- About
- Themes
- Educational Pathways
- Project Teams
- Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2016-2017)
- Promoting Academic Success for Latino English Learners in Elementary School
- A Community Based Mental Health Intervention with Latinos in Durham, NC
- A Course Performance Mapping App
- ACRE-Duke Partnership to Improve Sanitation Access in Lowndes County, Alabama (2018-2019)
- Addressing Cultural and Practical Barriers to Epilepsy Care in Uganda (2017-2018)
- Addressing Global Health Needs among Refugee Children and Families in Durham County (2017-2018)
- Age Differences in Economic Decision Making
- Aging and Reliance on Memory-Based Heuristics (2014-2015)
- Aging and Reliance on Memory-Based Heuristics
- America's Sacred Spaces (2018-2019)
- An Innovative App to Enhance Course Performance
- Animal Waste Management and Global Health (2016-2017)
- Art, Vision and the Brain: Autism and Face Processing (2016-2017)
- Art, Vision, and the Brain: An Exploration of Color and Brightness
- Art, Vision, and the Brain: An Exploration of Color and Brightness (2014-2015)
- Beauty in Balance and Balance in Beauty: An Exploration of the Laws of Physics in Abstract Modern Art (2016-2017)
- Big Data for Reproductive Health (2018-2019)
- Blue Devil Resistome Project (2017-2018)
- Brain-Immune Interactions in Neurodegenerative Disease (2014-2015)
- Brain-Immune Interactions in Neurodegenerative Disease
- Brain-immune Interactions in Neurodegenerative Disease (2016-2017)
- Broadening Participation in Online STEM Education (2016-2017)
- Building Capacity for Surveillance and Diagnosis of Respiratory Viruses in Sarawak, Malaysia (2017-2018)
- Building Duke: The Architectural History of Duke Campus from 1924 to the Present (2018-2019)
- Charter Schools, Diversity, and Non-Cognitive Assessment
- Cheating, Gaming and Rule Fixing: Challenges for Ethics across the Adversarial Professions (2018-2019)
- Chlorhexadine for Umbilical Cord Care
- Citizenship Lab: Civic Participation of Refugee Youth In Durham Submitted to Education and Human Development
- Coal in America: Chronicling and Analyzing Its Economic and Social History (2018-2019)
- Communicating about Energy in the Triangle: Engaging students and local partners to improve household consumption
- Community Care of Frail Elders in Cross-Cultural Settings: A Team-based Approach
- Community Care of Frail Elders in Cross-cultural Settings: A Team-based Approach (2014-2015)
- Cookstoves and Air Pollution in Madagascar: Finding Winning Solutions for Human Health and Biodiversity (2016-2017)
- Coursera and the Future of Free Massive Open Online Courses
- Coursera and the Future of Free Massive Open Online Courses
- Coursera and the Future of MOOCs
- Creating Online Education for K-12 Teachers of the Probability and Statistics Common Core
- Creative Industries and the Urban Environment (2017-2018)
- Creative Industries and the Urban Environment (2018-2019)
- Cultural and Practical Barriers to Epilepsy Care in Uganda (2018-2019)
- Customizing a Tool to Collect Complex Network Data among HIV-positive Youth in South Africa (2017-2018)
- DECIPHER: Case Studies in Drinking Water Quality (2018-2019)
- Data and Technology for Fact-checking (2018-2019)
- Decisions on Complex Interdisciplinary Problems of Health and Environmental Risk (D-CIPHER) (2017-2018)
- Developing Departmental Energy Reports and a Carbon Pricing Program for Duke University (2016-2017)
- Developing Rapid, Cost-effective Methods for Evaluating Coastal Biodiversity and Resilience (2018-2019)
- Developing a Mobile Phone-based Community Health Program for Hypertension Control in Nepal (2018-2019)
- Difficult Early Childhoods and Educational Paths toward Adulthood
- Difficult Early Childhoods and Educational Paths toward Adulthood
- Digital Cities and Cyberarchaeology (2017-2018)
- Digital Cities and Polysensing Environments (2016-2017)
- Digital Durham: Past, Present, Future (2017-2018)
- Disaggregating and Projecting Electricity Demand in China (2017-2018)
- Displacement, Resettlement and Global Mental Health Work Group
- Distance-based, Executive- style Degree Completion Program for Ghanaian Nurse Anesthetists
