Science & Society News
Learn what is happening inside the Duke Initiative for Science & Society. Stay up-to-date on our research, events, and student activities.
Thu, Sep 24
Beyond the JD: Build a Career You Want to Wake Up For
Duke Law students come to Durham prepared to do challenging work and to build successful careers. The joint JD/Master of Arts in Applied Ethics & Policy offers a way to differentiate your work and make that career distinctly your own.
As breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, health care, and other digital technologies reshape society, lawyers will be asked to do more than interpret rules. They will need to understand competing values, communicate across disciplines, and help organizations make practical, responsible decisions.
“While a degree from Duke Law comprehensively prepares you for any job upon graduation, combining the JD with an M.A. in Applied Ethics & Policy can help you find the position – and perhaps the career – you truly want,” says Duke Law Professor Jolynn Dellinger.“ A job that speaks to your passions in bioethics or technology, and with organizations or firms doing work in the life sciences, health, privacy, or wherever your special interests lie.”
A Meaningful Professional Advantage
The joint degree program complements the rigor of a Duke Law education with an interdisciplinary community and curriculum that explores the real-world challenges at the intersection of science, technology, ethics, and policy. While the law school teaches you to think linearly, the master’s program helps you think laterally and in more creative ways.
This broader experience creates a meaningful professional advantage. Employers increasingly value lawyers who bring curiosity, critical thinking, and fluency in the social and technical context behind complex legal questions. The master’s degree becomes more than an additional credential. It is a way to gain perspective that applies across sectors, and differentiate yourself in interviews, clerkships, and future roles.
Ana Otero is a Duke Law 2L and JD/MA candidate who entered the program with a background in the biosciences. But exposure through the master’s program revealed the growing overlap between her bioethics work and emerging issues in technology innovation. “Firms are increasingly deploying legal AI tools, and some are even developing their own in-house AI platforms,” says Otero. “It’s expected that associates will be familiar with and embrace these technologies. Being able to engage with AI from an ethical and policy standpoint is a total value add to my already amazing legal education.”
The joint degree is designed to fit alongside the JD, with MA coursework beginning after the first year and structured around law students’ schedules. Students apply during the first semester of 1L year and complete both degrees in three years.
A Duke Law degree opens doors. The JD/MA can help you decide which doors lead to the work you are most excited to do. Learn more at scienceandsociety.duke.edu/jdma and apply by October 1st.
Thu, Sep 24
Cybersecurity at Duke Conference Focuses on Challenges of AI and Emerging Technology
Artificial intelligence and its impact on cybersecurity were the focus Friday as Duke University hosted its third annual “Cybersecurity at Duke” conference.
Thu, Sep 10
Be a Jelly Donut, by David Hoffman
I spent this past summer in Berlin with four Duke undergraduate students and two members of our research staff. We were there as part of Duke’s Laidlaw Scholars program, studying how Berlin’s art community is reacting to artificial intelligence and to the data centers being built to power it. One of the foundations of my research at Duke is understanding the impact of technology on art and how art can be used to advance public policy. Berlin has one of the most engaged art communities in the world, which makes it a good place to explore, watch, listen and learn.
Tue, Sep 08
Duke Names Janet Malek and Marc Groman to Lead Applied Ethics & Policy Graduate Program
The Duke Initiative for Science & Society has named Janet Malek, Ph.D., and Marc Groman, J.D., as co-leads of the Master of Arts in Applied Ethics & Policy (MA-AEP) program. Together they bring expertise in bioethics, health policy, emerging technology, artificial intelligence, and responsible innovation.
“At Duke, we are building a program for students who want to do more than identify ethical or policy problems,” says Science & Society Director David Hoffman. “We want them to understand how decisions are made in the real world, who they affect, how governance structures succeed or fail, and how principled leadership can help innovation earn public trust.”
Bringing Bioethics from Theory to Practice
Malek will lead the program’s Bioethics & Science Policy concentration. She brings extensive experience as a clinical ethics consultant at Houston Methodist Hospital, and her research addresses topics including reproductive decision-making, fetal and pediatric ethics, and end-of-life care. As Program Lead for Bioethics Outreach at Duke University Medical School’s Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine, she helps apply rigorous ethical approaches to the decisions facing patients, families, clinicians, and health care institutions.
“Ethics gets interesting when the answers are neither obvious nor easy,” Malek says. “I want students to wrestle seriously with difficult questions and emerge prepared to make decisions that are analytically sound, clinically pragmatic, and responsive to the people whose lives are affected.”
National Expertise in Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Tech Policy
Groman will lead the Technology Ethics & Innovation Policy concentration. A nationally recognized leader in privacy, cybersecurity, and digital governance, Groman has more than 25 years of experience across government, industry, and academia. He previously served as Senior Advisor for Privacy in the White House Office of Management and Budget, Chief Privacy Officer at the Federal Trade Commission, and President and CEO of the Network Advertising Initiative. At Duke, he teaches in the master’s program and advises organizations on responsible technology strategy, data governance, and risk management.
“Responsible innovation is a way to build better technology and stronger institutions,” Groman says. “We teach students to ask the right questions early, engage the people affected, and turn ethical principles into practical strategies that help innovation earn trust and deliver lasting public value.”
Creating Leaders in Responsible Innovation
Their appointment comes as advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, digital health, and data-driven decision-making increasingly blur the boundaries between technology ethics and bioethics. The MA-AEP program prepares students to meet those challenges by combining rigorous ethical analysis with practical tools for policy development, risk management, organizational leadership, and responsible innovation.
Together, Malek and Groman will help students examine questions at the center of today’s most consequential debates: How should emerging technologies be designed, implemented, and governed? Who benefits, who bears risk, and how can individuals and institutions protect human well-being, promote justice, and create lasting public value?
Learn more about Malek and Groman’s work and how the Duke Master of Arts in Applied Ethics & Policy is preparing graduates to build a better future through responsible innovation.
Tue, Aug 11
No Pain, No Privacy: Athletic Wearables and the Limits of Consent
College athletes have long been measured by physical attributes and performance markers, like height, weight, mile times, vertical jumps, and body fat. Wearables offered something new: a glimpse into metrics not immediately apparent to the human eye. A watch, ring, band, patch, or sensor under a jersey can now collect heart-rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, movement, location, and other biometric signals. Software then converts those signals into estimates of sleep, stress, fatigue, workload, and readiness. Cameras, force plates, nutrition apps, and body-composition tests, including BOD POD and DXA assessments, add more detail to the record of an athlete’s body.