Community-Based Innovation Programs

This project team will collaborate with the Duke Critical Minerals Hub to create a Critical Minerals Index (CMI) – an interactive “heat map” and data platform that integrates geoscience, engineering, environmental and policy information about critical minerals across their entire life cycle.

This project team will build on an ongoing multi-year effort to develop, refine and evaluate an AI-driven clinical decision support (CDS) tool for TBI care. Building on prior work that identified potential applications for AI and produced a data-cleaning pipeline, the 2026-2027 team will focus on linking stakeholder perspectives with the creation and evaluation of a prototype CDS application.

To address a major gap in microbiome engineering, this team will focus on tools for treatment of gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome.

This project team will assess youth athletes with an oculomotor (i.e., eye-tracking) assessment routine and compare these results to in-season documentation of head impact exposure using data from a team-developed earpiece (DASHR) worn by athletes during practices and games.

In a collaboration between faculty and students at Duke and Tribhuvan University of Kathmandu, this team will work to place a smart seismic sensing network in Kathmandu and continue to build in-country capacity for seismic hazard analysis and mitigation.

This project will adapt the Callascope — an accessible, speculum-free imaging device developed by Duke’s Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies — to explore its potential use during late pregnancy. Guided by a human-centered design framework, the project will gather user and provider insights and translate findings into early design concepts and policy considerations.

This research grant explores community-led validation of a remote sensing and deep learning approach to identify cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms and toxins in the Chowan River and tris in the tributaries of the Albemarle Sound.

A team of students led by Duke faculty in engineering, economics, and environmental policy will study how investments in flood protection, such as levees, stormwater systems, and nature-based solutions, affect not only flood risk, but also local property values, tax revenues, and community financial resilience.

Using data-driven methods to develop machine learning models that predict critical mineral presence and abundance in mine waste and acid mine drainage. This work will be foundational for the development of a decision-making tool to help guide researchers, policy makers, and industry professionals in the sustainable recovery of critical minerals needed to advance the clean energy transition.

A student team led by Henry Pfister’s research group will develop and evaluate an AI-powered “visual assistant” that pairs smart glasses with modern visual language models to assist people with visual impairment.

The purpose of the DBDP is to make discovering digital biomarkers more accessible. From the input of wearable sensor data to the development of machine learning algorithms, we provide an open source software resource for the digital biomarker community.

Student run organization that aims to connect amputees in the Durham area with 3D printed adaptive devices, free of cost.

Duke Engineers for International Development

Partnering with communities to engineer solutions that improve living standards.

Engineering students improve accessibility for physically challenged children by fixing and modifying toys.

This project curates, develops, and disseminates ready-to-go quantum learning materials, and supports cohorts of educators in every state to develop QISE knowledge and provides crucial information on viable methods for adapting quantum education to different localities.

Students design solutions for needs expressed by community organizations working in education, health care, the environment, and more.

Through long-standing partnerships in Kenya and Peru, the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies aims to shift screening earlier, closer to communities, and ultimately into women’s own hands, advancing equitable and scalable solutions for cervical cancer prevention.

In collaboration with colleagues from Boston College and the Concord Consortium, an educational technology company, this team has developed instructional modules with teachers to help students learn about the CT concepts of decomposition, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking. This project uses engineering design frameworks to simplify CT and decouple these skills from specific programming languages.

Underwriters Laboratories funded project focused on mitigating the combined impacts of heat and air pollution on health that has been doing outreach with a number of community organizations in Durham.

An annual 24-hour coding sprint focused on solutions to societal challenges.

Summer MUSER projects (2025 & 2026) for four Pratt undergraduate students (BME, MEMS) helped design a STEAM room for Grades K-5 at eight community schools across NC.

In partnership with Coastal Carolina Riverwatch (CCRW), this research, funded by the Environmental Enhancement Grant (EEG) program, focuses on detecting PFAS and heavy metals in oyster populations within the White Oak River Basin (WORB).

Q2Work is an NSF-funded program that provides support for the QIS education ecosystem through digital tools, outreach and collaborative workshops. This includes an online QIS education hub to showcase all education efforts happening across the QIS ecosystem and a cohesive set of workshops to advance the development of K-12 QIS education resources.

Research grant focused on connecting informal educators and middle schoolers to quantum science through non-intimidating gameplay and facilitator workshops.