- Distance-based, Executive-style Degree Completion Program for Ghanaian Nurse Anesthetists (2014-2015)
- Distributed Solar Generation for Duke University Employees
- Documenting Durham's Health History: Understanding the Roots of Health Disparities (2018-2019)
- Duke Undergraduate International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Team (2016-2017)
- Duke Undergraduate International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Team (2017-2018)
- Duke Undergraduate International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Team (2018-2019)
- Education and Rural Entrepreneurship in Appalachia
- Education and the Changing Brain
- Education and the Changing Brain
- Education, Poverty, and Economic Inequality in Rural Appalachia
- El Sistema USA and Duke: Advancing the Power of Music for Human Development (2017-2018)
- Emotional Connection: Developing a Mobile Intervention for Social and Emotional Dysfunction (2018-2019)
- Enabling Precision Health and Medicine (2017-2018)
- Enabling Precision Health and Medicine (2018-2019)
- Energy Data Analytics Lab (2016-2017)
- Energy Data Analytics Lab
- Energy Data Analytics Lab: Electricity Access in Developing Countries from Aerial Imagery (2017-2018)
- Energy Data Analytics Lab: Energy Infrastructure Map of the World through Satellite Data (2018-2019)
- Energy Efficiency in Industry: High-tech Glass Manufacturing at Corning Inc. (2016-2017)
- Energy Efficiency in Industry: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
- Energy Efficiency in Industry: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
- Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2017-2018)
- Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2018-2019)
- Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation
- Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation
- Environmental Effects on Cognitive Development (2013-2014)
- Environmental Effects on Cognitive Development (2014-2015)
- Environmental Effects on Cognitive Development
- Environmental Epidemiology Research Training in the Peruvian Amazon
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America (2014-2015)
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Impact of an Oil Spill in the Peruvian Amazon (2017-2018)
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Impacts of Artisanal Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon (2018-2019)
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Leishmania
- Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Research and Policy Development to Reduce Chemical Exposures (2016-2017)
- Environmental Justice & the Early-Life Origin of Health Disparities: Why Mom Matters (2013-2014)
- Environmental Justice & the Early-Life Origin of Health Disparities: Why Mom Matters
- Evaluating Interventions Aimed at Improving Neurosurgical Patient Outcomes in Uganda (2018-2019)
- Evaluation of Scaling Innovative Healthcare Delivery in East Africa
- Exercise Therapy and Brain Health: Implications for Alzheimer's Disease and Aging (2018-2019)
- Exercise and Mental Health (2016-2017)
- Exercise and Mental Health (2017-2018)
- Exercise and Mental Health (2018-2019)
- Exercise as a Therapy for Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer's Disease (2017-2018)
- Exploration and Design of Student-Led International Rural Electricity Access Projects
- Exploring New Media and Mechanisms to Connect Society to Neuroscience
- Exploring the Intersection of Energy and Peace-building through Film
- Exploring the Intersection of Energy and Peace-building through Film
- Expressive Writing for Resilience in Adult Pediatric Oncology Survivors and Their Caregivers (2018-2019)
- Feasibility Study for a Campus Digester
- Feature Extraction and Quantitative Analysis of Large Scientific Document Corpra
- From the Ground Up: The Business and Policy Landscape for Energy Access in East Africa (2018-2019)
- Generosity and Gratitude: Mechanisms, Motivations, and Models of Living Kidney Donation
- Gerrymandering and the Extent of Democracy in America (2018-2019)
- Global Alliance on Disability and Health Innovation (GANDHI) (2016-2017)
