Bass Connections Teams Share Research Highlights at 2025 Showcase

On April 16, students from more than 75 project teams shared their research findings at the ninth annual Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase.

Over 700 students, faculty, staff and community partners gathered for the event in Penn Pavilion, where students presented their work through poster presentations and interactive displays.

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Provost Alec Gallimore celebrated the work of teams in his opening remarks: “I often say that Duke’s superpower is our collaborative, interdisciplinary spirit, and the success of Bass Connections year after year certainly proves it.”

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Interactive Displays

This year, 21 teams elected to share their research through interactive displays. These displays featured short films, simulations, prototypes, field tools, photographs, digital media and more. 

A panel of judges selected the Virtual Reality for Health Education Advanced Learning (VR-HEAL) team and the Using Drones to Monitor the Health of Endangered Elephants team as the co-winners of this year’s award for best interactive display. 

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Poster Competition

Over fifty project teams shared their research posters with showcase guests. A panel of judges selected the winners of the 2025 Bass Connections Poster Competition.

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Winner

“Environmental Impacts on Farmed Eastern Oysters in North Carolina,” Climate Change Impacts on Farmed and Wild Oysters

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Finalists

• “Barriers to the Introduction and Uptake of Trastuzumab for Breast Cancer in South Africa and India: Insights from Country and Company Perspectives,” Equitable Access to Monoclonal Antibodies for Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• “Humanitarian Impacts of the War in Gaza: Shelter, Water, and Sanitary Solutions,” Humanitarian Impacts of the War in Gaza: Shelter, Water and Sanitary Solutions
• “Spine Surgery Patient Navigators,” Spine Surgery Patient Navigators
• “Using Technology to Monitor Endangered Elephant Populations,” Using Drones to Monitor Endangered Elephant Populations  

Awards and Grants

Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, Edward Balleisen, recognized this year’s award winners for leadership and mentorship, as well as the recipients of 2025 student research grants.

Bass Connections Leadership Award

This award recognizes outstanding faculty and staff team leaders for their creativity, intellectual vision and commitment to student mentoring on Bass Connections project teams.

• Winner: Mara Revkin (Associate Professor of Law and Political Science), Evidence-Based Humanitarian Aid Delivery in South Sudan

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Bass Connections Award for Outstanding Mentorship

This award recognizes graduate/professional students and postdocs who have made tremendous contributions to the success of their team and positively shaped their fellow team members’ experiences.

• Winner: Mishka Malinowski (Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology), Using Drones To Monitor the Health of Endangered Elephants

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Bass Connections Student Research Grants

Five graduate students and 30 undergraduates will pursue faculty-mentored research projects this summer and next year with grant funding from Bass Connections. These awards include 10 team projects with multiple students who span schools and academic levels. The diverse range of topics include developing AI applications for traumatic brain injury care; the genetics of deep-diving adaptations in whales; the impact of mindfulness interventions on stress management for undergraduate students; the development of new medical appliances to improve the lives of stoma patients in Tanzania and Uganda.

Learn More

• Explore current and previous Bass Connections teams.
• Sign up for our newsletter to get updates on summer recruitment for 2025-2026 Bass Connections teams.
• Read more about collaborative, project-based learning at Duke and beyond through these case studies.