Volker Blum
volker.blum@duke.eduAssociate Dean for Research, Rooney Family Associate Professor of MEMS
Pre-Research Support
Making Substantial Investments in Interdisciplinary Projects
Beyond the Horizon Initiative
Beyond the Horizon provides interdisciplinary teams with a substantial investment to pursue extremely high-risk, high-reward projects with the potential for deep, transformative societal impact.
In the inaugural round, six proposals were selected for a year of funding. Two projects received continuation funding for a second year. In the meantime, another three new proposals have been awarded initial funding.
Each project seeks to leverage the Pratt School of Engineering’s research strengths and holds the promise of defining the future of the field.
Taming AI’s Outsized Appetite
AI applications demand enormous amounts of energy and water. A new collaboration aims to make circuitry more compact and sustainable.
This project has received a second year of funding.
Yiran Chen
John Cocke Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Aaron D. Franklin
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Addy Professor of ECE
Scouring Nature for the Building Blocks of Biomedical Condensates
Cross-campus collaboration seeks to discover naturally occurring biological condensates, like drops of oil forming in water, to engineer new therapeutics.
This project has received a second year of funding.
Ashutosh Chilkoti
Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
New Projects
Received initial Year 1 funding
Advancing Sodium Solid-State Batteries: Breakthrough Analytical Tools for Novel Energy Material Design
Principal Investigator: Olivier Delaire
Lighting a Dark Fiber Network for Hybrid Quantum-Classical Experimental Research
Prinicipal Investigator: Tingjun Chen
Engineering Sustainable Materials Through Cross-Scaling Design
Principal Investigator: Heileen Hsu-Kim