- Global Alliance on Disability and Health Innovation (GANDHI) (2017-2018)
- Global Alliance on Disability and Health Innovation (GANDHI): What Makes Innovation Stick? (2018-2019)
- Global Mental Health Program (2017-2018)
- Global Mental Health-Integrative Training Program (2016-2017)
- Goals and Collective Efficacy: Routes to Energy Saving
- Governance and Adaptive Regulation of Transformational Technologies in Transportation (2017-2018)
- Growth Mindset in Bangladesh: Evaluation of an Intervention to Increase Learning in Schools (2017-2018)
- High School Dropouts' Perspectives: Implications for Dropout Prevention Practices and Policies (2017-2018)
- History and Future of Ocean Energy (2016-2017)
- History and Future of Ocean Energy
- How Do Cyberattacks Hurt Me? (2018-2019)
- How Do People Affect Zoonotic Disease Dynamics in Madagascar? (2018-2019)
- How to Ask Questions (2017-2018)
- How to Build Ethics into Robust Artificial Intelligence (2017-2018)
- How to Cure Political Polarization by Asking Questions (2018-2019)
- Human Health Risks, Environmental and Ecosystem Damage Associated with Contamination of Used Motor Oil at Auto-mechanic Villages in Ghana (2016-2017)
- Human-wildlife Interactions at Sea (2017-2018)
- Image Processing Algorithms for Art Conservation (2016-2017)
- Image Processing Algorithms for Art Conservation (2017-2018)
- Improving Neurosurgery Patient Outcomes in Uganda (2016-2017)
- Indian Health Information Networks (2017-2018)
- Individual and Household Responses to the October 2015 Floods in South Carolina (2015-16)
- Information, Child Mental Health & Society
- Information, Child Mental Health, and Society
- Innovation & Technology Policy Lab (ITPLab) (2014-2015)
- Integrative Global Health Research on Sickle Cell Disease (2014-2015)
- Integrative Global Health Research on Sickle Cell Disease (2014-2015)
- Interculturally Competent Analysis of the Uptake of Routine Vaccination (2015-2016)
- International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM)
- Interventions Improving Neurosurgery Patient Outcomes in Uganda (2017-2018)
- Interventions to Increase Healthy Eating on College Campuses
- Juntos: A Digital Health Intervention
- LIT HoMES (Leveraging Individual Transitions into Homeownership to Motivate Energy Savings)
- Live Processing and Live Art: Performance and Technology (2013-2014)
- Live Processing and Live Art: Performance and Technology
- Living Donor Kidney Transplants and the Good Samaritan: Religious, Legal, and Ethical Challenges of Non-simultaneous, Extended, Altruistic Donor Chains
- Look before you leap! Using eye tracking to understand the evolution of locomotor decision making
- Low-cost Laparoscopic Surgery with Tele-mentoring (2018-2019)
- Machine Society Interfaces
- Making Data Matter
- Making Young Voters: Policy Reforms to Increase Youth Turnout (2017-2018)
- Making Young Voters: Policy Reforms to Increase Youth Turnout (2018-2019)
- Marine Microalgae for Sustainable Production of Food and Fuel (2018-2019)
- Math before Symbols: Games to Increase School Readiness in Pre-Schoolers
- Medicaid Reform Advisory Team (2016-2017)
- Mega-gardeners of Tropical Forests: Modeling Seed Dispersal by Forest Elephants (2018-2019)
- Mindfulness in Education and Human Development
- Mindfulness in Education and Human Development
- Mindfulness in Human Development (2016-2017)
- Mindfulness in Human Development (2017-2018)
- Mindfulness in Human Development (2018-2019)
- Modeling Tools for Energy Systems Analysis (MOTESA) (2016-2017)
- Modeling Tools for Energy Systems Analysis (MOTESA)
- Modeling Tools for Energy Systems Analysis (MOTESA)
- Modeling and Simulation
- Moral Artificial Intelligence (2018-2019)
- Moral Judgments by and about Stimulant Users
- Music and Memory in the Aging Brain
- Music for Social Change: Research in Practice with Kidznotes and El Sistema USA (2018-2019)
- NC Jukebox (2016-2017)
- NC Jukebox
- NC in the Global Economy: The Workforce Development Challenge
- NEUROPLICITY: Leveraging New Media and Digital Storytelling to Connect Society to Neuroscience (2014-2015)
- Neighborhood-2-Brain
- Networks of Cooperation and Conflict in the Middle East (2017-2018)
