Academic Departments & Research Centers
Academic Departments
Biomedical Engineering (BME)
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 (CEE)
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 (ECE)
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
Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (MEMS)
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 & Institutes
Accelerating Innovation & Improving Enterprises
Institute for Enterprise Engineering
Transforming enterprises by providing 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)
- Systems Engineering for Autonomy
Medicine + Engineering at Duke (MEDx)
Duke Engineering Entrepreneurship (EngEn)
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.
Advanced Computing & Intelligent Systems
Agile Waveform Design for Communication Networks in Contested Environments
An Air Force Research Laboratory-Air Force Office of Scientific Research University Center of Excellence
A five-year, $5 million program 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 Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AIICE)
An NSF INCLUDES Alliance
A $10 million National Science Foundation project, awarded to Nicki Washington, professor of the practice in Computer Science, and Shaundra Daily, professor of the practice in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science. The project 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.
More about AIICE »
NSF AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next-Generation Networks (Athena)
An NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute
Led by Duke, Athena 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 Error-corrected Universal Reconfigurable Ion-trap Quantum Archetype (EURIQA)
Supported by a grant from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)
A five-year, $31.9 million advanced research project to address qubit degradation with ion technology for quantum information applications.
Software-Tailored Architecture for Quantum Codesign (Staq)
A Duke-led, seven-university, $15 million collaboration with the goal of building the world’s first practical quantum computer.
STAQ involves physicists, computer scientists and engineers from Duke, University of Maryland, University of Chicago, Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of New Mexico.
DOE Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA)
A US Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Center (QIS)
Duke University one of 14 U.S. institutions in a five-year, $115 million effort to forge the technological solutions needed to harness quantum information science for discoveries that benefit the world.
Spectator Qubit MURI
A Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
This international team of researchers led by Duke received more than $9 million to investigate the potential advantages of using a “spectator qubit” to improve several approaches to quantum computing systems.
Materials Discovery & Development
Duke Materials Initiative (DMI)
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.
Center for Autonomous Materials Design MURI
A Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
Led by Duke, this MURI applies computational approaches, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to predictive modeling for new materials development. Discoveries are shared through aflow.org.
Meta-Imaging MURI
A Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
This 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 lightfield and process the information at the speed of light—all while reducing the size and weight of imaging systems.
Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics (CMIP)
Explores the capabilities and limitations of electromagnetic metamaterials.
Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics (FIP)
Research and training efforts of FIP are focused on photonics as information science, including quantum optics, optoelectronics, information spaces and biophotonics.
X-Ray Diffraction Scanner
Designing and developing a new type of security scanner that can detect the 3D shape of an object and its molecular composition.
Personal, Environmental & Population Health
Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies (CAGT)
CAGT 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.
Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering (CBTE)
CBTE coordinates interdisciplinary discovery and training across three areas: protein engineering, cellular engineering and tissue engineering.
NSF International Network for Researching, Advancing, and Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability (INFRAMES)
An NSF AccelNET program
Building on the work of the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), this five-year, $1.6 million program of US and international partners will create a network of networks to address questions about the environmental impacts of novel materials.
Mapping Epigenetic Memory of Exposure to Observe (Memento)
Led by co-principal investigators with expertise in biomedical engineering and infectious disease medicine, Memento is working to developing a genetic test for exposure to weapons of mass destruction.
Center for Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Infectious Disease (WaSH-AID)
WaSH-AID facilitates the development and sustainable deployment of novel technology-based health solutions for developing regions across the globe.
Consortia
GUIde Consortium for Aeroelasticity
Government, university and industry (GUI) consortium addressing challenges related to controlling the vibration of bladed disks.