Bass Connections:
Crossing Disciplines to Tackle Society’s Problems

By David Jarmul

Real-world problems don’t fit neatly into academic boxes. Duke’s new Bass Connections initiative is bringing together faculty and students from across many fields to share expertise and find new solutions. Launched in the fall, the initiative now has dozens of teams tackling problems ranging from global climate change to the mental health of refugees. Duke President Richard Brodhead calls it “a complementary curriculum based not on disciplines but contemporary problems.” Here’s an initial snapshot of one team from each of Bass Connections’ five initial thematic areas.

Education & Human Development

Team Project: Education, Poverty and Economic Inequality in Rural Appalachia

Duke undergraduates and others on this team are studying education and human development in economically distressed, rural mountain communities in Appalachia. Several of them met with Will Hoffman, left rear, curriculum director for the Madison, NC, county school system, and his colleague Caroline Davis. The brainstorming session was an initial step in the team’s effort to identify the school system’s greatest needs. Deborah Hicks, executive director of the Partnership for Appalachian Girls’ Education (foreground with blond hair), leads the team with public policy professor Robert Korstad. Joining the conversation are students Abby Ardis, Rachel Gress, Rosemary Williams and Patricia Deza.

Duke undergraduates study education and human development in economically distressed, rural mountain communities in Appalachia -- Bass Connections | Duke Today

Photo credit: Elizabeth McIntosh

Brain & Society

Team Project: Perception and Language

The process by which humans make sense of sights, sounds and other sensations, and then translate those perceptions into language, is simultaneously miraculous and mysterious. Duke researchers have been studying how perception, language and memory interact, from what happens inside a person’s brain to how these processes change as a person ages. Members of this Bass Connections team, whose expertise ranges from psychology to linguistics, are studying interrelated aspects of vision, hearing, speech, music, aging and brain function. Among them are undergraduate Akshita Iyer, left, and assistant professor Michele Diaz, who are meeting here at the Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center.

Duke researchers study how perception, language and memory interact -- Bass Connections | Duke Today

Photo credit: Duke Photography

Global Health

Team Project: Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America

Many Americans visit Peru to tour famous Inca sites. Members of this Bass Connections team have been traveling there to study the environmental impact of local practices such as gold mining in the Amazon watershed. Duke graduate student Lauren Wyatt, left, and postdoctoral associate Beth Feingold dissect fish on a rocky beach in Itahuania, a small town in southeastern Peru. Team members later analyzed the fish for mercury and other potentially dangerous metals. Their findings will shed light on Peru’s environmental challenges while giving team members invaluable field experience. Duke experts on the environment, engineering and global health are leading the team.

A Bass Connections team studies the environmental impact of local practices in Peru -- Bass Connections | Duke Today -- Bass Connections | Duke Today

Photo Credit: Sarah Diringer

Information, Society & Culture

Team Project: Information, Child Mental Health & Society

Suppose you could briefly observe a child’s face and detect signs pointing to anxiety, autism or other mental health and developmental disorders. That’s what this team, which is also part of Bass Connections’ “Education & Human Development” theme, is trying to do. Its members combine expertise from engineering, psychiatry and the behavioral sciences to assess children in innovative ways. Graduate student Jordan Hashemi and postdoctoral fellow Kimberly Carpenter talk here with a toddler at Duke’s Autism and Early Childhood Research Lab. They record her face as she watches scenes on a laptop and automatically analyze her facial expressions for specific responses.

Duke researchers combine expertise from engineering, psychiatry and the behavioral sciences to assess children -- Bass Connections | Duke Today -- Bass Connections | Duke Today

Photo Credit: Team photo

Energy

Team Project: Energy Efficiency in Industry — Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Automobile manufacturers are seeking to use less energy. General Motors, Nissan and Toyota agreed to mentor groups of Duke students to study energy efficiency and visit their plants. This Bass Connections team – which combines expertise in engineering, economics and other fields – is working with the companies to determine how to better analyze energy data. Five of its students recently visited GM’s Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, learning how cold temperatures and other weather changes can affect the process of painting vehicles. Paint shift leader Yves Dontigny (rear center) met with Katie MacAdam, Josh Laveman, Kunyao Yu, Jingwei Deng and Mark Gockowski (foreground).

A Bass Connections team works with companies to determine how to better analyze energy data -- Bass Connections | Duke Today -- Bass Connections | Duke Today

Photo credit: Pilar Timpane