- Neuroplicity: Leveraging New Media and Digital Storytelling to Connect Society to Neuroscience (2016-2017)
- Non‐Invasive Prenatal Testing in the Developing World: Ethical, Legal, Social and Practical Challenges
- North Carolina Competitiveness: The Workforce Development Challenge
- North Carolina Competitiveness: The Workforce Development Challenge
- Nutrition and Cognition
- Nutrition and Cognition
- OSPRI Lab: Education Technology (2017-2018)
- OSPRI Lab: Open Source Education Technology (2018-2019)
- Ocean Energy: Products and Pollutants (2017-2018)
- Ocean Evidence Gap Map (2018-2019)
- Oculomotor Response as an Objective Assessment for Mild TBI in the Pediatric Population (2017-2018)
- Oculomotor Response as an Objective Assessment for Mild TBI in the Pediatric Population (2018-2019)
- Oculomotor Response as an Objective Assessment for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Pediatric Population (2016-2017)
- Oculomotor Response as an Objective Measurement for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the Pediatric Population
- POCkeT Colposcope: Increased Distribution and Adoption (2016-2017)
- POCkeT Colposcope: Increased Distribution and Adoption (2017-2018)
- Patients' Journey to Medication Adherence (2017-2018)
- Patients' Journey to Medication Adherence (2018-2019)
- Perception and Language
- Perception, Language and Memory (2013-2014)
- Performance in the Community (2016-2017)
- Pocket Colposcope: Analysis of Bringing Elements of Referral Services to Primary/Community Care (2018-2019)
- Privacy, Consumer EEG Devices and the Brain (2017-2018)
- Privacy, Consumer EEG Devices and the Brain (2018-2019)
- Problem-based Learning to Improve Girls' Math Identity (2018-2019)
- Project "Bright Idea": Finding Talent and Giftedness in Children of Diverse Backgrounds
- Project Vox (2018-2019)
- Project “Bright Ideas”: Finding Talent and Giftedness in Children of Diverse Backgrounds
- Public Access to Government Information (2013-2014)
- Public Access to Government Information
- Public Access to Government Information: Implementation, Voter Behavior and Rights (2014-2015)
- Racial and Educational Inequality as a Consequence of Family Structure: Learning from Shotgun Marriages
- Racial and Educational Inequality as a Consequence of Family Structure: Learning from Shotgun Marriages
- Reconsidering Addiction and Opioid Abuse: Is There a Causal Chain between Opioid Addiction, Morbidity and Mortality? (2016-2017)
- Refining Surveillance for Zoonotic Respiratory Viruses in Sarawak, Malaysia (2018-2019)
- Regulatory Disaster Scene Investigation
- Remember Why You Should Do It? Memory and Reasons in Moral Decision-making (2018-2019)
- Resident engagement and energy behavior assessment through mobile phone technology
- Responding to the Educational and Psychological Needs of Children and Families in Durham’s Transitional Housing
- Rethinking the Endangered Species Act's Implementation on Private, Working Lands (2018-2019)
- Reviewing Retrospective Regulatory Review
- SSNAP: Scientific Social Network Analysis Project (2016-2017)
- STEM foR ALL
- STEM for All (2016-2017)
- STEM for All (2017-2018)
- School Drop-Out, Disconnected Youth, and the Middle Years
- School Drop-Out, Disconnected Youth, and the Middle Years
- School Dropout Prevention in the Durham Public Schools: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Effective Strategies (2016-2017)
- Schooling and Parenting: Implications for Students' Academic Identity (2016-2017)
- Schooling and Parenting: Implications for Students' Academic Identity (2017-2018)
- Self-Guided Parameter Fitting for Cochlear Implant Users
- Shining Evolutionary Light on Global Health Challenges
- Smart Archaeology (2018-2019)
- Sowers and Reapers: Gardening in an Era of Change (2018-2019)
- Spirituality, Self-management and Chronic Disease among Ethnic Groups of Robeson County, North Carolina (2016-2017)
- Stemming the Opiate Epidemic through Education and Outreach (2016-2017)
- Stemming the Opiate Epidemic through Education and Outreach (2017-2018)
- Strengthening Community Environmental Health through Duke- HBCU Partnerships
- Studying the "Real" Slums in Bangalore?
