New Director of Undergraduate Research Support

Karen Murphy, an assistant dean of Trinity College and lecturing fellow in Duke's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, has been named director of the Undergraduate Research Support Office. She starts July 1.

Murphy holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Duke and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"Karen Murphy is an experienced academic dean and a dedicated instructor who has both passion and skill running undergraduate research programs,” said Lee Baker, dean of academic affairs of Trinity College. “Before becoming an academic dean, she was a co-director of the summer research program for the department of Psychology and Neuroscience, which is one of our largest and most successful programs. Most importantly, she recognizes that students who conduct mentored research learn more than methods and protocols. She recognizes that they grow as young adults who can form questions; deal with failure, experimentation, and criticism; and manage projects from beginning to end.”

Murphy succeeds Ron Grunwald, who is stepping down from the job after six years to return to teaching biology.

As director, Murphy will be responsible for administering office research programs and ensuring they run efficiently and effectively. She will supervise annual events such as the Visible Thinking Poster Day. She will also continue to serve as academic dean for students who live or lived in Gilbert-Addoms or Epworth dorms, and as a member of Duke's pre-health advising team.

About half of Duke seniors conduct mentored research under the guidance of a professor before they graduate. Murphy wants to be sure that all students who want to do research know how to connect with a program or professor.

“Becoming involved in information generation and knowledge accumulation is really the best way to understand a field,” she said.

Murphy said she intends to focus on better coordination among the many research opportunities at Duke and to encourage more students to participate in poster sessions, conferences and information sessions.   She also hopes to attract more humanities and social science majors to conduct research, first by educating herself.

“Coming from the biological sciences I know what that looks like,” she said. “I look forward to getting a better sense of what research feels like in the other fields.”

Murphy can personally attest to the powerful influence that research can have on one’s career choice. As a college freshman, she planned to major in economics. When friends in her dorm started taking science classes, she joined them and discovered she really liked biology.

Then she needed a job and landed one in a lab, studying the relationship between alcohol and nicotine abuse. Three and a half years there confirmed her love for research, though not for cleaning mouse cages.

“I’m basically a big nerd,” she said.