Bass Connections Open

Interdisciplinary Themes

Bass Connections projects, courses and summer programs are aligned with the following themes:

Bass Connections Open supports interdisciplinary, team-based research projects and courses that fall outside the scope of the existing themes. This experimental channel is designed to identify percolating areas of interest not addressed by the current themes.

As part of Bass Connections Open, we also issue occasional special calls for proposals related to emerging issues of societal importance (otherwise known as a “pop-up” theme). Past pop-up themes have yielded research teams related to hurricane recovery and resilience, immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthening democracy in a polarized world, Duke’s centennial and geopolitical conflict and humanitarian crises in the Middle East and beyond.

 

 

Bass Connections Open Project Teams

Image: Mean Mothers Vinyl Album, Rosetta Records, 1980, from Duke University Libraries

Archives and Creative Process: Blues Women and Rosetta Records (2024-2025)

This project team will use historical, archival, cultural and social science methods, combining close reading and listening with quantitative data and text analysis, to identify patterns in the Rosetta Reitz archival materials. Read more about Archives and Creative Process: Blues Women and Rosetta Records (2024-2025) »
Image: Participating middle schoolers (GEMs) creating their own Eulerian graphs, by 2022-23 project team

Aspiring STEM Professionals Promoting Gender Equity in STEM (2024-2025)

This project team will research the gender gap in STEM, prepare and evaluate a curriculum on bias, and will explore the causes that middle school students and adults tend to attribute to the gender gap in STEM.  Read more about Aspiring STEM Professionals Promoting Gender Equity in STEM (2024-2025) »
Image: Students learn the basics of painting with acrylic and mixed media during a DukeCreate painting workshop at the Arts Anne

Developing Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning (2024-2025)

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. Read more about Developing Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning (2024-2025) »
Map.

Diaspora, Exile and Interreligious Dialogue (2024-2025)

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. Read more about Diaspora, Exile and Interreligious Dialogue (2024-2025) »
South Sudan.

Evidence-Based Humanitarian Aid Delivery in South Sudan (2024-2025)

This project team will develop evidence-based guidance for distributing humanitarian aid more effectively and efficiently in partnership with the UN’s International Organization for Migration in South Sudan. Read more about Evidence-Based Humanitarian Aid Delivery in South Sudan (2024-2025) »
Space.

Future Space Settlements: Lessons from History (2024-2025)

This project brings together scholars and students from across the university to explore human expansion into space through the history of planetary exploration, settlement and colonization on Earth. Read more about Future Space Settlements: Lessons from History (2024-2025) »
Men building portable toilets under tent.

Humanitarian Impacts of the War in Gaza: Shelter, Water and Sanitary Solutions (2024-2025)

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. Read more about Humanitarian Impacts of the War in Gaza: Shelter, Water and Sanitary Solutions (2024-2025) »
Surgery

Impact of Conflict on Gazan Children With Heart Disease (2024-2025)

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. Read more about Impact of Conflict on Gazan Children With Heart Disease (2024-2025) »
Image: Ignite middle schools students learn to solder with undergraduate, Paula (right), by Megan Madonna

Improving Students' STEM-Identity Through Design and Tinkering (2024-2025)

This project team will provide validated and equitable hands-on engineering education through the Ignite program that enhances adolescents' self-efficacy as community-focused engineers. Read more about Improving Students' STEM-Identity Through Design and Tinkering (2024-2025) »
Map.

Learning from the Middle East: Tolerance and Suffering (2024-2025)

The project aims to increase tolerance for opposing viewpoints and mitigate suffering by engaging students in civil discourse around humanitarian crises in the Middle East and beyond, with a particular focus on the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict and the conflict in Sudan.  Read more about Learning from the Middle East: Tolerance and Suffering (2024-2025) »
Surgery.

Meeting the Need for Reconstructive Surgery in Palestine (2024-2025)

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.  Read more about Meeting the Need for Reconstructive Surgery in Palestine (2024-2025) »
Image: Philosopher Nísia Floresta, by Project Vox https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=688036606661940&set=a.491549152977354

Project Vox: Expanding the Philosophical Canon in the Age of AI (2024-2025)

This project team will research marginalized figures in philosophy and grow a community committed to transforming the philosophical canon. Read more about Project Vox: Expanding the Philosophical Canon in the Age of AI (2024-2025) »
Children.

Providing Emotional Support to Children in War Zones: Gaza and the West Bank (2024-2025)

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.  Read more about Providing Emotional Support to Children in War Zones: Gaza and the West Bank (2024-2025) »
Ballot.

