drug targets to catalyze a more robust biotechnology enterprise.
NIH CBTE: Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering
Supported by the National Institutes of Health
CBTE, supported by the NIH National Institute for General Medical Science, coordinates interdisciplinary discovery and training across three areas: protein engineering, cellular engineering and tissue engineering.
IGVF Characterization Center
Supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute
An $8.6 million award from the NHGRI Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium funds the IGVF Characterization Center at Duke. It is designed to be a generator of data informing how genetic variation impacts gene regulation and phenotypes.
DARPA MEMENTO: Mapping Epigenetic Memory of Exposure to Observe
Supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Led by co-principal investigators at Duke with expertise in biomedical engineering and infectious disease medicine. DARPA-supported Memento is working to develop a genetic test for exposure to weapons of mass destruction.
WaSH-AID: Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Infectious Disease
Sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
WaSH-AID facilitates the development and sustainable deployment of novel technology-based health solutions for developing regions across the globe.
Resilient Systems & the Environment
NSF PreMiEr: ERC for Precision Microbiome Engineering
An NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC)
The NFS Engineering Research Center for Precision Microbiome Engineering, or PreMiEr, aims to develop diagnostic tools and engineering approaches that promote building designs for preventing the colonization of harmful bacteria, fungi or viruses while encouraging beneficial microorganisms.
PreMiEr is funded by a five-year, $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), renewable for a second five-year, $26 million term.
NSF INFRAMES: Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability
A National Science Foundation AccelNET program
Building on the work of the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), this five-year, $1.6 million NSF program of US and international partners will create a network of networks to address questions about the environmental impacts of novel materials.
Duke Center on Risk
A multidisciplinary group developing innovative methods, technologies, policies, and practices to confront risks faced by society, both familiar and emerging, including climate change, pollution, pandemic disease, food safety, cyber‐attacks, financial shocks, accidents, and terrorism.