Bass Connections Program Offers World of Opportunities

As employers are increasingly seeking graduates with experience tackling complex issues, students of all levels are turning to hands-on interdisciplinary projects to round out their education. Duke’s Bass Connections program—which is currently accepting student applications—provides just this opportunity. 

Focused on building essential skills like collaboration, critical thinking, synthesis of ideas and creative problem solving, Bass Connections offers team-based research experiences that involve students of all levels and faculty members. These projects seek to develop creative solutions to real-world problems.

Thanks to a $50 million gift from Anne and Robert Bass in 2013, the program was launched across the entire university, connecting students and faculty across all academic levels and departments. Bass Connections is structured around five themes:

• Global Health
• Brain & Society
• Information, Society & Culture
• Education & Human Development
• Energy

Projects, which often include community members in addition to Duke students and faculty, last three to 18 months, with many global health-themed projects lasting 12 to 18 months. Since the program’s inception, project teams have produced peer-reviewed journal articles, conference presentations, websites, mHealth interventions and educational materials.

Bass Connections Gives Students Perspective, Builds Resilience

Previous participants speak highly of the program. Second-year Master of Science in Global Health student Brittney Wittenbrink shared, “Through my Bass Connections project, I’ve gained perspective about how a research team functions within the field I want to pursue. From working with doctors, professors and students here at Duke and abroad, I’ve gained experience functioning as a member of an international, interdisciplinary team.” Her project, exploring risk factors involved in sickle cell disease severity and how to mitigate them, inspired her master’s thesis.

Austin Peer, a junior global health and biology major student that participated in an environmental epidemiology project in Peru, said that Bass Connections gave him a realistic picture of global health fieldwork. “My project taught me patience and adaptability, as plan A often morphs into plan B and C. Being flexible and open to alternative paths proved critical to success.” 

Peer also appreciated the ways in which the project promoted resilience among the team as they navigated inevitable challenges such as “collecting mosquitoes and sandflies in a Shannon trap surrounded by flying cockroaches in 95 degree heat and traversing storm-eroded back roads with the Ministry of Health to talk with rural communities about nutrition.”

Bass Connections in Global Health is currently recruiting students for summer 2016 projects. This year, students can apply to eight new projects, which take place as close as North Carolina and as far away as Madagascar.

Students should apply by February 26, 2016 for priority consideration.

New Bass Connections in Global Health Projects

This year, students can apply to projects that are starting this summer or projects that have already been started. The new projects span topics like global mental health, epidemiology, pollution and chronic disease:

Spirituality, Self-management and Chronic Disease among Ethnic Groups of Robeson County, North Carolina  

This team will assess the spiritual and self-management practices of adults living with chronic diseases in Robeson County and identify differences in spiritual and religious practices across major ethnic groups living in Robeson County.

Global Mental Health-Integrative Training Program

This project will establish a new Global Mental Health Integrative Training Program and focus on three countries—Nepal, Kenya and South Africa.

Animal Waste Management and Global Health

This project will focus on analyzing current policies that affect animal waste management in China and/or India, the U.S., Brazil, Germany and/or Denmark and South Africa, as well as the associated cultural and environmental landscapes.

Cookstoves and Air Pollution in Madagascar: Finding Winning Solutions for Human Health and Biodiversity

Working with the Duke Lemur Center’s SAVA Conservation Initiative, this project team will investigate the health consequences of traditional cooking practices in Mandena, Madagascar.

Global Alliance on Disability and Health Innovation (GANDHI) 

This project will examine disability from multiple perspectives and cultures. The project aims to determine the system of services and support needed for adults newly living with disability to achieve their greatest quality of life.

Human Health Risks, Environmental and Ecosystem Damage Associated with Contamination of Used Motor Oil at Auto-mechanic Villages in Ghana 

This project team will collaborate with a team of faculty and students from a university in Ghana to assess the levels of pollution in soils, drinking water resources and food crops in the vicinity of Kumasi. 

Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Research and Policy Development to Reduce Chemical Exposures 

This team will investigate early life chemical exposures in the Amazon. At the request of the Peruvian government, the project will assist in drafting a strategic plan to reduce chemical exposure. 

POCkeT Colposcope: Increased Distribution and Adoption 

Researchers at Duke’s Global Women’s Health Technologies Center have developed the POCkeT (Point of Care Tampon) Colposcope, a portable, inexpensive tool used to screen for cervical cancer. In this project, the team will identify the best strategy its adoption in Peru.

More detailed descriptions of these new projects—as well as details about continuing projects seeking applicants—are available on the Bass Connections in Global Health section of the website.