Students Archives - Page 2 of 42

Meet New Blogger Stone Yan

On September 23, 2024

“Hi, my name is Stone. S-t-o-n-e.”

Since move-in day, I have repeated this introduction hundreds of times. Curiously, I received a lot of “that’s a cool name!” comments in response… enough times to make me pause and think about my name and the history behind it.

“Stone” has not always been a source of pride. Imagine the fun middle schoolers had with it: “ColdStone,” “Stone Cold,” “You Rock,” and other variations. And the name was supposed to be a refuge: my legal name, Shidong, has been so frequently mispronounced by teachers (typically on the first day of school) that I had been convinced that Stone would be a better choice.

The unfortunate nicknames aside, I found explaining the origin of “Stone” to be a hassle. After all, my legal name’s meaning had nothing to do with pebbles or other igneous creations. The Chinese character “shi” meant soldier and the character “dong” translated to scholarship. When I arrive here during some conversations, I find myself often disappointed that the profound meaning behind my name is often thought of in terms of rocks.

Why the lengthy introspection about a few letters? In my few weeks here at Duke, I realized that I am experiencing a rejuvenation in my identity, encouraged by “that’s a cool name!” comments. My name, who I am, what my interests are, and other factors are no longer restricted by previous limitations in the form of high school curriculum, club offerings, or social culture. I am interacting with much more diverse students who, like me, have long and winding life stories and are willing to share them with others.

In short, the personal biography I am about to share with you is dynamic. At Duke, my mission is to explore as much as possible, both in the classroom and beyond, doing things that I would have despised a few short years ago (going against upper class students’ advice on course selection is an egregious sin for young Stone). It is possible that in a semester or two, my academic and extracurricular interests will have shifted so radically that none of what I wrote below is still accurate. Maybe that is my most important trait right now: willingness to experiment and change my mind. This is what led me to this opportunity with the Research Blog and why what you are reading exists in the internet world.

Stone with his parents in Park Güell, Barcelona

Now onto the “traditional” introduction: I am Stone Yan, a first-year student pursuing Biomedical Engineering. I hail from Chicago, Illinois, where the weather is as unpredictable as Durham, but the humidity is never intolerable. I am interested in medicine as my career after graduation, and I hope to study some health policy courses here in addition to my Pratt curriculum. I would describe myself as hard-working, curious, and determined.

Outside of grinding academics, I love to play the piano, play badminton, follow the news, and hang out with friends. Running, drawing, and watching YouTube are also favorite pastimes. My most hated household chore is folding laundry… I can never fold the clothes neat enough. My deepest fear is someone dumping my washed and dried clothes on the ground after I forgot to run to the laundry room… Randolph friends, please do not do this to me.

Hopefully, there were some sentiments shared here that you echoed. My mission as a blogger with the Research Blog is to broadcast tidbits that we do not typically notice and call our attention to amazingness overshadowed by other amazingness (too much of this on campus!). My focus will probably be on the people that make Duke special to all of us: the faculty, staff, students, athletes, alumni, and community members that make us proud to be Blue Devils.

I cannot conclude without giving a shoutout to my parents. As an only child, I was remarkably close to them, and I cannot thank them enough for their boundless support.

Cheers to celebrating Duke’s rich community in future blogs!

Why Gen Z Must Recognize and Protect the Power of Their Vote

By Noor Nazir

On September 17, 2024

In Political science, Students

Is the upcoming national election essentially a wartime election? According to award-winning journalist Kyle Spencer, it is.

“It’s not the Democratic Party versus the Republican Party,” Spencer said. “It’s the Democratic Party vs the possibility of an authoritarian regime.”

During Spencer’s hour-long Sept. 11 talk, her voice wavered, her cheeks flushed, and her tone brimmed with excitement; she was here to tell Duke why they must fight for democracy, and she sure did leave an impression.

Kyle Spencer, Journalist

Spencer had a way of making us – the youth in the audience – feel seen, reminding us of the influence we held. It wasn’t just about politics. It was about empowering us to recognize the undeniable volume of our voices in shaping the future.

The Gen Z vote matters perhaps “more than any generation in history,” Spencer claimed. According to her, we’re the most diverse generation, and therefore, suppressing our vote would leave a grave impact.