- Studying the Real 'Slums' in Bangalore, Patna and Jaipur (2016-2017)
- Tact, Touch, Proprioception: The Culture and Neuroscience of Touch
- Tact, Touch, Proprioception: The Culture and Neuroscience of Touch
- Technology & Innovation Policy Lab
- The 21st Century Student: Open Knowledge and Education Innovation
- The Construction of Memory at Duke and in Durham: Using Memory Studies (2016-2017)
- The Cost of Opportunity: Access to Higher Education in Brazil (2018-2019)
- The Cost of Opportunity? Higher Education in the Baixada Fluminense (2016-2017)
- The Cost of Opportunity? Higher Education in the Baixada Fluminense (2017-2018)
- The Digital Landscape: New technologies to visualize ancient landscapes (2014-2015)
- The Digital Landscape: New technologies to visualize ancient landscapes
- The Lives of Things (2013-2014)
- The Lives of Things (2014-2015)
- The Lives of Things
- The Role of Catholic Campus Religious Ministries in the Formation of Young Adults (2017-2018)
- The Role of Catholic Campus Religious Ministries in the Formation of Young Adults: Psychological, Social and Organizational Factors (2016-2017)
- The University as a Laboratory for Smart Grid Data Analytics
- The University as an Energy Laboratory: Design and Implementation of an Energy Disaggregation System
- The effects of unconventional shale gas development on rural communities
- Toward Better ESL (English as a Second Language) Instruction
- Transforming Alzheimer's Disease Care through Integrating Caregivers (2018-2019)
- Translating Neuroscience into Education: A Neuroscience-based Health Curriculum for North Carolina Ninth Grade Students (2016-2017)
- Trauma and Timing
- Turning the Mid-Century Decarbonization Strategy into Concrete Policy for U.S. Forests and Agriculture (2017-2018)
- U.S. Climate Policy Options: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Petroleum Refineries & Steel
- Using Machine Learning to Generate Clinical Prediction Rules for Clinical Outcomes in Schizophrenia (2017-2018)
- Using Machine Learning to Generate Clinical Prediction Rules for Clinical Outcomes in Schizophrenia (2018-2019)
- Using Neuroscience to Optimize Digital Health Interventions across Adulthood (2018-2019)
- Vaccine Misinformation and Its Link to Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake in Durham (2018-2019)
- Virtual Avatar Coaches: Improving Mental Health Treatment for College Students with Accessible Peer Support (2018-2019)
- Visualizing Energy through Live Performance (2017-2018)
- Visualizing Social Mobility in the Developing World (2017-2018)
- Visualizing Venice (2014-2015)
- Visualizing Venice
- Voices Together
- Voices Together Data Analysis Project (2017-2018)
- Voices Together: Music Therapy and Autism in Elementary Schools (2016-2017)
- Voices Together: Music Therapy and Autism in Elementary Schools
- Where Does the Money Go? Federal Spending on American Children (2016-2017)
- Where are the "Real" Slums in Bangalore? (2013-2014)
- Where are the "Real" Slums in Bangalore
- Wired for Learning: Supporting Thinking Skills in the K-2 Classroom (2018-2019)
- mHealth for Better Routine Immunization Data in Honduras (2017-2018)
- Get Involved
Developing a Mobile Phone-based Community Health Program for Hypertension Control in Nepal (2018-2019)

Background
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths and disability in many low-and middle-income countries, including Nepal. Prevention of cardiovascular diseases demands innovative solutions through multidisciplinary and multifaceted approaches.
