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Meet the Winners of the 2026 Bass Connections Student Research Awards

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Bass Connections Student Research Awards provide support for students to pursue self-directed research projects under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Student projects can be individual or collaborative, and may continue an aspect of research begun on a Bass Connections project team or tackle a new interdisciplinary challenge.

14 graduate and professional students and 22 undergraduates will pursue faculty-mentored research projects this summer and next year with grant funding from Bass Connections. Their projects explore a diverse range of topics, including creating a resource toolkit for spine surgery patients; studying barriers to food security in adults with physical disabilities; and exploring how to deliver immunotherapies to head and neck cancer patients in a safer and more equitable way.

Collaborative Research Projects

ClearFOAM: Multiscale Modeling of Biofilm Dynamics

  • Norah Shen (Chemistry ’28)
  • Rohit Suresh (Computer Science and Statistics ’27)
  • Nicolas Zepeda (Chemistry ’28)

Biofilm-associated infections — persistent infections caused by antibiotic and immune response resistant bacteria that live in a self-made slimy substance — are a major challenge in clinical settings. This project is a direct extension of research conducted by the Duke iGEM: Synthetic Biology for Human Health and Society team, which focused on engineering RESPIRA, an enzyme-based therapeutic that disrupts biofilm-associated infections by breaking down the slime that shields the bacteria from treatment. The goal of this project is to advance ClearFOAM, a simulation tool created by the Duke iGEM team to aid in testing RESPIRA. The results will provide a modeling framework for engineered enzyme-based therapeutics targeting biofilm-related diseases. Cameron Kim will serve as the faculty mentor.

Collective Memory and the Republic of Korea’s Participation in the American War in Vietnam

  • Jia Cummings (Master of Divinity ’27) 
  • Jungwon Kim (Program II ’29)
  • Minh Tong (Political Economy ’27)

The Republic of Korea was, behind the United States, the second-largest troop contributor to the American War in Vietnam. The goal of this project is to understand why this involvement, despite its scale and significance, is largely absent in South Korea’s national memory. The team will explore how history can be forgotten or reframed over time, and how state power, political expediency and moral authority are procured through forgetting. Project outputs will include a public-facing multimedia digital archive and research report integrating oral histories, archival materials and media analyses, with translations in Korean and Vietnamese. Jonathan Tran will serve as the faculty mentor.

Community Perspectives on Access to Cooling Facilities During Extreme Heat

  • Rebecca Fillipo (Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences ’27)
  • Ariella Maroni (Public Policy ’28)

Building on the work of the Community-Engaged Approaches to Climate Change and Mental Health team, this project will examine how individuals living in underserved communities in Durham access cooling facilities during extreme heat events, and how Durham County communicates information about cooling facilities and available resources. Data gathered through interviews and focus groups will identify opportunities to improve access to cooling facilities, enhance community awareness and outreach strategies, and support planning around extreme heat events. Sudha Raman and Christine Gray will serve as faculty mentors.

Developing a Resource Toolkit for Distress Among Spine Surgery Patients 

  • Susan Chemmanoor (Neuroscience ’27)
  • Chelsea Clarke (Neuroscience ’27)
  • Ezinne Oguguo (Doctor of Medicine ’28)
  • Joshua Woo (Doctor of Medicine ’28)

Expanding on the work of the Spine Surgery Patient Navigators team, this project will develop a companion online toolkit for patients undergoing spine surgery which will include commonly requested post-operative resources such as counseling and physical therapy, as well as broader regional resources (e.g., transportation, financial, childcare). This toolkit will bring together currently dispersed information in a comprehensive package designed to reduce distress and anxiety in this patient population. Carrying out this project and quantifying the effects may lead to similar toolkits being utilized in other places, including at institutions without the infrastructure to support a full navigator program. C. Rory Goodwin and Melissa M. Erickson will serve as faculty mentors.