“Voter suppression of young people can be understood as suppressing the vote of people of color,” Spencer said. Her comment sent chills down my spine. I’m a person of color. That comment felt close to home.

On the topic of voter suppression, the crowd expressed their frustration about the government not accepting Duke student’s virtual ID as an authentic form of identification. To which Spencer warned us about the predominant effects nation-wide to render the logistics of voting complex and arduous.

“You have to be savvy about the fact that there is a huge effort to discount your votes,” she said.

Students have power through their votes, but Spencer’s research suggests that organizations and political parties may be doing their best to suppress it. The reality is, if the logistics of voting are hard, you really need to care to go through those hurdles to cast it. This is rare, and certainly not enough to convince all eligible student voters to vote.

When I asked a member of the audience what she thought about efforts by organizations to bully Democrats, she pointed toward social media as a widely used tool — something Spencer mentioned in her talk.

“She mentioned all these organizations, such as ‘Turning Point USA’, and it really got me thinking – were all these YouTubers who were showcasing liberals to be extremely unintelligent even showing us the full debate? Is it just another jab at spreading false propaganda by twisting the reality?” Mariam, a sophomore at Duke, said.

Honestly, I felt seen — because same! There was a time when my YouTube feed was home to Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, and Candace Owens. It felt like a suffocating echo-chamber (blame the algorithm!).

When Spencer talked about YouTuber and political activist Charlie Kirk under the heading “Bullies or Buddies,” I felt an instant connection with the crowd, as if we were all telepathic. Mariam, Shreya, and a plethora of other students at the talk knew him as the guy who visits college campuses, debates liberal ideologies, and embarrasses his opponents. Spencer’s research for her book “Raising Them Right” may provide us insight to his possible agenda: such YouTubers tend to bully the opponents of their ideologies to discourage their votes, and be buddies with their proponents to create a fraternity-like atmosphere.

Why? To discourage votes!

Spencer’s research accentuated how voter suppression is strategically used as an authoritarian tool, particularly targeting young people and minority groups. She highlighted historical examples, such as the Lindy Johnson Act and the Civil Rights Movement, which fought against voter intimidation tactics.

She referenced the Beachhead theory, teleporting us to the dialogue of well-known Republican donors: “Get ourselves on campus then go from there” she quoted. Spencer described these as “war-like references.”

The audience seemed to nod in disappointment. Perhaps our telepathy striked again: if this was true, what has, and will, become of America?

Spencer was here to spark a conversation about civic engagement and the importance of staying informed. While “Raising Them Right” explores the rise of conservative youth movements, the real takeaway was a reminder that young people today have a critical role to play in shaping the future; and it’s crucial to be informed on the myriad of ways organizations from either political spectrum might try to take away our voice. So, we are equipped to steal our voices back.

Spencer left us with a sense of responsibility, encouraging all of us—regardless of political leaning—to recognize the power of our vote and the importance of participating in the democratic process.

This Educational Experiment Trained a Generation of Future Civil Rights Leaders

By Guest Post

On September 16, 2024

In History, Students

…What Can We Learn From it Today?

In the early 20th century, a transformative movement quietly took root in America’s rural South, shaping the educational and economic future of African American families.

This movement centered around the Rosenwald Schools, modest one-, two-, and three-teacher buildings that exclusively served over 700,000 Black children between 1917 and 1932.

A historical marker along NC 32 south near Luke Street in Edenton commemorates the first Rosenwald School in North Carolina. Credit: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

These nearly 5,000 rural schoolhouses emerged from an unexpected collaboration between two visionaries: Booker T. Washington, an influential educator and African American thought leader, and Julius Rosenwald, a German-Jewish immigrant who amassed wealth as the head of Sears, Roebuck & Company.

In 1912, Rosenwald donated $25,000 to aid Black colleges and preparatory academies. Washington proposed using a portion of these funds to build rural elementary schools in Black communities.

Project lead Alec Greenwald and students discuss their efforts to map a 20th century educational experiment across the Black Belt region of North Carolina. Video by Wil Weldon.

Over the next two decades, Rosenwald Schools sprouted across the South. The Rosenwald program significantly boosted literacy rates and school attendance among rural Southern Blacks. Students who attended these schools received a better education, leading to increased years of schooling.

The Rosenwald program trained a generation of future civil rights leaders, including Maya Angelou, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, and members of the Little Rock Nine.

In partnership with the Southeast Regional Coalition for University-Assisted Community Schools and the North Carolina Community Schools Coalition, this 2024 Data+ project aims to map the Rosenwald Schools across North Carolina’s Black Belt region. By understanding their historic assets and resource disparities, this data can inform how the Rosenwald community school model can help schools maximize the success of students today.

Writing by Ariel Dawn; video by Wil Weldon

“Grandma to Many”

By Guest Post

On September 12, 2024

In Guest Post, History, Students

Exploring the legacy of Kala Bagai, an early Indian woman in America

Every evening after wrapping up his archival research at the University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. candidate Arko Dasgupta would stroll into downtown Berkeley. Just one block away from the university, he would pause at “Kala Bagai Way,” a street name that always sparked his interest.

“Kala Bagai Way” in Berkeley, California. Credit: Arko Dasgupta

Standing there, he often found himself lost in thought, wondering: Why do I know so little about Kala Bagai? What was her story? Why was this street in Berkeley named after her?

Dasgupta, a Doctoral Scholar with Duke’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, already had research interests in early Indian migration in the United States, so he decided to investigate.

In exploring her life, Dasgupta’s goal has been clear: to bring Kala Bagai’s story to light in both India and the United States. “I hope readers come to appreciate the complexities that immigrants wishing to start life in the United States encountered in the last century and still today,” he says.

Upon his initial investigation, Dasgupta learned that in September 2020 the Berkeley City Council renamed the street in honor of Kala Bagai, one of the first Indian women to immigrate to the United States.

This recognition came from the very town that, over a 100 years earlier, had greeted her and her family with cruelty and hostility.

Dasgupta was fascinated. This topic became the focus of his recent article published the India International Centre Quarterly. “I wanted to dig deeper into the life of Kala Bagai who arrived in this country at a time when there were hardly any women from India here”, he says.

Kala Bagai with her husband Vaishno Das Bagai and their three children. Photo courtesy of Rani Bagai and the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

Kala Bagai arrived in the U.S. in 1915, a time when Indian women were rare in America. Her husband, Vaishno Das Bagai, was involved in the Ghadar Movement, which sought to challenge British colonial rule from its base in the United States. Despite their financial comfort, the Bagai family faced significant racism in their new setting, exemplified by their rejection when trying to settle in Berkeley.

When they purchased a home in Berkeley, California, their new neighbors locked them out of their house and prevented them from moving in.

“The Bagais, unlike their neighbors, were not White” Dasgupta says.

In 1923, two years after Vaishno Das Bagai had become a U.S. citizen, the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind stripped him of his citizenship, ruling that Indians were not “white” and therefore ineligible for citizenship. Five years later, crushed by the injustice and having had to forego their assets, Vaishno Das took his own life.

Photo of Kala Bagai courtesy of Rani Bagai and the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

“Being a single mother to three children under these circumstances in a country that could be unwelcoming to people of her racial background was doubtlessly challenging,” Dasgupta says.

After losing her husband, Kala Bagai faced the challenges of single motherhood in San Francisco head-on. Determined not to be defeated, she enrolled in night school to learn English and, with the help of a banker, wisely invested her late husband’s life insurance in stocks, securing her family’s financial future.

Kala’s strength and resilience shaped her path forward. She became a philanthropist and joined the American Wives of India, fostering cultural connections. Her son, Ram, became a key figure in the Indian American community, even supporting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights Movement.

In the 1950s, after the Luce-Celler Act granted U.S. citizenship to Indians, Kala purchased property in Los Angeles. Her home became a welcoming haven for South Asian students from UCLA, where her hospitality and warmth made her beloved in the community.

“She enjoyed hosting, feeding, and taking care of people!” Dasgupta says, highlighting her deep commitment to nurturing those around her.

Kala became a pillar of the South Asian community in Southern California, earning the affectionate title of Jhaiji, or grandmother, and was widely recognized as a founding member of the Indian community there.

Her legacy, rooted in resilience, endures in the lasting impact she made by promoting cultural understanding and inspiring others to uplift and connect with their communities. Her unwavering commitment to these values continues to influence and empower those who follow in her footsteps.

Arko Dasgupta is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Carnegie Mellon University and a doctoral fellow at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/ PublicSource

“This story is worth telling because it enriches the larger story of early immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, particularly in a field that is mainly populated by the stories of men” Dasgupta says.

You can read Dasgupta’s full piece in the Summer 2024 issue of IIC Quarterly.

Student Wealth and Poverty Across Durham Public Schools, Mapped

By Robin Smith

On August 20, 2024

In Data, Students, Visualization

New maps of Durham released by students in Duke’s Data+ research program show the Bull City as a patchwork of red, white and pink. But what looks like a haphazardly assembled quilt is actually a picture of the socioeconomic realities facing Durham’s 32,000-plus public school students.

The color patches represent the home values across Durham, showing roughly where more and less affluent students live. The darker the red, the higher-priced their housing.

Like cities and neighborhoods, schools face economic disparities too. Research shows that school segregation by race and class in North Carolina has gotten steadily worse over the last three decades.

A 2024 study by North Carolina State University revealed that the typical low-income student attends schools where more than 70% of their classmates are low-income too — a trend that worsens the achievement gap between the richest and poorest children.

A new student assignment plan that Durham Public Schools is rolling out this year aims to combat that trend by redrawing district boundary lines — the thick black lines on the map — to make schools more diverse and equitable.

But if schools are to tackle economic segregation, they’ll need accurate ways to measure it as Durham continues to grow and change.

As kids across Durham head back to class, some 1500 elementary school students are changing schools this year under the Durham Public Schools Growing Together plan, which aims to increase equity and access across schools.

That was the challenge facing a team in Duke’s Data+ program this summer. For 10 weeks, Duke students Alex Barroso and Dhaval Potdar collaborated with school planners at Durham Public Schools to look at how family wealth and poverty are distributed across the school system.

“Socioeconomic status is a complicated thing,” said Barroso, a Duke junior majoring in statistical science.

For years, the standard way to identify children in need was using free and reduced-price lunch statistics from the National School Lunch Program, along with published income data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

But those numbers can be unreliable, Barroso said.

Changing state and federal policies mean that more districts — including Durham Public Schools — are providing free meals to all students, regardless of their family income. But as a result, schools no longer have an exact count of how many students qualify.

And Census estimates are based on geographic boundaries that can mask important variation in the data when we look more closely.

At a symposium in Gross Hall in July, Barroso pointed to several dark red patches (i.e., more expensive housing) bordering white ones (i.e., more affordable) on one of the team’s maps.

In some parts of the city, homes worth upwards of a million dollars abut modest apartments worth a fraction of that, “which can skew the data,” he said.

The problem with Census estimates “is that everyone who lives in that area is reported as having the same average income,” said team lead Vitaly Radsky, a PhD student at UNC’s School of Education and school planner with Durham Public Schools.

So they took a different approach: using homes as a proxy for socioeconomic status.

Research has confirmed that students from higher-value homes perform better in school as measured by standardized math tests.

The team created a custom script that fetches publicly available data on every home in Durham from sources such as Durham Open Data and the Census, and then automatically exports it to a dashboard that shows the data on a map.

“Every single house is accounted for within this project,” Barroso said.

They ran into challenges. For example, Census data are tied to tracts that don’t necessarily align with the district boundaries used by schools, said Dhaval Potdar, a graduate student in Duke’s Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science.

One takeaway from their analysis, Potdar said, is no one yardstick sums up the economic well-being of every student.

In Durham, the typical public school student lives in a home valued at about $300,000.

But the picture varies widely when you zoom in on different geographic scales and footprints.

It’s also a different story if you account for the significant fraction of Durham families who live among neighbors in a larger building such as an apartment, townhouse or condominium, instead of a single-family home.

Considering a home’s age can change the picture too.

Generally speaking, students who live in more expensive homes come from more affluent families. But in many parts of the U.S., home prices have far outpaced paychecks. That means a home that has soared in value in the years since it was purchased may not reflect a family’s true economic situation today, particularly if their income remained flat.

The team’s data visualizations aim to let school planners look at all those factors.

There are still issues to be ironed out. For example, there’s some work to be done before planners can make apples-to-apples comparisons between a student whose family owns their home versus renting a similar property, Barroso said.

“No data source is perfect,” but the research offers another way of anticipating the shifting needs of Durham students, Radsky said.

“The traditional metrics really aren’t getting at the granular fabric of the Durham community,” said Mathew Palmer, the district’s senior executive director of school planning and operational services.

Research like this helps address questions like, “are we putting our resources where the kids need them the most? And are schools equitable?”

“This analysis gives schools more tools moving forward,” Palmer said.

Duke Mathletes Stand Out in a Crowd

By Robin Smith

On July 12, 2024

In Mathematics, Students

Standing out in a crowd of competitors is no easy task. But one Duke team has done just that — in math.

The Blue Devils were the only U.S.-based team to claim a top 25 finish at the 40th annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), beating out more than 18,500 other teams from 20 countries.

*Blue Devils Brandon Lu, Benny Sun and Chris Kan (L to R) finished in the top 25 out of 18,525 teams in an international math contest called Mathematical Contest in Modeling.*

The team consisted of undergraduates Christopher Kan, Benny Sun, and Brandon Lu. Their task: to solve a real-world problem using mathematical modeling within 96 hours.

This year’s contestants tackled problems ranging from analyzing what gives tennis players an edge at Wimbledon, to optimizing search and rescue operations for missing submersibles.

The Duke team tackled a challenge that has vexed the fishing industry in the Great Lakes: predicting the impact of an invasive parasitic fish called the sea lamprey that can wreak havoc on native fish.

By adapting existing models from biology and biochemistry to model the sea lamprey population, the students were able to determine how to best apply treatments to rid streams of these parasites.

*Two sea lampreys chewing their way into the flesh of a native lake trout of the Great Lakes. (Great Lakes Fisheries Commission)*

The contest “is much more open-ended and creatively-focused than most STEM classes,” said Sun, a mathematics and computer science double major at Duke.

The participants try out different approaches to modeling the problems, and there is no one correct answer.

Sun, Kan and Lu also received the Mathematical Association of America Award for their paper. “They did a great job,” said team advisor Veronica Ciocanel, an assistant professor of math and biology who also co-organizes a local version of the contest each fall, called the Triangle Competition in Math Modeling.

In these contests, creativity, time management and writing skills are just as important as cramming on concepts.

“We realized that communication was as important as the findings themselves,” Sun said. “We spent the last two days primarily focused on writing a good paper.”

Having fun as a team is important too, Sun said. “Team chemistry can be an especially important factor in success when you are all locked in the same room for the weekend.”

Wiring the Brain

By Robin Smith

On June 26, 2024

In Animals, Neuroscience, Students

From tiny flies, Duke researchers are finding new clues to how the brain sets up its circuitry.

In her time at Duke, Khanh Vien figures she’s dissected close to 10,000 fly brains. For her PhD she spent up to eight hours each day peering at baby flies under the microscope, teasing out tiny brains a fraction the size of a poppy seed.

“I find it very meditative,” she said.

Vien acknowledges that, to most people, fruit flies are little more than a kitchen nuisance; something to swat away. But to researchers like her, they hold clues to how animal brains — including our own — are built.

While the human brain has some 86 billion neurons, a baby fruit fly’s brain has a mere 3016 — making it millions of times simpler. Those neurons talk to each other via long wire-like extensions, called axons, that relay electrical and chemical signals from one cell to the next.

Vien and other researchers in Professor Pelin Volkan’s lab at Duke are interested in how that wiring gets established during the fly’s development.

By analyzing a subset of neurons responsible for the fly’s sense of smell, the researchers have identified a protein that helps ensure that new neurons extend their axons to the correct spots in the olfactory area of the young fly’s brain and not elsewhere.

Because the same protein is found across the animal kingdom, including humans, the researchers say the work could ultimately shed light on what goes awry within the brains of people living with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

Their findings are published in the journal iScience.

Khanh Vien earned her PhD in developmental and stem cell biology in Professor Pelin Volkan’s lab at Duke.

Senior Presenters Explore Cultural Dynamics and Justice Around the World

By Noor Nazir

On May 3, 2024

In Anthropology, Field Research, Global Health, Students

When we think about global interconnectedness we often focus on varied cultures, but we tend to forget about innumerable systemic dynamics that could enrich our understanding of the world. The senior presentations given by students in International Comparative Studies to mark the end of the term shared their mission to understand the world better through research.

The exploration of language ideologies in Mauritius, the complex yet fascinating web of transitional justice, the contentious aspects of medical missions in global health, and the intersection between superficiality and urban dynamics in Los Angeles all demonstrated understanding the unseen world at play.

Language and Identity in Mauritius

Katy Turner’s research into the Mauritian education system sheds light on the complex interplay between language and colonial histories. Even though one could argue colonialism is a tale of the past, Turner’s research proved otherwise. In Mauritius, where the creole language — formed by enslaved individuals and now a mother tongue — meets societal resistance, the educational emphasis remains on English and French. Turner’s exploration raises critical questions: How do Mauritian primary school teachers perceive the role of Mauritian Creole, especially given its contentious status? How has the colonial past shaped these perceptions?

Her findings reveal a conflicted landscape. While some view the Mauritian Creole as a relic of the past, advocating for a future aligned with English, others see it as vital for a holistic educational experience. Its colloquial use in classrooms helps connect students with their history, and according to her observation, students didn’t mind its use over English and French, but their parents very much did. They preferred English and French over their own local language. This put me in a daze. Afterall, being Pakistani born and raised, this wasn’t a surprise: English is the language of the rich, and Urdu is the language of the poor. These complex linguistic preferences of these countries highlight how colonized some developing countries are till today.

In Mauritius, the narratives of slaves, parents and educational policies often discourage this practice. This ‘hidden curriculum‘ suggests a deep-seated struggle with identity and linguistic heritage, hinting at a broader dialogue about language as a carrier of culture and history. This colonial hangover is one we need to fight to connect with what our culture really means.

The Anti-Politics of Memory in Transitional Justice

Grace Endrud delves into the “anti-politics” of memory, examining how transitional justice often morphs into a universal narrative that may overlook local truths. Her focus on the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) illuminates the challenges of defining justice in varied contexts — ranging from criminal justice to truth commissions. The ICTJ’s extensive work is reflected in their archival collections spanning several decades. Grace sat in the library searching through archives for days, and went to great lengths (like analyzing the order they were in) to show their global influence also reveals tensions, such as in Iraq where document manipulation was used to sway electoral outcomes.

Blindfolded suspected militants, with possible links to al-Qaeda, are seen at Iraqi police headquarters in Diyala province, north of Baghdad December 5, 2011. Police forces arrested 30 suspected militants during a raid in Diyala province, a police source said. REUTERS/Stringer

This research was inspired by James Ferguson’s analysis in “The Anti-Politics Machine.” It suggested that transitional justice can sometimes strip away the political layers that are essential for understanding and addressing the root causes of injustice.

Reassessing Medical Missions Through a Decolonial Lens

Catherine Purnell’s investigation into medical missions driven by evangelical Christian beliefs poses questions about the possibility of decolonizing global health. The narrative that divides the world into those who help and those who need help is deeply entrenched in the ethos of many medical missions. Purnell’s interviews with medical missionaries reveal an underlying intention to provide care in remote areas, which often includes building schools and water systems alongside healthcare.

However, the real challenge lies in shifting these missions from a model of evangelical humanitarianism to one of genuine decolonization. According to her, true decolonized care would prioritize giving autonomy back to local communities and focusing on solidarity rather than charity. Purnell’s findings suggest a fundamental conflict between the traditional goals of medical missions and the emerging needs of decolonial, equitable healthcare practices.

The Multicultural Dynamics of Urban Spaces

Jess Blumenthal’s exploration into the complex narratives of multiculturalism in Los Angeles offers a fascinating lens through which to view urban dynamics and identity. Starting with the historic intersections in neighborhoods like Little Tokyo/Bronzeville, Jess examines the fluid and often contentious shifts in community compositions and their cultural implications. Originally a Japanese neighborhood, Bronzeville became predominantly African American during World War II when Japanese residents were interned. Such shifts underscore the impermanence and adaptability of urban ethnic landscapes.

Jess connects these historical and cultural narratives to broader literary works like “Tropic of Orange” and Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” These works critique the superficiality of multiculturalism, suggesting a more interconnected and deeply woven fabric of society that transcends simplistic understandings of diversity. Jess uses these stories to highlight a poignant metaphor: just as characters in Butler’s work envision a destiny among the stars, our own societal evolution might be seen as an ongoing journey towards a more genuinely integrated multiculturalism.

Conclusion

Together, these presentations accentuated the complexities of cultural identity, memory politics, and health equity in a globalized world. They challenge us to think critically about how languages shape national identity, how justice processes can reflect deeper truths without falling into the traps of depoliticization, and how global health initiatives might genuinely respect and uplift the communities they intend to serve. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, these discussions are crucial for fostering a more just and equitable global society.

Students Offer Their Voices of Change to Climate Commitment

By Gabrielle Douglas

On April 2, 2024

In Climate/Global Change, Science Communication & Education, Students

In a society where it seems like the power to create meaningful change on climate concerns is concentrated in the hands of few, witnessing the youth attempt to counter this dynamic is always inspiring.

Last week, members of Duke University’s Climate and Sustainability Office convened with students for a town hall meeting to discuss current progress, areas for improvement, and aspirations for the future. During this meeting, great emphasis was placed on the opinions and perspectives of students, as the leaders of the Duke climate commitment recognized the importance of their voices within this process.

The meeting began with two thought-provoking questions by Toddi Steelman, Vice President and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability, and Tavey Capps, Executive Director of Climate and Sustainability and Sustainable Duke: “What is one word to describe your feelings towards climate change, and what energizes you about climate change?”

These two questions immediately brought the room to life as students began to express their climate anxiety, fears, and frustrations, alongside the ways in which they hoped to one day see change. This passionate discussion set the stage for a deep dive into the objectives and goals of Duke’s Climate Commitment.

*L to R: Toddi Steelman and Tavey Capps*

The Climate Commitment is a university-wide effort aimed at creating initiatives to correct our current climate crisis by creating a sustainable environment for all.

Within the commitment, there are five areas of focus: Research, Education, External Engagement, Operations, and Community Connections. The research sector is focused on connecting Duke’s schools across the board for interdisciplinary research. Education is geared towards ensuring learning occurs in and beyond the classroom. External Engagement focuses on informing policy and decision makers alongside engaging community members within this mission. Operations studies the food, water, waste, energy, and carbon supply chain on campus. Lastly, Community Connections asks: how do we authentically engage with the community and partners alike?

This commitment serves as a broad scale invitation for everyone to get involved, and Duke students did not hesitate to take advantage of this invitation. The town hall was organized through breakout rooms for the students to collectively share ideas.

The first breakout room was focused on the idea of communication. In this, students discussed the ways that they felt the commitment could best reach their peers on campus. Some proposed utilizing the popular social media platform, TikTok by creating short eye-catching videos. Others discussed using professors, posters, and BC Plaza to ensure engagement. Most agreed that email listservs and newsletters also held some merit in getting their classmate’s attention.

Above all, students came to the consensus that informing the student body would be one of the most important missions of the Climate Commitment.

Following the communication session, I attended the research breakout room led by Blake Tedder from the Office of Sustainability and formerly the Director of Engagement at the Duke Forest. He asked again about the most pressing climate issue. From this, many students delved into issues surrounding biodiversity financing, carbon offsetting, access to clean water, and the ways climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities.

*Blake Tedder leading the Research Breakout Room.*

Conversation about these concerns quickly bled into issues surrounding the larger prospect of interdisciplinary studies. Many students felt that this was best done through Duke’s RESILE initiative (Risk Science for Climate Resilience), Bass Connections, and even greater connection between Duke’s main campus and its Kunshan Campus.

The final room I attended was geared towards making the fight against climate change one that is inclusive and diverse. This talk was coordinated by Jason Elliot from Sustainable Duke.

The question that guided the discussion was: “How can we ensure our goals do not come at the expense of the community?” To this, students proposed a range of ideas. Chief among these were becoming more in tune with the needs of the community and finding ways to actively attend local farms, and other places in need.

*Jason Elliot leading the Justice, Diversity, and Equity Inclusion Breakout Room.*

In addition, many suggested diversifying speakers to ensure representation and voices from all parts of the community. Some students even narrowed in on engagement within our own campus, suggesting greater collaboration among groups such as the Climate Coalition, Keep Durham Beautiful, and Alpha Phi Omega to achieve these goals.

