Departments & Centers
Academic Departments
Biomedical Engineering (BME)
Duke BME is consistently ranked as one of the top biomedical engineering programs in the nation.
Areas of Interest
- Bioelectric Engineering
- Biomaterials
- Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
- Biomedical and Health Data Sciences
- Biomedical Imaging and Biophotonics
- 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)
Duke CEE pursues diverse discovery in areas that improve the fundamental health, resilience and safety of society.
Areas of Interest
- 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)
Duke ECE faculty members are actively involved in advanced research and teaching in all major areas of electrical and computer engineering.
Areas of Interest
- 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)
Duke MEMS research is designing the future of mechanical systems and materials—including technologies related to clean and abundant energy, reliable autonomous technology, and biomechanical devices and biomaterials to improve human health.
Aligned with these efforts, our MEMS faculty employ advanced computational tools, such as AI, to accelerate the design of mechanical systems and the discovery of new materials.
Areas of Interest
- 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 »
Centers & Institutes
Accelerating Innovation & Improving Enterprises
Institute for Enterprise Engineering
Focused on creating graduate engineering educational programs, from one-week short courses to master's degrees.
Areas of Educational Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Blockchain
- Computing fundamentals
- Machine learning
- Cybersecurity
- Financial technology (FinTech)
- Engineering management
Medicine + Engineering at Duke (MEDx)
A joint initiative of Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and School of Medicine, MEDx fosters research and educational collaboration to advance health care innovation.
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
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.
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 »
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.
Error-corrected Universal Reconfigurable Ion-trap Quantum Archetype (EURIQA)
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.
Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA)
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.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, QSA is led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center was one of five new Department of Energy Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers announced on August 2020.
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.
International Network for Researching, Advancing, and Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability (INFRAMES)
An NSF AccelNET program
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.
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.
Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT)
A six-university collaboration headquartered at Duke exploring the effect of nanomaterials in the environment and biologically.
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.
Woo Center for Big Data & Precision Health
Launched with more than $3 million in funding over three years from philanthropists John and Sherry Woo, the center is working to foster global partnerships to advance research and education at the intersection of data and health care, with a focus on applying artificial intelligence to clinical trials and practices.
Consortia
GUIde Consortium for Aeroelasticity
Government, university and industry (GUI) consortium addressing challenges related to controlling the vibration of bladed disks.