Research Centers

  • February 27, 2008

    Engineer Roy Choudhury wins NSF Early Career Award for “Spotlight” Wireless Network Development

    DURHAM, N.C. – Assistant Professor Romit Roy Choudhury has received a 5-year, $437,000 National Science Foundation Early CAREER award. The distinction recognizes and supports the early career development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become academic leaders, according to the NSF. Roy Choudhury came to Duke in 2006 after completing a doctorate in computer science at the University of Illinois. While at Illinois, he was among the first researchers to investigate the tremendous ...
  • February 12, 2008

    Physics Theory Explains Why University Rankings Resist Change

    DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke University researcher says that his physics theory, which has been applied to everything from global climate to traffic patterns, can also explain another trend: why university rankings tend not to change very much from year to year. Like branching river channels across the earth's surface, universities are part of a relatively rigid network that is predictable based on "constructal theory," which describes the shapes of flows in nature, argues Adrian ...
  • January 9, 2008

    'Invisibility Cloaks' Could Break Sound Barriers

    Contrary to earlier predictions, Duke University engineers have found that a three-dimensional sound cloak is possible, at least in theory. Such an acoustic veil would do for sound what the "invisibility cloak" previously demonstrated by the research team does for microwaves--allowing sound waves to travel seamlessly around it and emerge on the other side without distortion. "We've devised a recipe for an acoustic material that would essentially open up a hole in space and make something inside ...
  • January 7, 2008

    High-Energy Ultrasound Sharpens View of Liver Tumors

    A high-energy form of ultrasound imaging developed by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering produces pictures of liver tumors that are better than those made with traditional ultrasound, according to results of a clinical study. The study suggests that the imaging method known as Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) ultrasound might offer a new tool for screening patients at increased risk for liver cancers, according to the researchers. They say it might also ...
  • November 26, 2007

    Tumor Assessment Device Wins Seed Funding from The Carolinas Photonics Consortium

    The Carolinas Photonics Consortium (CPC) has selected biomedical engineering postdoctoral researcher Quincy Brown of Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering to receive $10,000 in seed funding for the development of a device aimed at dramatically decreasing the number of repeat surgeries for women with breast cancer. "In the U.S., more than 145,000 women with breast cancer have to undergo two or more invasive surgeries to completely remove their cancer," Brown said. "Those second surgeries impose a ...
  • November 21, 2007

    Our World of Water -- Crisis and Confusion

    DURHAM, NC -- Taken for granted by some, stolen by others, water is one of the world's most valuable commodities. In some places, a gallon of water is worth more than a gallon of petroleum, according to Miguel Medina, a specialist in hydrology and water resources at Duke's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "More than 2.4 billion people in the world do not have access to sanitation, more than 1.2 billion don't have access to ...
  • November 20, 2007

    Capturing the Inner Workings of Early Stage Cancer in 3-D

    Biomedical engineers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering have captured three-dimensional images revealing microscopic changes to the inner workings of cells that occur at the earliest stages of cancer, suggesting a possible new way of disease detection. Their findings in animals also suggest that so-called multi-photon fluorescence microscopy—a technique that had generally been limited to the basic science laboratory—might also find use in the clinic. "We were able to capture physiological ...
  • November 9, 2007

    Duke to Establish New Center for Engineering, Energy and the Environment

    A gift of $7.85 million by a Duke alumnus and his wife will create a center to educate students to meet the world’s energy needs while also improving its environment, university President Richard H. Brodhead announced Nov. 9. The Gendell Center for Engineering, Energy and the Environment is being established by Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering in collaboration with the university’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. The center is being named for Jeffrey and ...
  • November 6, 2007

    Bejan and Lorente Win First Hartnett Award for 'Smart' Materials Inspired by Constructal Theory

    Adrian Bejan, J.A. Jones professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, and Sylvie Lorente, professor of civil engineering at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse, France, will receive the James P. Hartnett Award at the ASME International Congress of Mechanical Engineering and Exposition in Seattle on Nov. 13. The Hartnett Award is conferred by the International Center of Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT) to the best paper presented at a ...
  • October 30, 2007

    New Magnetic Separation Technique Might Detect Multiple Pathogens at Once

    Watch a video of 3-micron beads as they are magnetically separated from 1-micron beads using a new technique developed by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and Purdue University. A magnetic separation technique developed by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and Purdue University makes it relatively simple to sort through beads hundreds of times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. The method could lead ...
  • October 3, 2007

    Ashutosh Chilkoti Named Director of Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Material Systems

    Professor Ashutosh Chilkoti has been appointed director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems (CBIMMS), Pratt Dean Robert Clark announced on Oct. 2. CBIMMS is an interdisciplinary Duke center focused on bio-nano-manufacturing, biointerface science and nanomechanics, using designs found in nature as inspiration for engineering advances. In his capacity as center director, Chilkoti will also lead Pratt’s strategic research initiative in materials. "As associate director of CBIMMS, Chilkoti provided extensive leadership on multi-investigator proposals ...
  • October 1, 2007

    Pratt Pair Wins YouTube Contest

    Watch Laura Moore and Lisa Richard's video "Shedding Light on Breast Cancer," which highlights their research done as Pratt Undergraduate Research Fellows. Two seniors in the Pratt School of Engineering have won the Duke University prize in a national YouTube video competition. Laura Moore (BME '08) and Lisa Richards (BME '08) produced a three-minute film about a research project that is using specially filtered light to improve breast cancer detection and measurement. Both students have been working ...

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    Deborah Hill, Director of Communications, 415 Teer Engineering Building, 919-660-8403, dahill@duke.edu