This town hall was simply one of many future engagements expected from Duke’s Climate Commitment in the coming years. While there is still much more work to be done, the diligent efforts of students and faculty alike make the future look promising in the fight against Climate Change.

Post by Gabrielle Douglas, Class of 2027

A Grueling Math Test So Hard, Almost No One Gets a Perfect Score

By Robin Smith

On March 1, 2024

In Engineering, Mathematics, Students

Yet hundreds of schools compete each year, and this time the Blue Devils made it into the top three

Every year, thousands of college students from across the U.S. and Canada give up a full Saturday before finals begin to take a notoriously difficult, 6-hour math test — and not for a grade, but for fun.

In “the Putnam,” as it’s known, contestants spend two 3-hour sessions trying to solve 12 proof-based math problems worth 10 points apiece.

More than 150,000 people have taken the exam in the contest’s 85-year history, but only five times has someone earned a perfect score. Total scores of 1 or 0 are not uncommon.

Despite the odds, the Blue Devils had a strong showing this year.

A total of 3,857 students from 471 schools competed in the December contest. In results announced Feb. 16, a Duke team consisting of Erick Jiang ’26, James “Fletch” Rydell ’26 and Kaixin “Kai” Wang ’27 ranked third in North America behind MIT and Harvard, winning a $15,000 prize for Duke and each taking home $600 for themselves.

According to mathematics professor Lenny Ng, it’s Duke’s best performance in almost 20 years.

“This is the first time a Duke team has placed this high since 2005,” said Ng, who was a three-time Putnam Fellow himself, finishing in the top five each year he was an undergraduate at Harvard.

There’s no official syllabus for prepping for the Putnam. To get ready, the students practice working through problems and discussing their solutions in a weekly problem-solving seminar held each fall.

Students serve as the instructors, focusing on a different topic each week ranging from calculus to number theory.

“They get a sense of what the problems are like, so it’s not quite as intimidating as it might be if they went into the contest cold,” said math department chair Robert Bryant.

“Not only do they learn how to do the problems, but they also get to know each other,” said professor emeritus David Kraines, who has coached Duke Putnam participants for more than 30 years.

Kraines said 8-10 students take his problem-solving seminar for credit each fall. “We always get another 10 or so who come for the pizza,” Kraines said.

The biggest difference between a Putnam problem and a homework problem, said engineering student Rydell, is that usually with a homework problem you’ve already been shown what to do; you just have to apply it.

Whereas most of the time in math competitions like the Putnam, “there’s no clear path forward when you first see the problem,” Rydell said. “They’re more about finding some insight or way of looking at the problem in a different perspective.”

Putnam problems are meant to be solvable using only paper and pencil — no computing power required. The contestants work through each problem by hand, trying different paths towards a solution and spelling out their reasoning step-by-step.

This year, one problem involved determining how many configurations of coins are possible given a grid with coins sitting in some of the squares, if those coins are only allowed to move in certain ways.

Another question required knowing something about the geometry of a 20-sided shape known as a icosahedron.

“That was the one I struggled with the most,” said Wang, whose individual score nevertheless tied him for sixth place overall out of 3,857 contestants.

The most common question he gets asked about the Putnam, Rydell said, is not so much what’s on the test, but why people take it in the first place.

This year’s test was so challenging that a score of 78 out of 120 or better — just 65% — was enough to earn a spot in the top 10.

Most of the people who took it scored less than 10%, which means many problems went unsolved.

“For days after I took the Putnam, I would think about the problems and wonder: could I have done it better this way? You can become obsessed,” said Bryant, who took the Putnam in the 1970s as a college student at NC State.

Sophomores Jiang and Rydell, who both ranked in the top 5%, see it as an opportunity to “meet people who also enjoy problem solving,” Jiang said.

“I’m not a math major so I probably wouldn’t do much of this kind of problem solving otherwise,” Rydell said.

For Rydell it’s also the aha moment: “Just the reward of when you solve a problem, the feeling of making that breakthrough,” Rydell said.

Professor Kraines’ weekly problem-solving seminar, MATH 283S, takes place on Tuesday evenings at 6:15 p.m. during the fall semester. Registration for Fall 2024 begins April 3.

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