All current Duke undergraduate students and incoming and current Duke graduate students are invited to apply.

Several project teams, including new teams pursuing research related to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and elsewhere across the globe, are now recruiting student team members to begin work in Fall 2024.

Students may apply to up to two project teams using our online application. Applications will accepted through 11:59 p.m. on September 4 and reviewed on a rolling basis. Students are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Bass Connections project teams bring together faculty, postdocs, graduate students, undergraduates and external partners to tackle complex societal challenges in interdisciplinary research teams. Teams generally work together over nine to 12 months, and students receive academic credit for participating.

Please note that, with the exception of our newly announced teams, spots on these teams are limited as the majority of positions were filled during the main application cycle last spring. Students interested in applying for a Bass Connections project team during the main application cycle will be able to explore 2025-2026 project teams in January 2025.

Eligibility

All current Duke undergraduate students and incoming and current Duke graduate students are eligible to apply.

Please note that incoming first-year undergraduate students and students who have already accepted a spot on a 2024-2025 Bass Connections team are not eligible to apply. DKU students may only apply if they will be studying at Duke for at least one semester during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Check out Student FAQs to learn more about eligibility and preview the online application.

Project Teams Recruiting Students

Please visit the project team pages linked below and read the project descriptions carefully to learn about the unique opportunities available on each team. Many teams are seeking students with specific backgrounds or skills. Several teams are seeking paid graduate student project managers.

Project teams offer course credit and last for two semesters. Applicants should plan to participate for both semesters. Check out how project teams work and Student FAQs to learn more.

New Project Teams Pursuing Research Related to the Middle East

Learning from the Middle East: Tolerance and Suffering (New!)

• All current Duke undergraduate students may apply; this team is specifically seeking a graduate/professional student to serve as project manager (credit or compensation available)

This project aims to increase tolerance for opposing viewpoints and mitigate suffering by engaging students in civil discourse around humanitarian crises in the Middle East. Team members will learn the history of the region and engage in dialogue and reflection on the ethical dimensions of political actions. They will then develop student-led research proposals to address an ethical dilemma associated with the conflict and its humanitarian implications. 

Providing Emotional Support to Children in War Zones (New!)

• All current Duke undergraduate students and current and incoming graduate students may apply

This project team will bring together experts in international geopolitics, family-based mental health interventions and global mental health in the Middle East to lay the groundwork for a pilot initiative to provide mental health coping support for children in the Palestinian Territories. Students will map the landscape of current mental health intervention efforts in the region, examine and identify trauma-based mental health interventions in war zones and work to develop a global mental health network at Duke.

Additional Project Teams Recruiting Students

Provisional Ballots, Provisional Rights: Protecting Student Voters (New!)

• All current Duke undergraduate students and current and incoming graduate students may apply

Provisional ballots are supposed to be a failsafe for voters experiencing difficulties with their voter registration. Increasingly, however, regulatory practices around provisional ballots are depriving young voters (especially college students) of their right to vote. This team will conduct diagnostic research to identify the factors that compromise students’ voting rights and pilot potential solutions that will reduce the barriers that inhibit youth voters from realizing their potential political power.

Improving Students’ STEM-Identity Through Design and Tinkering

• All current Duke undergraduate students may apply
• Preference for students interested in engineering and STEM teaching and outreach

There is a critical need to positively influence students’ life trajectories through culturally responsive learning environments, especially in STEM fields. This project team will provide validated and equitable hands-on engineering education that enhances adolescents’ self-efficacy as community-focused engineers.

Scholar Academy for Latinxs United for Diversity (SALUD)

• All current Duke undergraduate students and current and incoming graduate students may apply
• Project manager opportunity available

In order to widen the pipeline for Latinx students to higher education, it is imperative to provide opportunities for students to learn about health-related/STEM careers, exposure to interdisciplinary professional role models and guidance on applying to academic programs. Team members will develop, deliver and evaluate the Scholar Academy for Latinxs United for Diversity (SALUD) program, which helps high school and college students build leadership skills and receive personal and professional development.

What Is Hope? Bridging the Gap Between Lived Experience and Research

• All current Duke undergraduate students and current and incoming graduate students may apply
• Preference for students with a background in the social sciences and/or religious studies and strong interest in qualitative research methods

The scientific study of hope is surprisingly limited given how frequently hope is presented as central to flourishing, promoting resilience, motivation and positive outcomes in various domains of life. This project team will engage with the lived experience of hope as reported by practitioners and community members, expanding the understanding of hope through semi-structured interviews. Team members will create a data repository containing rich qualitative data on experiences of hope and contributing to scientific knowledge on hope.

Learn More

• Check out these nine new projects that will pursue research related to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and elsewhere across the globe.
• Explore how project teams work and consult our Student FAQs.
• Learn about the project team experience through stories from students.

Now Closed

The following teams participated in the summer recruitment cycle but are no longer accepting applications. 

Archives and Creative Process: Blues Women and Rosetta Records

Rosetta Reitz was a 20th-century feminist writer, business owner, and record and concert producer whose work focused on unearthing and re-releasing Black women’s jazz and blues music. This project team will explore Reitz’s papers to create a musical and oral storytelling project and research possibilities for a public-facing Rosetta Records web archive. 

Climate Hope: Action Rooted in Visual Arts + Nature Education

Climate change impacts how, when and where children may connect with nature and cultivate an awareness of, empathy for, and sense of responsibility towards nature. A majority of surveyed youth report feeling very or extremely worried about climate change, believing the future is frightening, that people have failed to take care of the planet and that humanity is doomed. This project team will design a visual-arts-based program where children and teens can learn about climate change while being introduced to healthy coping strategies.

Community Living With Mental Illness: A Sensory Health Initiative

Individuals with severe mental illness often experience significant cognitive and sensory processing challenges that prevent them from successfully completing activities of daily living. This project team will partner with adults with severe mental illness (SMI), caregivers and community mental health providers to develop interventions and materials that support and ultimately improve the sensory health and community integration of adults with SMI.

Creating a Contemplative Community

Studies suggest that student mental health is worsening. Contemplative and mindfulness-based programs provide one avenue for improving mental health, reducing loneliness and increasing meaning in students’ lives. Team members will examine longitudinal outcomes of Koru mindfulness and changes in brain networks related to the Koru intervention, in addition to exploring what it means to collaborate as a research team while engaging a range of mindfulness-based practices together.

Developing Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning

Stress associated with trauma is likely present in every student gathering at Duke University – not only in each student organization and residence hall, but also in every classroom and laboratory. This project team will refine and implement seminars for students and faculty on trauma-engaged teaching and learning and will analyze data that will be used to inform future efforts to better support trauma survivors in the classroom. 

Diaspora, Exile and Interreligious Dialogue 

Israeli Jews and Muslim and Christian Palestinians are the most recent example of people who have undergone exile, live in diasporas and dream of return. But neither sees the exile of the other nor recognizes the other’s dream of restoration. This project centers religious dialogue as a pivotal component of the path to peace by exploring the affinities of Jewish, Christian and Muslim conceptualizations of exile. Team members will work to develop a body of research exploring the connections between these traditions and topics, facilitate campus interreligious dialogue and engage with other academic communities via a week-long joint summer school and international conference organized by the International Network for Interreligious Research and Education.

Impact of Conflict on Gazan Children with Heart Disease 

Armed conflict causes tremendous challenges to the health of civilians, particularly vulnerable populations such as children with congenital heart disease. This project team will measure and document the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Gazan children with congenital heart disease, their families, and the healthcare providers in Israel who previously cared for this population.

Ghost (Forest) Stories: Unearthing History and Climate Change

The term “ghost forests” refers to the result of the rapid and extensive death of coastal forests impacted by climate change. These forests are a striking example of the impacts of climate change. This project team will analyze, trace, visualize and provide context for patterns of ecological change and land use over time focusing specifically on North Carolina wetlands (Albemarle Peninsula).

Ethical Consumption Before Capitalism

In the 17th century, the opening of trade routes between England, the New World, the African Continent and India led to the need for a larger labor force working to supply luxury goods from the colonies. The lives of the children that were forced to migrate and their demographic make-up has been largely unstudied. Engaging with natural language processing methods and Geographic Information System tools, team members will create an interactive map visualizing the forced migration of indentured children.

Evidence-Based Humanitarian Aid Delivery in South Sudan

In South Sudan and other contexts affected by humanitarian crises, there is an urgent need to ensure that aid is more efficiently and equitably distributed. In partnership with the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration in South Sudan (IOM), this project team will analyze survey data from South Sudanese households and develop evidence-based guidance to advise humanitarian and development actors on the optimal allocation of aid and programming. Team members will then work with IOM to implement and evaluate this guidance in a follow-on randomized controlled trial.

Humanitarian Impacts of the War in Gaza: Shelter, Water and Sanitary Solutions 

Gaza is experiencing a profound humanitarian crisis, including unprecedented destruction of basic services necessary for human life, such as water systems, wastewater treatment systems and medical facilities. This project team will examine the humanitarian impacts of the war in Gaza, focusing on the provision of shelter and access to basic services, such as water and sanitation. Students will survey best practices in refugee camp design, create project designs for low-cost water purification systems and shelters and a business plan to help support NGO fundraising.

