You’ll find Nicholas School alums pursuing their passion and making positive impacts worldwide. Our programs give them the foundational knowledge and practical skills to become leaders and innovators in a wide array of fields and sectors.
PhD'11
MS'93 statistics, PhD'99 soils and hydrologic science
PhD '00, Environmental Politics & Policy
#WomenInSTEM: Danica-Schaffer Smith, Ph.D.
Danica Schaffer-Smith, a postdoctoral research associate at the Nicholas School, talks about being a woman working in STEM, her early inspirations to pursue environmental science and encouraging today's young women.
Research@Nicholas: Environmental Contaminants
Duke Environment researcher Heather Stapleton studies the health risks from exposure to chemicals in products.
Research@Nicholas: Global Environmental Health
Duke Environment researcher Randy Kramer studies global environmental health.
Research@Nicholas: Coal Ash & Fracking Impacts
Duke Environment researcher Avner Vengosh studies the environmental and human impacts linked to coal ash and fracking wastewater.
Research@Nicholas: Marine Fisheries
Martin Smith, George M. Woodwell Distinguished Professor of Environmental Economics, discusses how Nicholas School research takes us from discoveries to solutions on some of the most pressing issues facing our oceans today.
Research@Nicholas: Marine Microbiology
Zackary Johnson, Arthur P. Kaupe Associate Professor of Molecular Biology in Marine Science, discusses how Nicholas School research takes us from discoveries to solutions on some of the most pressing issues facing our oceans today.
Exposure to Fracking Chemicals and Wastewater Spurs Fat Cells
The tiniest of organisms could prove a huge resource as a sustainable source of food and fuel for Earth’s growing population. Duke Marine Lab’s Zackary Johnson leads the Marine Algae Industrialization Consortium (MAGIC)
PhD Student Explores Environmental Racism in Southern U.S.
PhD student Danielle Purifoy discusses her journey across the South with Brooklyn-based artist Torkwase Dyson to document the environmental legacy of racism in historic black communities in N.C. and Alabama. Their work, “In Conditions of Fresh Water,” is on exhibit at the Center for Documentary Studies through June 3, 2017. More information at https://documentarystudies.duke.edu/.
Duke Marine Lab: Using Bamboo Poles to Build Stingray Exclusion Cages
PhD student Stacy Zhang and lab technician Carmen Hoyt spent the summer building stingray exclusion cages and control treatments in the local seagrass beds of Core Banks. The cages are made of bamboo cut locally in Chapel Hill as opposed to PVC piping in order to be more environmentally friendly. For a full cage treatment, a bamboo pole is placed every 25 centimeters in a hole created using a Pacer pump. In the end, there will be 42 study sites of various treatments, and the study will run for a year.
Seaver Wang Recalls NASA Research Cruise
Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment Ph.D. student Seaver Wang sailed on the Sea to Space Particle Investigation cruise, a joint project between NASA and the Schmidt Ocean Institute. During the month-long voyage of the north Pacific Ocean, Wang operated a scientific instrument that measured phytoplankton breathing.