Making an Impact by Avoiding an Impact
How Duke researchers are improving early asteroid detection for planetary defense.
Signature Research Topics
Enabling creative, applicable solutions to pressing challenges
Duke’s Electrical and Computer Engineering research enables creative, applicable solutions to pressing challenges in human health, security, and automation, and new strides in fundamental scientific exploration and discovery. Government and industry organizations are valuable partners at Duke ECE, and our entrepreneurial spirit manifests itself in a growing portfolio of companies spun off from our research.
Major Research Programs
Our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized for research in areas including:
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
We have built a team of internationally recognized experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning—in fact, Duke ECE is said to be among the world’s top universities in AI/ML research.
Metamaterials
Our faculty members demonstrated the world’s first negative refractive index metamaterial in 2000, and in 2006 a Duke ECE engineer invented a metamaterial “invisibility cloak” that renders objects undetectable at microwave frequencies.
Quantum Computing
Our internationally recognized quantum computing team—part of the Duke Quantum Center—is replacing the bits of traditional computers with trapped ion qubits, which exist in multiple states at once.
Nanoelectronic Materials & Devices
We are working to create self-assembling electronic devices, and exploring the potential of novel electronic materials to enable next-generation transistors, neuromorphic computing, solar cells, photodetectors, and more.
Sensing & Imaging
We’re developing novel approaches to gathering and analyzing information to make our world safer and more secure, and healthcare applications faster and more efficient.
Trustworthy Computing
Close collaborations with industry and government partners drive our work to secure systems in the Cloud, on the ground and in the air.
Latest Research News
The Lamond Effect: Growing ECE’s Educational Foundations
The naming of the Pierre R. Lamond Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will have a big impact on students at all levels.
Earthquake Early Warning in Kathmandu
Duke faculty and students are working with colleagues in Nepal to give the country more warning before deadly earthquakes strike.
Semiconductor Game Changers
In this Q&A series, Duke ECE faculty members discuss their work in semiconductor‑related research and how they are making an impact in the field.
Duke’s Semiconductor Game Changers: Aaron Franklin
Aaron Franklin studies nanomaterials as disruptive complements or replacements for conventional silicon technology.
Duke’s Semiconductor Game Changers: Hai “Helen” Li
Hai “Helen” Li studies neuromorphic computing and AI hardware from a design and computer architecture perspective.
Duke’s Semiconductor Game Changers: Haozhe “Harry” Wang
Haozhe “Harry” Wang pioneers atomic-scale semiconductor manufacturing to push electronics beyond silicon.
Duke’s Semiconductor Game Changers: Tania Roy
Tania Roy studies novel semiconductor materials and devices to advance energy-efficient computing and edge AI.
Duke’s Semiconductor Game Changers: Yiran Chen
Yiran Chen develops brain-inspired semiconductor hardware to enable faster, greener AI at the edge.