Off the Top...

Duke Celebrates Founders' Weekend

Each year Founders’ Weekend provides an opportunity for the Duke community to reflect on the university’s history and recognize the leadership, contributions and impact that students, faculty, administrators, staff, trustees and alumni have made.

Founders’ Weekend 2025 was no different. During the weekend, on Sept. 26-28, University Medals for Distinguished Meritorious Service, Duke’s highest honor, were awarded to Trustee Emerita Anne T. Bass and Executive Vice President Emeritus Tallman Trask III.

Founders' Day

Federally Funded Research at Duke...

Quelling Chaos Through Clever Control System Construction

Duke engineer Leila Bridgeman is developing safer, smarter control systems that could one day save lives by improving technologies from medical robotics to disaster-response drones. Her research focuses on making large, complex networks--such as fleets of autonomous vehicles or robotic surgical tools--more reliable, even when communications fail or conditions change unexpectedly. By applying overlooked control theory from the 1970s and advancing methods to define “safe zones” for automated systems, her work helps ensure AI-driven technologies don’t spiral into dangerous errors.

Bridgeman's research has been supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Quelling Chaos

More from Duke...

Opioid Addiction Treatment Delivered on the Front Lines

Duke Health is leading an innovative shift in how emergency medical services respond to opioid overdoses. Instead of stopping at lifesaving reversal, paramedics in Wake and Durham counties are now trained to administer buprenorphine in the field, which is a medication that eases withdrawal, reduces cravings and opens the door to long-term treatment. Early results show that nearly half of patients who received the medication in Wake County successfully connected with outpatient care, with some remaining in treatment a year later. With Durham County treating more than 80 patients since launch and 20 EMS systems across North Carolina now adopting similar approaches, Duke’s model is transforming EMS from crisis response into a first step toward recovery.

Treatment Delivery

Turning Community Centers into Heat-Ready Lifelines

Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub is helping communities confront the growing danger of extreme heat — the deadliest weather-related hazard in the U.S. In eastern North Carolina, the Hub is partnering with the Coharie Tribe to adapt their gymnasium into a solar-powered “Community Lighthouse,” a resilient hub that provides cooling, medicine storage, communications, and wellness checks when the grid fails. Backed by The Rockefeller Foundation, Duke is scaling this model across rural, Tribal, and under-resourced areas, where heat risks are especially acute. By translating research into policy briefs and pilot projects, the Hub is positioning extreme heat as a national priority and offering a roadmap for communities nationwide.

Heat Ready

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove®
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

1201 Pennsylvania Ave.
District of Columbia, DC | 20004 United States

This email was sent to arlene.melchiorre@duke.edu.
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.