Nepal’s female community health volunteer program has been in place for three decades. Duke researchers have conducted a trial to successfully extend the roles of these volunteers from primarily maternal and child health interventions to include hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
With a nearly 100% mobile phone ownership rate in the country, Nepal’s Ministry of Health has prioritized mobile health (mHealth) interventions. Medic Mobile has received support to scale up its feature-phone-based (non-smartphone) program to thousands of female community health volunteers to address prenatal care and maternal health. This Bass Connections project will collaborate with these partners to develop design insights and feature-phone-based programs, which will create a foundation for interventions with the potential to make a significant impact on hypertension prevention and control.
Project Description
The goal of this project is to establish a dynamic collaboration among students of different levels in two Duke campuses and faculty from diverse disciplines for developing a low-cost, user-centered digital solution to reduce blood pressure among hypertensive patients in rural Nepal.
The project team will conduct interviews with female community health volunteers, patients and policy actors to understand workflows, needs and challenges around hypertension care coordination in Nepal, including access and adherence barriers.
Team members will prepare a detailed feasibility, design and technical specification report (including final mHealth workflow sketches) and beta feature-phone-based programs. Medic Mobile will provide guidance and feedback to the team. Development of the beta version will be led by start-up company Laohan.
Finally, the team will organize a roundtable discussion in Kathmandu, Nepal, to take place during the winter break of 2018-19. All team members will be invited to attend as well as key stakeholders in Nepal, including Medic Mobile technicians, female community health volunteers, community physicians, medical specialists, Ministry of Health officials, District Health Bureau officials and the World Health Organization office in Nepal.
Anticipated Outcomes
Peer-reviewed publication describing feasibility, design and technical specification for designing community-based mHealth technology for reducing blood pressure in rural Nepal; beta version of program to be pilot-tested by female community health volunteers in rural Nepal (in the future); roundtable summary report on challenges, opportunities and solutions in adopting and scaling up mHealth technology in rural Nepal and other low-income settings
Student Opportunities
Students will get first-hand experiences implementing a global health project in a low-income country. They will work closely with each other under the mentorship of the faculty on research and hands-on activities such as formulating the right content for the program, developing and testing interview guidelines and conducting interviews, designing the beta version and analyzing qualitative data. They will contribute to prepare reports and academic papers. They will get an opportunity to travel to Nepal and work with partners.
Team leaders seek to recruit 2 undergraduate students from Duke University, 2 master’s students in Global Health from Duke Kunshan University who have committed to work in Nepal in summer 2018, and 2-4 master’s, medical or doctoral students from Duke University. Students who have a passion to work in digital technology innovation, primary healthcare and noncommunicable diseases are encouraged to apply. Relevant majors include but are not limited to engineering, computer science, global health, medicine and nursing.
The Durham-based and Kunshan-based teams will meet weekly in person and have biweekly teleconferences across the two campuses. The meetings will be in mornings in the U.S. (evening in China 12-13 hours ahead) or evening in the U.S. (morning in China). Meetings during the summer (June-August) will be more frequent, and some will be on site in Nepal.
Students will be graded based on their performance on their assigned tasks according to the responsibility matrix and their contributions to team work.
Timing
Summer 2018 – Spring 2019
- Summer 2018: Field activities in Nepal (attend human-centered design workshop conducted by Medic Mobile; work in pairs to interview female community health volunteers, hypertensive patients and family members in selected rural communities; analyze transcription of interviews and field notes to refine feature-phone-based program design)
- Fall 2018: Beta version development; report/paper writing; roundtable discussion over winter break
- Spring 2019: Report/paper writing
Crediting
Independent study credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding