Life At Duke: Duke Students: Student ProfilesEach of Duke's more than 6,000 undergraduates has a story to tell. You'll have to wait until you get here to hear most of them, but here are a few profiles of Duke students to get you started. [ Lee ] [ Luke ] [ Kathy ] [ Joshua ] [ Felicia ]
“At Duke, interdisciplinary study is not just something people say, it’s absolutely true. My freshman year, I worked in a neurobiology lab and I participated in the ‘Genome Revolution’ Focus Program, which helped me learn how to approach an issue from several perspectives. With the small classes in Focus, I really got to know the professors and, in fact, still stay in touch with my public policy professor. As an engineer, the humanities perspective has helped me learn how to write and to approach problems. “I’ve become interested in international work, which led me to Engineers Without Borders. Our five-person team traveled to Indonesia in summer 2005 to help develop a mechanical aerator built from PVC piping and ropes for area shrimp farms. I’m now the president of EWB and last summer went with a group to Uganda, where we worked with two villages that lacked a stable water supply. “We conducted the site assessment to analyze the geography and culture to help determine what solutions will work best. We’re spending this year researching ideas, and next summer we’ll implement the improvements – the piping, wells, spring box to collect groundwater, and many other things that are needed. “Ideally, I’d like to work on water issues in the developing world instead of going into medicine, as I planned when I came to Duke. I like designing and building things that affect the public, and I like the idea of helping people do something they couldn’t otherwise do.”
[ Lee ] [ Luke ] [ Kathy ] [ Joshua ] [ Felicia ]
“I had planned to study psychology with a concentration in neurosciences. During my first semester at Duke, I took the Exploring the Mind Focus Program, and the following summer I was awarded a Howard Hughes Research Fellowship and studied social decision-making with Dr. Michael Platt in the neurobiology department. My specific research investigated where lemurs decided to look under social conditions. And I really enjoyed working at the Duke Lemur Center. “But I was also taking math, and I realized I loved it. Dr. Arlie Petters, professor of mathematics and physics, was my best friend’s academic mentor so I met with him. Dr. Petters has served as my advisor and mentor for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. Through the fellowship, I have been able to work with Dr. Petters in his research on gravitational lensing – the bending of light in deep space due to massive objects, like black holes and galaxies.” As a junior, Luke worked with his mentor to develop a mathematical model to examine this effect and presented his findings at a scientific conference. His work with Dr. Petters, whom he calls “better than Einstein,” led Luke to his professor’s native Belize last summer. In addition to forecasting the AIDS mortality rate in Belize, Luke directed mathematics and science instruction during the nation’s first summer academy for math and sciences. “Dr. Petters is taking some major steps to improve the educational system in Belize. I feel blessed to have been able to serve Belize and I hope to continue to empower people so they can better participate in this global economy.”
[ Lee ] [ Luke ] [ Kathy ] [ Joshua ] [ Felicia ]
“I was drawn to the Center for Race Relations even before I got to Duke. I randomly found a Chronicle article that mentioned it and was intrigued that a top-tier university would have an organization devoted solely to these issues.” A first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Seoul, South Korea, Kathy lived for a number of years in Los Angeles, where she witnessed racial tension during the riots of 1992. Those experiences helped shape her interest in history, racial understanding, and cultural identity. At Duke, she has found an intellectual home in the Center for Race Relations and is teaching a house course titled Black, White, and Shades of Gray. “I’ve found there is nothing more rewarding that teaching a class full of socially-minded and passionate people who are my peers,” she says. Beyond her course work, Kathy has volunteered with local kindergarteners through the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. Last summer she worked with students at the non-profit Legal Outreach, Inc., in Brooklyn, New York, and spent the rest of the summer in England through the Duke in Oxford program. Next, she has her sights set on Teach for America or the Knowledge is Power Program. “The lessons I’ve learned from teaching my class have been invaluable – and reinforced my desire to work for Teach for America. Teaching is tough, challenging, and often frustrating work, but in the end, the rewards are great. My experience has also shed light on the power of education as a vehicle of social change, and though progress may come in slow steps, and often not fast enough, most times it does indeed happen.”
[ Lee ] [ Luke ] [ Kathy ] [ Joshua ] [ Felicia ]
“Politics is a subject that has always resonated with me, and as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to publish research in international relations alongside experts in magazines like The Economist and International Security. “In the spring of my freshman year, I was approached by my political science professor, Dr. Jalil Roshandel, about doing research on Iranian defense perceptions and nuclear proliferation. He learned that I had an interest in Iran and Middle East government policy and suggested that I do parallel research on a manuscript he was working on. It was absolutely fascinating and I gave a lecture on my work that very semester at the Visible Thinking conference Duke hosts for undergraduate research. “Since then, I’ve pursued independent study courses and non-class research projects with professors each semester. In the fall of my sophomore year, I worked with Dr. Tianjian Shi on comparative eastern-western political philosophy, and in the spring I worked with Dr. Bai Gao on a manuscript on Chinese-Indian political economy. In fact, I gave a lecture on political economy at a conference in Singapore this past summer! Additionally, I helped found a journal of undergraduate research in the Department of Political Science to highlight the work that undergraduates can and are doing in political science. “What I’ve done bears the distinct impression of Duke. Here, students are given an opportunity to do real research as an undergraduate, to become recognized for it outside the university, and to get a head start in making a difference in the world.”
[ Lee ] [ Luke ] [ Kathy ] [ Joshua ] [ Felicia ]
“I have always loved biology. In the spring of my freshman year, I started working with Dr. Joseph Heitman in his molecular genetics lab at the medical center, and I absolutely loved it! Even though I was prepared to take a minor role, Dr. Heitman had bigger plans for me. He set me up as a partner with post-doctoral fellow Dr. Alex Idnurm on my own project studying the molecular and genetic mechanisms that allow the unicellular fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, an emerging pathogen, to cause life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. “It was unbelievable – I was doing research from day one! My Howard Hughes Research Fellowship allowed me to spend the summer continuing my work full-time. I have had complete independence over my projects and so much support from everyone in the lab. In fact, I wrote the results of the last year of research in which I identified four novel genes involved in a cellular process critical for this organism's ability to cause disease in humans. Being able to write my first scientific publication this early in my career has been both an incredible honor and a huge time commitment, but well worth it. “Spending all of my free time in the lab, most of my friends tell me that I'm obsessed, which is true, but I feel lucky to have found my passion." Felicia has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which she’ll use to obtain a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge. “I’m going to be studying cell division in mammalian cells, which is somewhat related to what I’ve been doing at Duke.” |
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LEE PEARSON ’08, from Spokane, Washington. Double Major: Biomedical Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering.
