Program II Annenberg Fellows Are Fueling the Future
Program II has launched a bold initiative that puts students directly into the worlds they hope to change. The inaugural cohort of Annenberg Fellows for Interdisciplinary Learning and Engagement (AFIRE) represents the start of a dynamic program open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Powered by a generous gift from the Annenberg Foundation, AFIRE provides funding for internships and research opportunities that enrich and expand on a student’s individually crafted academic track.
“Program II has long been known for fostering and encouraging students to chart interdisciplinary paths that tackle pressing global challenges,” explains Heather Settle, director for Program II.
Students in Program II navigate thousands of courses and hundreds of faculty members to find a unique combination of theories and methods that allows them to study urgent, contemporary issues. From health and healing to sustainable development to media and public trust, their work bridges gaps in understanding and communication, creating opportunities to form new conversations across disciplines.
“AFIRE will allow the students to translate their academic learning into real-world impact, connecting scientists and scholars with policymakers, entrepreneurs and the communities most affected by these issues,” Settle shares. “Through these experiences, Annenberg Fellows are actively using the skills and perspective they gain to make things and to make things happen via creation, connection and a shared commitment to social change.”
Meet the Fellows:
AFIRE: Summer 2025
Aisha Mane
Program II: The Biochemical and Social Dimensions of Health in the Black Diaspora
Mentor: Charmaine DM Royal, Robert O. Keohane Professor of African & African American Studies, Department of African & African American Studies
Aisha Mane’s work is at the intersection of her passions: addressing health disparities in the Black diaspora and tackling complex, multifaceted problems. Her summer project involved a wide-ranging literature review of clinical, social, biological and structural domains related to sickle cell disease. Mane began data collection for her senior thesis this fall, with analysis planed for the spring.
“AFIRE has been a blessing and an integral part of my development as an integrative thinker and researcher. My mentor and I identified a gap in the literature, and I developed an exploratory study “Examining Cross-Cultural Lived and Physiological Sickle Cell Experiences (ECLIPSE),” which investigates how structural, clinical, behavioral, environmental and sociocultural domains interact to produce disease phenotypes in sickle cell disease cross culturally. The Annenberg Fellowship has made this work a reality, allowing me to recruit patients from both Duke and the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, to collect data and to be at the forefront of such meaningful research.”
AFIRE: Winter 2025
Victoria Ayodele
Program II: Neurological Development and Nutrition
Mentor: Cynthia Kuhn, professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine
Victoria Ayodele will join a global health research organization for an immersive trip to Ethiopia. The program includes hospital site visits at Black Lion and St. Paul’s, meetings with the Ministry of Health and Africa CDC, and collaborations with NGOs focused on HIV and maternal health. Working alongside peers and local mentors, Ayodele will contribute to joint research projects with opportunities for co-authorship, while receiving mentorship from global health leaders.
"The Annenberg Fellowship deepens the global health work I’ve built through Program II and through my experiences designing maternal nutrition and anemia-prevention campaigns for first-time mothers in Bauchi, Nigeria. It also connects to NeuroPioneers, the international health and neuroscience education initiative I’ve led since 2023, where I work with students and families across Africa and the diaspora. This trip will allow me to extend this foundation by learning directly from clinicians and public health leaders addressing maternal health, nutrition and health systems on the ground, while strengthening my long-term commitment to advancing maternal and child health through nutrition policy across sub-Saharan Africa."
Sophie Brooks
Program II: Mind, Meaning, Movement: A Multidimensional Approach to Human Wellness
Mentor: Bridgette Hard, professor of the practice, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Over winter break, Sophie Brooks will conduct interviews with leading experts in the wellness field, including neuroscientists, psychologists, religious leaders, physical educators and wellness specialists. These interviews will become a podcasts series that explores different facets of health and well-being, from mindfulness and psychological cultivation to physical vitality and spiritual growth. Brooks will continue her research once she returns to Durham.
“This fellowship is an incredible opportunity to bridge academic scholarship with lived experiences. Rather than allowing the work I’ve done for my Program II to live as an academic archive, I will be able to translate it into a form that will serve multiple audiences. The creation process and final product are opportunities for me to deepen my knowledge about human wellness and share those findings with others to drive impact far beyond the confines of academia.”
Katelyn Cai
Program II: Social and Public Trust in the Digital Age
Mentor: Phil Napoli, James R. Shepley Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy
Katelyn Cai’s project blends journalism, economics and media studies with real-world fieldwork. She will interview former journalists and editors from three shuttered newspapers in Colorado, writing a profile on the forces behind the collapse of local journalism that she will then pitch to national publications. Her research on trust in media and institutions frames the project and by gathering firsthand accounts from those affected, Cai will explore how newspapers set prices and stay afloat — as well as what happens to communities when they fail.
“The Annenberg Fellowship is one of the many ways Program II has supported my development as a trust scholar and a journalist during my time at Duke. It’s a recognition of how far I’ve come in my interdisciplinary pursuits — and how much more I can do. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel for my research.”
Aissatou Diallo
Program II: The Intersections of Performing Arts and Science: Incorporating Biological and Psychological Perspectives
Mentor: Andrea E. Woods Valdés, associate professor of the practice of Dance, Dance Program
Aissatou Diallo’s winter project serves as both exploratory research and creative development for her Program II senior capstone. She is investigating how different performance settings — live, recorded or participatory — shape activity in the mind and body, and whether live performance produces a distinctive physiological “mark” reflected in neural synchrony and autonomic responses. She will re-block choreography to accommodate wearable sensors such as electroencephalography (EEG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) devices. Diallo will then conduct a pilot study, film the revised piece and prepare material that will later be performed with the same technology in the Duke Dance Program’s Spring Dances concert.
“The AFIRE Fellowship gives me the opportunity to realize a vision I have had since my first year at Duke. I never thought it would be possible to pursue my passions for the performing arts and biomedical sciences together, but my interdisciplinary research has shown me how seemingly contrasting fields can complement one another.”
Aidan Klein
Program II: Character Studies: Personality, Storytelling, and Embodiment
Mentor: Jeff Storer, professor of the practice of Theater Studies, Department of Theater Studies
Aidan Klein’s project will deepen his understanding of how character and emotion are conveyed across mediums, while informing his interdisciplinary capstone on shifting identities. He will travel to London to interview and observe creative professionals in theatre, animation and puppetry. Attending performances and exhibitions, Klein will document his observations, and through these experiences, he aims to gain practical knowledge in animation and storytelling while drawing creative inspiration from a range of artistic perspectives.
“This fellowship represents a rare chance to pursue the kind of immersive, self-directed study that first drew me to Program II. It’s an opportunity to spend my winter break fully engaged in the arts, learning from world-class performances and meeting professionals whose work bridges disciplines. The experience will allow me to push my understanding of character storytelling and embodiment beyond the classroom, developing insights and material that will directly shape my senior capstone.”
Daliya Rizvi
Project II: Immuno-Oncology and Ethics
Mentor: Sherryl A. Broverman, professor of the practice of Biology, Department of Biology
Daliya Rizvi will design and deliver interactive virtual workshops in Urdu for women undergoing dialysis and managing chronic illnesses, with a focus on mental wellness, nutrition, reproductive health and personal hygiene. By collaborating with a social worker at a large-scale health institute in Karachi, Rizvi will work to ensure that materials are culturally sensitive, evidence-based and accessible to participants with varying levels of literacy and digital familiarity. She is also developing a bilingual website to provide participants with tools to engage with their wellbeing. By merging patient-centered communication, cross-cultural collaboration and digital health education, Rizvi seeks to empower women to take ownership of their healthcare.
“Receiving the AFIRE means a lot to me. It’s exciting to have the chance to bring my project to life and create something that can genuinely help women feel more informed and empowered about their health. This support also reminds me why I chose an interdisciplinary path in the first place — to connect science, ethics and empathy in ways that make a real difference for people.”
Dhruv Rungta
Project II: Economics, Ecology & Sustainability Development
Mentor: Christopher W. Sims, associate professor of the practice, Sanford School of Public Policy
Dhruv Rungta will work with People in Need (PIN) Mongolia, an NGO helping people cope with extreme weather events and climate change, improving rural livelihoods and supporting sustainable development. Rungta will work with the Cooking, Heating, and Insulation Products (CHIP) initiative, which addresses air pollution and energy inequity in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger districts. He will also pursue three goals: create a photo essay on air pollution and energy justice to support public education and grant development, gain hands-on insight into how PIN projects are designed and implemented and deepen his understanding of Mongolia’s ecology, culture and community-based approaches to environmental work.
“It’s so exciting being a part of AFIRE! It's one of the first experiential programs at Trinity offered during the December break, and I'm stoked that we not only get to work on highly interdisciplinary and meaningful projects but that this fellowship can serve as a proof of concept for expanding programming and opportunities across Duke during this typically underutilized time. On a personal level, I'm really inspired by the environmental work my NGO partner does and cannot wait to both learn from and support them!”
Courtney Yribarren
Project II: Sustainable Human Development
Mentor: Kathryn Whetten, professor, Sanford School of Public Policy
As part of her Program II thesis, Courtney Yribarren will attend the Singapore Tap Festival over winter break to integrate fieldwork into her research. Yribarren will observe how dancers exchange knowledge across national and linguistic boundaries, conduct semi-structured interviews with artists and organizers and test the applicability of the digital Dance Commons platform she is developing. Her goal is to identify the resources, values and governance structures needed to ensure that the platform is inclusive and effective on a global scale.