The Duke Digest - February 3, 2012
In Today's Issue:- Duke Med School Dean: Cuts to Medical Research are Bad for Health, Economy
- Farewell to Mary Biddle Duke Trent Semans
- Student Spotlight: Engineering Grand Challenges Scholar at the Intersection of Technology and Business
- Duke Festival to Spotlight Collisions Among Arts, Humanities, and Technology
Dr. Nancy Andrews, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, writes in an op-ed appearing on Tuesday in the Raleigh News and Observer:
"As our national leaders face unprecedented challenges to reduce government spending, we must all face the consequences of difficult choices. Last fall's failure of the congressional "supercommittee" to arrive at a bipartisan solution has prompted mandatory cuts from both defense and domestic programs, including government-funded medical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
While all programs have their merits and a committed constituency to argue for their continued funding, the endeavor of medical research rises to special consideration as both a life saver and job creator. Cuts to this vital endeavor would hurt the health of our people and our economy."
Read More:
Unhealthy Cuts in Medical Research (newsobserver.com)
FAREWELL TO MARY DUKE BIDDLE TRENT SEMANS
Duke University said goodbye Monday to a woman described as its "heart and soul," a historic figure whose "extravagant love" transformed the university and its city.
In
a Duke Chapel service filled with music and pageantry, Mary Duke Biddle Trent
Semans -- who served as a living link between the university's founders and its
modern accomplishments -- was remembered for her many contributions to Duke,
Durham and North Carolina, and for what Duke President Richard Brodhead called
her "embodiment of unconditional love."
Semans, the great-granddaughter of industrialist-philanthropist Washington Duke, for whom Duke University is named, died on Wednesday at the age of 91. Her grandfather was Benjamin N. Duke, the brother of James B. Duke, who endowed the university.
Read More:
Mary Seman, Champion of Duke and Durham, Dies at 91 (Duke.edu)
Farewell to Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (Duke.edu)
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: ENGINEERING GRAND CHALLENGES SCHOLAR AT THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS
For Duke senior Andrew Mang, the Grand Challenge Scholars Program
was a natural fit. “I’ve always seen myself at the intersection of
technology and business,” said Mang, a double majoring in mechanical
engineering and economics and one of Duke’s National Academy of
Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars.
Mang’s interest in such topics has been evident since his first year at
Duke, during which he joined Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Through
his involvement with EWB, Mang has contributed to research on waste
management issues in the developing world, participated in a trip to
Uganda to assess drinking water accesss, and returned to Uganda to do
technical survey work.
In his junior year, Mang participated in Duke’s Startup Challenge, and
Mang’s team submitted a detailed business plan for a “company that would
install and maintain improved hand pumps” in the developing world,
particularly Uganda. While in Uganda with EWB during the summer of 2011,
Mang implemented the business plan he envisioned for the Startup
Challenge. Applying the feedback his team had received, Mang found a
business partner in Uganda through a friend of the EWB program, and
using funding from the Grand Challenge Scholars Program, Mang and his
partner were able to start a company.
Read More:
At the Intersection of Technology and Business (Pratt.duke.edu)
NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program at Duke (Pratt.duke.edu)
Duke Startup Challenge (DukeStartupChallenge.org)
DUKE FESTIVAL TO SPOTLIGHT COLLISIONS AMONG ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES
A conference exploring and celebrating the many digital collisions and intersections between technology, art and the humanities comes to Duke University next week.
The CHAT Festival, short for Collaborations: Humanities, Art and Technology, will showcase how digital technology is influencing the scholarly arts and humanities. The festival runs Feb. 6-9 and is free and open to the public.
The festival is a joint effort between Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.
Read More:
Duke Festival to Spotlight Collisions Between Arts, Humanities and Technologies (duke.edu)