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The 2026 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase brought together more than 70 project teams — and hundreds of members of the Duke community — for an afternoon of research and conversation.
Students shared their work through more than 60 research posters and 14 interactive displays, offering audiences a closer look at the questions, challenges and ideas explored through Bass Connections.
“For this group of extraordinarily academically talented students, the best way to engage them and unlock their intellectual heft is to bring them into collaboration … digging deep to try to understand solutions to some of the most vexing challenges of our time.”
–Gary Bennett, Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Interactive Displays
Project teams used interactive displays to invite visitors into their research in engaging and hands-on ways. The 14 displays featured virtual reality tools, puppetry, 3D models, digital media and more.
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Best Interactive Display
Home Design for the Visually Impaired received this year’s award for best interactive display. This team developed user-friendly, scalable solutions to improve the well-being of people with low vision.
Poster Competition
The poster competition highlighted the breadth of Bass Connections research, with over 60 submissions from projects focused on topics such as mental health, educational equity, climate resilience and cancer care.
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Poster Competition Winner
Judges selected Closing Heat Data Gaps and Exploring Climate Injustice Narratives as the winner of the 2026 Poster Competition. This team examined heat stress and its relationship to kidney disease in Sri Lanka.
A Fond Farewell
The 2026 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase also offered the Duke community a chance to celebrate Edward Balleisen in his final weeks as Duke’s senior vice provost for interdisciplinary programs and initiatives. After more than a decade of helping develop and refine Bass Connections, Balleisen congratulated the program’s student researchers before leaving Duke in July to become provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at George Washington University.