Israelism: A Film Screening and Discussion
2025-01-21 19:00 (America/New_York) | LSRC B101 Love Auditorium
A film screening of the documentary, Israelism, followed by a Q&A with Simone Zimmerman, a protagonist of the film and co-founder of IfNotNow.

Tuesday, Jan 21
7pm (doors at 6:30pm)

Love Auditorium, LSRC
Duke University

About the film:

Two young American Jews - Simone Zimmerman and Eitan - are raised to defend the state of Israel at all costs. Eitan joins the Israeli military. Simone supports Israel on 'the other battlefield:' America's college campuses. When they witness Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people with their own eyes, they are horrified and heartbroken - the Jewish institutions that raised them not only lied, but built their Jewish identity around that lie.

They join the movement of young American Jews battling the old guard over Israel's centrality in American Judaism, and demanding freedom for the Palestinian people. Their stories reveal a generational divide in the American Jewish community as more young Jews question the narratives their synagogues and Hebrew school teachers taught them as children.

The film also features voices like Jacqui, a Jewish educator who believes "Judaism is Israel and Israel is Judaism", and former Anti-Defamation League President Abe Foxman, who claims voices like Simone and Eitan's represent a small minority. Thought leaders like Peter Beinart, Jeremy Ben-Ami, Noura Erakat, Cornel West and Noam Chomsky also weigh in.

Directed by two first-time Jewish filmmakers who share a similar story to the film's protagonists, Israelism is produced by Peabody-winner and 4-time Emmy-nominee Daniel J. Chalfen (Bad Axe, Boycott), as well as Palestinian-American producer Nadia Saah, who has led strategy on films such as the Oscar Nominated Omar and 5 Broken Cameras. Israelism is also executive Produced by 2-time Emmy-winner Brian A. Kates (Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Succession) and edited by Emmy-winner Tony Hale (The Story of Plastic), Israelism uniquely explores how Jewish attitudes towards Israel are changing dramatically, with massive consequences for the region and for Judaism itself.

Robots that Evolve on Demand
2025-03-26 09:00
Robots are traditionally designed with fixed physical hardware and control policies that make them specialized for repetitive tasks and structured environments. This talk discusses foundational work toward robots that "evolve on demand," morphing their bodies and adapting their behaviors to accommodate multiple tasks in diverse environments. First, I will introduce robotic structures made from stiffness-changing materials that enable myriad shape transformations. Next, I will discuss a compact sensor capable of detecting a wide variety of stimuli relevant to shape morphing robots. I will then present models that describe shape morphing systems' highly nonlinear geometric and material behavior, allowing for more efficient inverse design of bespoke morphing components. These foundational topics inform the second part of the talk-the interplay of a robot's shape and control policy. Here, I will demonstrate how tuning shape can boost robotic performance and unlock entirely new capabilities in locomotion and combined locomotion-manipulation tasks.

Duke Fungal Symposium - "Fungi in a Warming World: Adaptations, Challenges, and Resilience"
2025-05-16 09:00
The Climate and Fungi (CLIF) Research Group invites you to Duke University's inaugural symposium addressing fungal adaptations, challenges and resilience in a warming climate.

Featured speakers include researchers both internal and external to Duke with pioneering work in the following areas: fungal response to heat stress, thermal adaptation, impacts on fungal disease, antifungal drug resistance and the use of fungi for bioremediation and carbon capture. This symposium will serve as catalyst event to engage and recruit researchers from different disciplines to foster collaboration and accelerate climate solutions.

To see the full symposium program and to register, click on "More Event Information" below.

2025 Tri-I Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program Symposium
2025-07-28 08:30
Registration is open for the 2025 Tri-I Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program Symposium. We have an exciting lineup of speakers! This year, we will have a virtual option. When registering, please indicate if you will be attending in person or virtually.

Speakers will include:

• Dr. Orlando Arguello Miranda, North Carolina State University
• Dr. Abigail LaBella, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Dr. Caroline Laplante, North Carolina State University
• Dr. Thuy Le, Duke University
• Dr. José Vargas-Muñiz, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

To register, click on "More Event Information" below. The deadline to register is Monday, July 7th.

Into the Clear Blue Sky: Restoring Our Forests and Atmosphere
2025-10-02 16:30
The 51st Henry J. Oosting Memorial Lecture in Ecology will feature Rob Jackson, Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor at Stanford University. Jackson's lecture is entitled "Into the Clear Blue Sky: Restoring Our Forests and Atmosphere."

Presented by the University Program in Ecology, the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Department of Biology, this endowed lecture honors the preeminent plant ecologist Henry J. Oosting, who founded the study of plant ecology at Duke in the early 1930s.

Light refreshments will be available at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Nicholas School's Hall of Science. The Oosting lecture will follow from 4:30-6 p.m. in Love Auditorium, within the Levine Science Research Center at the Nicholas School. No registration is necessary.
