Welcome to another year of the Pratt Blueprint! I’m pleased to bring back one of my favorite aspects of this newsletter—an in-depth video on a topic on which Pratt is leading the way. This month, please join me as we hear from three Duke domain experts on the high-stakes applications where the deployment of AI is outpacing our deep understanding of the technology's impact and the implications of it being deeply embedded in these systems. It is a question of judgment, not only of the designer of these AI systems, but also of the users readily giving their data to these systems in exchange for their benefits. These issues are only the tip of the iceberg, however, which is why it is imperative that we educate students to be deep experts both in their fields of study as well as AI.

Professors Mike Bergin and David Carlson have spent nearly a decade together combining data from ground sensors and satellites with advanced analytics tools to create incredible insights into issues of air quality and heat. Now, their collaboration is focusing on households right here in Durham to study how these two growing issues amplify each other in an effort to help people worldwide. This close-to-home project could end up having far-reaching impact.

5

the number of awards brought home from the Design Automation Conference by Helen Li and Yiran Chen.

I am incredibly excited to welcome Peter Vikesland as our newest chair of civil and environmental engineering beginning in the summer of 2027. A longtime collaborator with our Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT), he joins Duke Engineering with many existing connections, collaborative and interdisciplinary leadership, and a strong research portfolio in the chemistry of water droplets.