Provisional Ballots, Provisional Rights: Protecting Student Voters (2024-2025)

Using publicly available data through the North Carolina State Board of Elections, this project team will conduct diagnostic research to identify the full nature and extent of youth disfranchisement across North Carolina over the past several election cycles. Read more about Provisional Ballots, Provisional Rights: Protecting Student Voters (2024-2025) »
Image: North Carolina Leadership Forum logo

Strengthening Cross-Partisan Collaboration in North Carolina Policymaking (2024-2025)

This project team will contribute to North Carolina Leadership Forum’s goal of bringing together diverse state and local leaders from the government, business and nonprofit sectors to engage constructively on timely and controversial public policy topics. Read more about Strengthening Cross-Partisan Collaboration in North Carolina Policymaking (2024-2025) »
Refugee camp.

The Science of Refugee Camps (2024-2025)

This project team will describe and contrast practices and outcomes at refugee camps in order to inform future management structures and practices.  Read more about The Science of Refugee Camps (2024-2025) »
Camera.

War and Visual Archives: The Israel-Gaza War and Beyond (2024-2025)

Using the Israel-Gaza war as its primary case study, this project will explore the relationship between war, visual media and archiving, with a particular emphasis on the ways that wars have been recorded and preserved by a range of actors and institutions in digital and social media. Read more about War and Visual Archives: The Israel-Gaza War and Beyond (2024-2025) »
Image: Hope, by Thomas Hawk, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

What Is Hope? Bridging the Gap Between Lived Experience and Research (2024-2025)

This project team will engage with the lived experience of hope as reported by practitioners and community members, including people of faith. Read more about What Is Hope? Bridging the Gap Between Lived Experience and Research (2024-2025) »
Vote.

Young Voices: How Kids Develop Political Identities (2024-2025)

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 across the next six years. Read more about Young Voices: How Kids Develop Political Identities (2024-2025) »

Bass Connections Open Courses

Gateway Courses

EGR 101L: Engineering Design and Communication

Fall 2024
Instructor: Ann Saterbak

In this course, students work in a team to learn and apply the engineering design process to solve an open-ended, client-based problem drawn from a community partner. Read more about Engineering Design and Communication »

EGR 101L: Engineering Design and Communication

Spring 2024
Instructor: Michael Rizk

In this course, students work in a team to learn and apply the engineering design process to solve an open-ended, client-based problem drawn from a community partner. Read more about Engineering Design and Communication »

EGR 102L: Design to Deliver

Spring 2024
Instructor: Ann Saterbak

Students work in a team to apply the engineering design process to complete an open-ended, client-based problem drawn from a community partner. Prerequisite: Engineering 101L Read more about Design to Deliver »

WRITING 101: Writing at Duke: 1924-2024

Fall 2024
Instructor: Rhiannon Scharnhorst

"In Their Own Words: Writing at Duke 1924-2024" immerses students in the world of archival research, tracing the evolution of written communication at Duke University. This course focuses on two central questions: How has writing changed at Duke over the past century, and what can these changes... Read more about Writing at Duke: 1924-2024 »

WRITING 101: Writing at Duke: 1924-2024

Spring 2024
Instructor: Rhiannon Scharnhorst

"In Their Own Words: Writing at Duke 1924-2024" immerses students in the world of archival research, tracing the evolution of written communication at Duke University. This course focuses on two central questions: How has writing changed at Duke over the past century, and what can these changes... Read more about Writing at Duke: 1924-2024 »

Other Undergraduate Courses

CHILDPOL 325S: Equity in Early Childhood Programs and Policies

Spring 2024
Instructor: Charla Lawrence, Whitney McCoy

This course will explore contemporary theories and empirical research that address issues of equity and early childhood development from birth to age eight. Students will examine factors related to individuals and systems (e.g., child care, public health, housing, workforce, social services) that... Read more about Equity in Early Childhood Programs and Policies »

CULANTH 470S: Capstone: Research in Human Rights

Spring 2024
Instructor: Nancy MacLean and/or James Chappel

This course is designed to help students connect the intellectual themes and scholarly knowledge they have developed in the Gateway, Introduction to Human Rights, and the electives they have taken toward the Human Rights Certificate. The course integrates co-curricular rights-related experiences (... Read more about Capstone: Research in Human Rights »

DANCE 371SL: Artists in Healthcare: Collaborations and Complexities

Fall 2024
Instructor: Sarah Wilbur

This course will centralize creative practice as the axis of inquiry while students explore the rapidly expanding field of integrative art and health. Read more about Artists in Healthcare: Collaborations and Complexities »

DANCE 462: Performing Social Choreography

Spring 2024
Instructor: Michael Klein

This course represents a rare opportunity to work with Michael Kliën on an experimental, immersive work of social choreography. Read more about Performing Social Choreography »

ECE 383: Introduction to Robotics and Automation

Fall 2024
Instructor: Siobhan Oca

This introductory course is a challenging introduction to basic concepts used broadly in robotics and is valuable for students who wish to work in the area.  Read more about Introduction to Robotics and Automation »

HISTORY 235: Drugs, Chemicals and Health

Fall 2024
Instructor: Evan Hepler-Smith

This course asks how we might think historically about synthetic chemicals, natural alternatives and the benefits and hazards they pose to human health, society and environments. Read more about Drugs, Chemicals and Health »

I&E 252: Learning to Fail

Fall 2024
Instructor: Aaron Dinin

Most people spend their lives afraid of failing. Yet, many of the world’s most successful people failed numerous times on their paths toward success. The underlying question of this class is if failing is as antithetical to learning as we’re taught to believe. To explore this question, we will test... Read more about Learning to Fail »

PUBPOL 213: Arts Policy, Leadership and Engagement

Spring 2024
Instructor: Andrew Nurkin

This community-engaged course provides an introduction to contemporary issues in U.S. arts policy and cultural sector leadership across four broad themes: creative institutions; cultural equity and accessibility; creative placemaking/community development; and the creative economy. Read more about Arts Policy, Leadership and Engagement »

PUBPOL 290: Who's in Charge at Duke?: Leading at Duke in the 20th Century

Spring 2024
Instructor: Andrew Nurkin

Who decides what kind of place a university is? Who sets the boundaries of what can be said in a classroom? What does it take to get a name on — or off — a building? Who controls the student experience, and which groups of people have access to that experience in the first place? How do wealth,... Read more about Who's in Charge at Duke?: Leading at Duke in the 20th Century  »

PUBPOL 301: Political Analysis for Public Policy-making

Spring 2024
Instructor: Philip Napoli

This course aims to provide students with knowledge and skills to engage in powerful policy analysis that takes politics seriously. Read more about Political Analysis for Public Policy-making »

Undergraduate/Graduate Courses

CHILDPOL 532S: Community-Based Research on Early Childhood Policy and Practice

Fall 2024
Instructor: Katie Rosanbalm

This course provides hands-on experience consulting with early childhood organizations, researching relevant topics, and communicating findings with clear, actionable policy recommendations. Read more about Community-Based Research on Early Childhood Policy and Practice »

GSF 590S: The Feminist 1970s

Spring 2024
Instructor: Ara Wilson

This course is a seminar in contemporary issues, methodology and theoretical questions pertaining to feminist scholarship.  Read more about The Feminist 1970s »

Graduate Courses

LS 760: Documentary Explorations

Fall 2024
Instructor: Chris Sims

Students in this course will explore oral histories of Duke-connected veterans of U.S. military engagements abroad from 2001 to the present day, based loosely on the structure of the landmark oral history project "The Good War" by Studs Terkel. Read more about Documentary Explorations »

PUBPOL 816: Ethics and Policy-Making

Spring 2024
Instructor: Catherine Admay

This course explores normative concepts in politics, liberty, justice and the public interest, including their historical and philosophical roots, relationship to one another and to American political tradition, and implications for domestic and international problems. Read more about Ethics and Policy-Making »

PUBPOL 816: Ethics and Policy-Making

Fall 2024
Instructor: Catherine Admay

This course explores normative concepts in politics, liberty, justice and the public interest, including their historical and philosophical roots, relationship to one another and to American political tradition, and implications for domestic and international problems. Read more about Ethics and Policy-Making »

PUBPOL 817: Ethics and Equity in Media, Documentary and Technology

Fall 2024
Instructor: Chris Sims

Students will engage with media, journalism and technology industry case studies examining contemporary and historical ethical questions around race, gender, sexuality, class and similar dynamics. Read more about Ethics and Equity in Media, Documentary and Technology »

PUBPOL 850: Using Human-Centered Design

Spring 2024
Instructor: Aria Chernik, Zach Osborne

The course will give students a set of hard skills associated with design-thinking and also allow students to create and deliver measurable improvements for an organization in the Durham community. Read more about Using Human-Centered Design »