Miroslav Pajic’s Cyber-Physical Systems Lab conducted a two-week mini internship for selected rising 9-12th grade computer science students from Durham Academy on robotics research projects. Students worked with PhD mentors to learn about research and build on real-world robotics platforms including robot dogs, robot arms, and ground robots.

In partnership with Durham Public Schools, students and their teachers participate in an introductory engineering design activity and use rapid prototyping tools (3-D printing, laser cutting, and Arduino programming) to design and create devices.

This open house event welcomes community members of all ages to spend the afternoon with Duke Engineering faculty, staff, and students. Engage in over 20 hands-on activities, take a tour, and participate in “STEM-ulating Conversations” with faculty and students to hear how they imagine, build, and belong at Duke.

DPS/Duke Engineering STEM After-school Program

Duke Engineering faculty, staff, and students offer engaging, hands-on STEM activities to middle school students in Durham Public Schools during the ENCORE! After-school Program.

Duke Aviators is a student organization dedicated to sharing a passion for flying and aviation with the larger University and RTP community.

The mission of Duke ASME is to advance, disseminate, and apply mechanical engineering knowledge to benefit the Duke and Durham community while fostering the engineering community on campus through networking opportunities, offering design challenge opportunities, and providing a forum for student professional development beyond the classroom.

The mission of Duke NSBE is to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.

SWE at Duke is a professional society for female-identifying students pursuing engineering. We strive to make the most of our engineering experiences at Duke by attending national and regional SWE conferences, providing networking opportunities, participating in community service events, and supporting and encouraging one another in our academic endeavors.

InnoWorks is a free, week-long STEM camp run entirely by college volunteers, connecting mentors with younger students to explore science through curiosity, creativity, and fun.

A seven-week summer experience for Durham Public Schools juniors and seniors interested in engineering and science.

East Chapel Hill High School @Duke

ECHHS students visit Duke’s campus for interactive labs, lunch, and a tour of Duke Engineering facilities.

e4usa provides a standardized educational curriculum for pre-college students to learn and demonstrate engineering principles, skills and practices.

FEMMES+ is student-led, with a mission to engage young students in STEM fields through hands-on activities and mentorship.

FIRST® robotics programs deliver hands-on STEM education to schools, afterschool programs, and community learning spaces. Each program offers fun, age-appropriate challenges tied to a yearly theme to help build STEM interest and adaptable skills, preparing students for STEM careers and leadership in a tech-driven world.

An annual event demonstrating STEM career possibilities through a day of hands-on fun for more than 140 middle schoolers and high schoolers.

GEM is a 10-day STEM camp for middle school students each summer. Each half-day we explore a rich, complex, and accessible math problem and visit the lab or clinic of a STEM woman on campus.

A free, 8-week hybrid program for Durham-area middle school students in partnership with the Museum of Life and Science. Students prototype solutions toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals of Clean Energy, Clean Water, or Good Health.

The Ignite Makers Program is a free program that runs from September through April each year for high school students. This program challenges students to use Human-Centered and Engineering Design processes to research problems related to the UN Global Goals of Clean Energy (Light Team), Clean Water (Water Team), or Good Health (Health Team).

K-5 Advanced Manufacturing Curriculum

Through NSF-sponsored award, and in collaboration with STEM specialist Ms. Caroline Brickhouse, developing age-appropriate curriculum related to advanced manufacturing that is offered through the Exploration Lab special to all students at Lyons Farm Elementary School.

MDBF Duke in the Community

Through an award sponsored by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the Pratt Community-Based Innovation team is working with faculty and community organizations to build skills and capacity for STEM education and support academic success for undergraduate students.

In May 2026, 14 student teams from Durham Public Schools, including Rogers-Herr, Githens, and Neal Middle Schools, took on real-world technology and engineering challenges designed to make a difference. Working alongside educators and engineers from Duke University, students collaborated to solve problems and explore STEM topics.

K-12 and community college teachers spend five summer weeks working in microbiome science and engineering labs and developing lesson plans

Duke’s state-of-the-science nanotech lab invites K-12 teachers and students to see an electron microscope in action or suit up for a visit to the cleanroom.

The ODE Summer Design Camp is an immersive biomedical engineering design experience. Over the course of five weeks, participants will learn about the engineering design process and use it to solve real-world problems through a series of design workshops, labs, and innovation sessions.

The ODE Summer Design Camp for Teachers functions as a professional development and training opportunity for middle and high school STEM teachers. Teachers are invited to participate in the camp to learn engineering design alongside the students.