How Military Stressors Influence Child Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

  • Sara Fernandez (Psychology and Statistical Science ’27)
  • Courage Ndalama (Psychology and Global Health ’27)
  • Esteban Ortiz (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology ’30)
  • Stephanie Sirhal (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology ’30)

Suicide is the leading cause of death among active-duty service members, and rates among military-connected youth have risen in parallel. However, no study has directly asked parents and/or clinicians what they believe are the largest threats to military-connected children’s mental health. Identifying proximal predictors is essential to improving interventions, and this project aims to better understand daily stressors that serve as proximal risk factors through qualitative data obtained through focus groups consisting of parents and mental health clinicians. The data gathered will be shared through presentations and publications. Karen Appleyard Carmody will serve as the faculty mentor.

Reliable AI-Assisted Typesetting for Diamond Open Access Journals

  • Iurii Beliaev (Computer Science and Mathematics ’28)
  • Charles Berman (Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science ’27)
  • Mihail Mircheski (Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics ’29)

This project extends the research of the Liberata: Open-Source Academic Publishing team, which focused on improving accessibility and sustainability in scholarly publishing. Diamond Open Access journals often cannot afford professional typesetting despite serving important research communities. The lack of funding for professional production workflows can lead to inconsistent formatting, inaccessible equations/tables and reduced readability. This project will evaluate whether generative AI agents can automate a typesetting pipeline that maintains a manuscript's “structural integrity,” faithfully preserving complex elements such as nested tables, math, multi-panel figures, footnotes, cross-references and bibliographies. The team will evaluate whether AI-assisted document processing can reliably prepare publication-ready scientific manuscripts and identify where human intervention remains essential. Shana McAlexander will serve as the faculty mentor.

Toxicity Without Equity: Immune-Related Adverse Events in Head and Neck Cancer Immunotherapy

  • Jiyu Hong (Computer Science and Linguistics ’28)
  • Ayan Jung (Economics and Biology ’28)
  • Katelyn Pena (Biology ’28)
  • Avari Wang (Statistics ’27)

This project builds on the work of the Disparity in Knowledge of Genetic Testing in Head and Neck Cancer team, which conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of molecular advances and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer and is now examining disparities in access to genomic testing. Immunotherapies are rapidly entering head and neck cancer care, but little is known about how immune-related adverse events are recognized, communicated and managed across different patient groups. This project expands the trajectory of the original project by shifting from "who gets precision therapy" to "how safely and equitably is that therapy delivered to patients." The team will focus on screening, electronic data extraction, manuscript writing and development of patient-centered educational materials incorporating clinician and patient feedback. Nosayaba Osazuwa Peters will serve as the faculty mentor.

Transitional Justice Solutions to Land Disputes in Oaxaca, Mexico

  • Alex Bindrim (Juris Doctor of Law ’27)
  • Drew Loughlin (Juris Doctor of Law ’27)

This project will strengthen an ongoing research partnership between Duke and the International Organization for Migration, the leading intergovernmental organization working on migration, displacement and humanitarian response. Team members will examine the relationship between displacement, land governance and legal pluralism in Mexico’s State of Oaxaca — specifically, how Indigenous customary systems (usos y costumbres) interact and sometimes conflict with state law and development policy. Outcomes will include a student-coauthored Duke-IOM report and scholarly publications. Mara Revkin will serve as the faculty mentor.

Understanding Barriers to Food Security in Adults with Physical Disability

  • Nikki Baran (Master of Health Sciences, PA ’27)
  • Jacqueline (Hannah) MacLellan (Doctor of Medicine ’28)
  • Aditya Narayan (Biology and Public Policy ’29)

This project team will identify and characterize factors affecting food security among working-age adults with physical disabilities in the Durham area, focusing on barriers to accessing and preparing food. Team members will conduct a survey assessing food insecurity, functional barriers and disability characteristics, then conduct semi-structured interviews with a subset of participants. By generating rigorous, locally grounded data and sharing findings with organizations focused on disability advocacy and food access, the project seeks to foster sustainable, community-informed partnerships and advance disability-responsive food access solutions. Carolyn Keeler and Sarah Jean Barton will serve as faculty mentors.

Understanding How Urban Greenspace Fragmentation Affects Nature and People

  • Tate Commission (Statistical Science ’29)
  • Caroline Felker (Biology ’28)
  • Ivy Geng (Earth & Climate Sciences and Public Policy ’27)

This project team will investigate how the spatial fragmentation of greenspaces across U.S. cities influences ecological outcomes (bird and pollinator biodiversity) and human-centered outcomes (heat mitigation and water quality). The team will model multiple ecosystem services simultaneously to identify consistent “win–win,” “lose–lose,” and trade-off patterns. By integrating spatial ecology with urban planning contexts, this project aims to clarify when and where fragmented greenspace structures can support both ecological and human goals, providing evidence-based guidance for equitable and multifunctional urban greenspace planning. Tong Qiu will serve as the faculty mentor.

Universal Hard Hat Add-on to Improve Fit for Afro Hair Types and Head Wraps

  • Ukamaka Ezimora (Master of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science ’26)
  • Ozioma Ozigbo (Master of Climate & Sustainability Engineering ’26)

The fit of standard hard hats often fails to accommodate workers with afro-textured hair, head wraps, or other cultural and religious hair coverings, creating barriers to comfort, safety and workplace inclusion. The goal of this project is to develop a universal hard hat accessory designed to improve fit and stability for afro-textured hair and head wraps. Adapting the “Helmet Fit Index” methodology, the study will evaluate hard hat fit for individuals with afro-textured hair using 3D anthropometry, reverse engineering and computational analysis. Multiple samples of the best design will be manufactured for experimental testing. Following completion of testing and analysis, the team will prepare and submit a scholarly manuscript describing the methodology, findings and implications of this research. David E. Schaad and Alisha Brice will serve as faculty mentors.

Individual Research Projects

Epigenetic Regulation of NR3C1 in Cetacean Stress Response

  • Mikaela Voinov (Biology and Marine Science & Conservation ’27)

This project aligns with research conducted by the Learning From Whales: Oxygen, Ecosystems and Human Health team, which investigated how marine mammals tolerate extreme levels of hypoxic stress on deep dives through both cellular and molecular adaptations. This project will examine changes to the NR3C1 gene in controlled cetacean cell cultures to shed light on how environmental stressors can alter biological systems through hormone signaling and gene regulation. The findings will support the Bass Connections team’s ongoing research into stress-response pathways, providing critical data about how environmental stressors, which are becoming increasingly anthropogenic, can have long-term effects on living systems. Thomas Shultz will serve as the faculty mentor.

Grammar of the Spirit: Evangelical Formation in the Baixada Fluminense

  • Travis Williams (Doctor of Theology ’31)

This project builds on work initiated by the long-running Bass Connections team: Activism, Culture and Education for Citizenship in Brazil and the U.S. Building off of deep research relationships in the Baixada Fluminense, an economically and politically marginalized region of Rio de Janeiro, this project will combine ethnographic immersion with on-site archival research in Brazil to analyze how historical theological frameworks continue to shape contemporary evangelical thought and the negotiation of Black identity in peripheral urban communities. John French will serve as the faculty mentor.

Healthy Outcomes for Puerto Rican Elderly (HOPE): Climate Resilience Initiative

  • Elizabeth Macias Rojo (Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences ’27)

This project will examine the relationship between senior center participation and the wellbeing of older adults in the remote Puerto Rican island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra in the face of a changing climate. Through interviews with seniors recruited through local community organizations, the research will examine the unique socio-environmental and climate challenges of these regions. Partnerships with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and local senior centers will provide the foundation to co-design interventions that support healthy aging in Puerto Rico’s most underserved communities. Hayden Bosworth will serve as the faculty mentor.

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