Centers & Institutes
Deep Partnership. High-Impact Results.
Duke Engineering makes significant research partnerships with organizations that share our vision of a better world through innovation.
Among our partners we gratefully count the family of Clayton M. Christensen, the thinker behind “disruptive innovation”— as well as esteemed private research enterprises such as Underwriters Laboratories and major public funders like NIH, NSF and DARPA.
Quantum Computing
Uniquely, the Duke Quantum Center conducts research along the entire stack of the quantum information system. Since 2007, DQC members have been awarded over $170 million in funding and performed over $100 million in contracted government work.
NSF Software-Tailored Architecture for Quantum Codesign
STAQ is a Duke-led, seven-university, $15 million collaboration working to build the world’s first practical quantum computer.
Quantum Systems Accelerator
Duke is one of 14 U.S. institutions in QSA—a five-year, $115 million U.S. government effort to develop the solutions needed to harness quantum information science.
Spectator Qubit MURI
Led by Duke, this US Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative received $9 million to investigate the spectator qubit approach.
Christensen Family Center for Innovation
Metaphorically, CFCI at Duke is a monorail that transports new products above pitfalls on the trip from conception to the market entrance. Efforts include design sprints and outreach to aspiring entrepreneurs, on campus and off.
Duke Engineering Institute for Enterprise Engineering
Leverages Duke’s strengths in advanced computing, business education and more into a nimble range of graduate-level offerings that produce high-impact leaders who transform organizations.
GUIde Turbomachinery Research Consortium
Duke leads this joint government, university and industry (GUI) effort to solve problems of bladed disk vibration.
Center for Extreme Materials
The center’s mission is to advance fundamental knowledge in materials having extraordinary performance in extreme environments.
Meta-Imaging MURI
Led by Duke, this US Air Force Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative utilizes metasurfaces to detect additional degrees of freedom of the light field and process the information quickly—all while reducing the size and weight of imaging systems.
Duke Materials Initiative
Providing strategic leadership through a distinct combination of interdisciplinary expertise, research focus and paradigm-shifting graduate degrees.
Agile Waveform Design for Communication Networks in Contested Environments UCE
A five-year, $5 million a US Air Force University Center of Excellence to develop methodologies for novel waveform design and optimization techniques that are both agile to changing network dynamics and robust to adversaries in contested environments, with provable bounds on performance.
NSF Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education
AIICE is a $10 million NSF INCLUDES project aimed at developing solutions that increase the enrollment, retention, and completion rates of students from groups that are historically underrepresented in computing.
NSF Edge Computing Leveraging Next-Generation Networks
Duke-led ATHENA brings together teams from seven universities to transform systems from mobile devices to networks. It is committed to cultivating a diverse next generation of edge computing and network leaders whose core values are driven by ethics and fairness in AI.
Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics
Based at Duke and focused research and training in light-based technologies for quantum, electronic and biomedical applications.
Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies
Duke CAGT is a team of world-leading engineers, scientists, and physicians working to adapt advanced genomic technologies, to unravel disease biology and discover new drug targets to catalyze a more robust biotechnology enterprise.
NIH Center for Biomolecular & Tissue Engineering
Duke CBTE coordinates interdisciplinary discovery and training across protein, cellular and tissue engineering.
Center for Computational & Digital Health Innovation
Applies data-driven approaches to enhance diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
IGVF Characterization Center
A data generator of genetic variation impacts on gene regulation and phenotypes—supported by $8.6 million from the NHGRI Impact of Genomic Variation on Function Consortium.
UL Global Air Pollution & Health
A $3.6 million effort with Underwriters Laboratories investigating human health impacts from airborne pollution—includes a project on wildfire in California.
WaSH-AID: Water, Sanitation, Hygiene & Infectious Disease
Designing and deploying equitable and sustainable solutions to global public health challenges. Sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
NSF INFRAMES: Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability
A five-year, $1.6 million coordinated international community assessing the sustainability of the materials our society produces. A NSF AccelNET program.
PreMiEr ERC: Precision Microbiome Engineering
An NSF Engineering Research Center developing diagnostic tools and engineering approaches that prevent harmful and encourage beneficial microrganisms in the built environment. Funded by a five-year, $26 million grant.
Duke Center on Risk
A multidisciplinary hub to develop technology and policies to confront emerging societal risks—including climate change, pandemic disease, cyber‐attacks, financial shocks and terrorism.
Duke RESILE
A Center on Risk spin-out organized to intersect with business and advance climate risk and resilience research.
CIRCAD
The Center for Innovation in Risk-Analysis for Climate Adaptation and Decision-making is a joint venture with Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.