Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke

10/01/2026

The Nicholas School of the Environment mourns the death of Joe Ramus, a distinguished marine scientist, educator, former director of the Duke University Marine Lab and devoted advocate for North Carolina’s coast. Ramus died Sept. 22, 2026, after a brief illness.

Joe Ramus, a distinguished marine scientist, educator, former director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory and devoted advocate for North Carolina’s coast, died Sept. 22, 2026, after a brief illness.

09/24/2026

The Nicholas School Alumni Council recently gathered on campus to hear the latest from around the school and help us develop new ways to keep alumni engaged and connected.

Just a few highlights included:

· A tour of the Duke Lemur Center
· Presentations from students about their summer experiences
· An introduction to Course-Based Pathways, an alternative to traditional Master’s Projects, from Grant Murray, associate dean for professional programs
· A deep dive into the admissions process with Admissions Director Ben Pereklita
· A lively social gathering with current students

Alumni Council members also shared ideas for alumni engagement and mentoring before saying farewell until the next meeting!

09/05/2026

The Field Day tradition continues! The Nicholas School community gathered in Duke Forest for food, fun, sun and forest games.

08/24/2026

Happy first day of classes! We look forward to seeing what the Nicholas School community will learn, discover and achieve this year.

A special welcome to all our newest professional master's and doctoral students, who recently took part in a great week of orientation.

08/19/2026

Cell phones, electric vehicles, aircrafts — to function, all require elements mined from the earth called critical minerals. As economies increasingly rely on technologies that depend on critical minerals, demand for these natural resources is growing.

For Nicholas School geochemist Avner Vengosh, that demand raises important questions about the effects of critical mineral mining and processing on the environment and communities.

Vengosh describes his research in Duke's latest installment of "Why Do You Study That?”

Tracing the Journey of Critical Minerals Published August 17, 2026 Credits video by Véronique Koch, University Marketing & Communications; story by Julie Leibach, Nicholas School of the Environment Tags Duke Research Saves Lives Schools Nicholas School of the Environment Scholars Avner Vengosh Nich...

08/18/2026

08/13/2026

What do infants, people over 65, outdoor workers, people from low-income households and those with a chronic illness have in common? They are among those most at risk from extreme heat.

Nishad Jayasundara, Juli Plant Grainger Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Health, joined a panel of Duke scholars for a virtual briefing for journalists that discussed how certain populations can be hit hard by heat-related illnesses and provided advice on how to prevent and mitigate heat-associated risks.

Jayasundara on the long-term effects of heat exposure: "Exposure that can happen for a couple of hours can affect the kidney in a way that makes that kidney more susceptible or makes it more at risk of developing future kidney disease or chronic kidney disease. We already see this is taking place in certain parts of the world where tropical farming communities are showing increased rates of chronic kidney failure at very young ages, and we see that heat stress is a major factor that contributes to that.”

News You Can Use: Heat and Vulnerable Populations Three Duke experts discuss heat impacts to older adults, outdoor workers and more – plus, how to mitigate these risks Image Published August 12, 2026 Credits Story by Susan Miller; Graphic by Isabel Nunez University Communications and Marketing Tag...

08/11/2026

08/07/2026

This summer, MEM student Fafa Van Ha was part of the Vanilla Agriculture and One Health in Rural Madagascar Duke Bass Connections project team, co-led by Randall Kramer, which conducted fieldwork to better understand diseases affecting vanilla orchids, their impacts on farmers and the biodiversity of the agroforestry systems where vanilla is grown.

The fieldwork team, made up of Duke undergraduates, Duke and N.C. State graduate students and longtime Malagasy partners, conducted research with vanilla farmers in the village of Mandena, located in the northeast SAVA Region of Madagascar, just at the border of Marojejy National Park.

Days in the field included vanilla sampling, setting up bioacoustics equipment, testing vanilla plants for viruses and supporting farm surveys.

For Van Ha, contributing to a project where vanilla farmers’ knowledge and time were valued and meaningfully integrated into the research goals, questions and fieldwork in real time was particularly impactful.

📸: Fafa Van Ha

08/05/2026