Meeting the Need for Reconstructive Surgery in Palestine 

After the acute phase of a conflict, a significant reconstructive surgical need emerges that is often overlooked by international aid agencies and difficult to service by a decimated healthcare infrastructure. Reconstructive surgical interventions (ranging from reconstructions of the hand to burn care and scar release) improve quality of life, allow patients to re-enter society and enable them to support their families. This project team will create an actionable needs assessment and forward-thinking blueprint for meeting the reconstructive surgery need in Palestine following the ongoing active conflict.

Project Vox: Expanding the Philosophical Canon in the Age of AI

Project Vox is an online resource founded by an interdisciplinary and international team of students and scholars at Duke that offers an open-access, peer-reviewed resource on marginalized voices in philosophy. This project team will research marginalized figures in philosophy and grow a community committed to transforming the philosophical canon. Team members will create rigorous, peer-reviewed entries on underrepresented philosophers and publish monthly blogs by community members and collaborators on the Project Vox website. 

Racial Disparities in Emergency Department Return After Orthopaedic Surgery

Unplanned returns to the emergency department (ED) and readmission rates following orthopaedic surgery are important markers for quality of care. Data suggests racial disparities in unplanned returns to the ED, which may point to inadequate discharge counseling and care. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, this project team will characterize clinical details for return to the ED after orthopaedic surgery, and recommend adjustments to help combat any underlying racial disparity.

Risk Analytics and Innovation for Community Climate Adaptation

We are seeing more risks of flooding, sea level rise, wildfires, severe storms and extreme heat across the country. As a result, the question of long-term insurance coverage has become a national issue, especially in at-risk communities. This project team will apply modern risk data, modeling and analytics to explore innovative new insurance and risk management models in North Carolina’s primarily rural climate-vulnerable communities.

The Science of Refugee Camps

The Middle East is home to numerous refugee camps, and given current geopolitical and climate trends, their numbers are likely to grow. This project team will describe and contrast practices and outcomes at refugee camps in order to inform future management structures and practices. Team members will study several refugee camps in the Middle East and North/Central Africa, engaging in comparative analysis across camps to draw conclusions about what management structures work best under different conditions. 

Tracing the Roots of Nutrition Access: University to Community

Despite federal, state and local investments, food insecurity persists in Durham. This project team will explore barriers and facilitators to addressing food insecurity with a focus on federal programs and funding use. Engaging with local food networks, they will gather data, develop recommendations to address food insecurity and food waste in Durham and involve community members in refining these plans.

Understanding Conflict: A Cross-Cultural Analysis between Latin America, China and Europe

This project team will take a cross-cultural approach to understanding cultural differences in responses to conflict with a focus on filling the knowledge gap on Latin American populations. The team will use qualitative and quantitative survey methods to provide crucial insights into what events can escalate into conflict and how these trends differ across Latin American, Chinese and European cultures. This study will better inform practices for conflict resolution in Latin America.

Understanding Perceptions of Race Among Computer Science Undergraduates

Excluding conversations about systemic racism and white supremacy from computer science contributes to real harm against marginalized people’s lives and livelihoods. Engaging with both qualitative and quantitative data, team members will aim to understand how undergraduate computer science students conceptualize, perceive and experience race within their university departments.

Using Drones To Monitor the Health of Endangered Elephants

Elephants play a crucial role in ecosystems; however, current monitoring methods lack technological advancement. This project will integrate existing satellite collars and elephant movement data with advances in technology, including drones and camera traps, to evaluate elephant movements and body condition in Kafue National Park (KNP), Zambia. 

Virtual Reality for Health Education Advanced Learning (VR-HEAL)

Interventional radiology (IR) is an innovative field that uses image-guided techniques for treatments, often reducing the need for traditional surgery. This project team will develop cutting-edge virtual reality hardware and haptic feedback mechanisms that can be integrated into intuitive and practice medical training tools for IR.

War and Visual Archives: The Israel-Gaza War and Beyond 

The Israel-Gaza war has generated an unprecedented volume of visual imagery, particularly on social media. These archives are at once historical and political documents, tools of persuasion and propaganda, legal documents and tools of community building. Students will explore the relationship between war, visual media and archiving, and curate an exhibit of visual and digital archives of the Israel-Gaza war.

Young Voices: How Kids Develop Political Identities

The study of political socialization is now more important than ever. Research is needed to explore how kids develop their understanding of politics, and how this influences their civic and political identities. This project team will explore political identify formation by tracking sixth graders from Wake County, North Carolina, and their parents through the 2024 U.S. elections and then across the next six years. Using surveys of students and parents, interviews and observations, the team will seek to understand the political attitudes of youth, how they develop and their primary social influences.