Duke Engineering Receives Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Grant to Expand Community Impact

Duke Engineering’s Community-Based Innovation (CBI) program has received a new three-year, $450,000 grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation to support three collaborative projects that expand engineering education, strengthen community partnerships and create new pathways into STEM for students and educators across North Carolina.

The funding advances Duke Engineering’s commitment to community-engaged research, learning and outreach by supporting initiatives that are developed alongside local partners and designed to address community-identified needs. Through the Community-Based Innovation program, Duke Engineering connects faculty, students and staff with schools, nonprofits and community organizations to co-create sustainable solutions that make a lasting difference. 

The three newly funded projects reflect that mission by building engineering capacity in K–12 education, expanding informal STEM learning opportunities and strengthening pathways to graduate engineering education.

The first project will help prepare middle and high school teachers in Durham Public Schools and Orange County Schools to integrate engineering design into their classrooms. Building on Duke Engineering’s Outreach Design Education (ODE) Summer Design Camp, faculty will work with teachers to develop classroom-ready engineering lessons and provide ongoing professional development. Over time, participating teachers will also share what they have learned with colleagues, creating a sustainable, teacher-led network that brings hands-on engineering experiences to hundreds of additional students throughout the region.

A second project will expand informal STEM education through a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Durham and Orange Counties. Drawing on successful Duke programs such as Duke Ignite and Girls Exploring Math, the collaboration will adapt engaging engineering and mathematics activities for after-school and summer programming. Rather than simply delivering activities, Duke faculty and staff will work alongside Boys & Girls Club educators to co-develop curriculum and training resources, enabling the organization to continue offering high-quality STEM experiences for years to come.

The third project will strengthen collaboration between Duke’s Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and North Carolina Central University’s Department of Mathematics and Physics. The planning effort will explore new ways to prepare NCCU undergraduates for graduate study in engineering through research experiences, mentoring, professional development and networking opportunities. By building a stronger partnership between the two institutions, the project aims to create new pathways for talented students to pursue advanced engineering degrees while establishing a model that could be expanded to additional departments and institutions in the future.

Together, the three projects illustrate the breadth of Duke Engineering’s Community-Based Innovation program and its belief that engineering can have its greatest impact when developed in partnership with communities. The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation’s investment will help expand opportunities for learners across North Carolina while strengthening the connections between Duke Engineering and the communities it serves.