Duke Kunshan University has awarded 2026 Summer Research Grants to 14 faculty-led projects in fields including environmental sustainability, health, education and the humanities.
The projects were selected from 41 eligible proposals submitted from across the university. The grants support faculty research during the summer while creating opportunities for students to take part in fieldwork, laboratory research, data analysis and other forms of hands-on scholarship.
The funded projects reflect the breadth of DKU’s research community, with topics ranging from migratory waterbird conservation and clean-water technologies to ovarian cancer research, voice privacy, teacher education and classical Chinese political thought.
“The Summer Research Grant has become an increasingly important part of DKU’s research ecosystem,” said Scott MacEachern, vice chancellor for academic affairs. “This year’s projects show the breadth of faculty research at DKU and create valuable opportunities for students to take part in hands-on research.”
Chi-Yeung (Jimmy) Choi, assistant professor of environmental science, will study the breeding behavior and breeding success of migratory waterbirds in temperate wetlands in steppe regions.
The grant will support fieldwork at Hulun Lake in Inner Mongolia, where Choi’s team will collect data and study common threats facing migratory birds that breed in the region.
Choi explained that his research will address the key drivers behind the population decline of migratory birds and examine how these birds respond to ongoing climate and land-use changes.
Rebecca Hock, assistant professor of global health, is leading an international collaboration to adapt and pilot a family-based mental health intervention for families affected by trauma and adversity in Kenya.
Developed in collaboration with Duke University researchers and local partners, the project seeks to strengthen family relationships while incorporating an intergenerational trauma component into mental health programming.
“Trauma resulting from war, displacement, poverty and other forms of adversity can have lasting effects on parents, children and family relationships,” Hock said. “At the same time, access to mental health services remains extremely limited, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.”
The project will focus on adapting interventions to local contexts and identifying culturally responsive strategies that strengthen family resilience. Hock hopes the work will contribute to global efforts to reduce the long-term impacts of trauma on children and caregivers while advancing research on scalable mental health interventions.
Weiwei Shi, assistant professor of materials science, is developing a solar-powered device based on common biowaste that is designed to produce clean drinking water and electricity at the same time.
Using sunlight and natural materials, the solar evaporator system explores a simple and sustainable approach to water scarcity and energy harvesting. The project also responds to the need for affordable, energy-efficient water purification, especially in regions with limited infrastructure, while reducing agricultural waste and reliance on fossil-based materials.
“Across the world, millions still lack access to safe drinking water, while agricultural waste continues to accumulate,” Shi said. “This project tackles both challenges at once by turning waste into a resource and harnessing sunlight to provide clean, affordable water.”
The grant will allow Shi’s team to systematically optimize materials, expand testing under realistic conditions and evaluate environmental impact. It will also support student researchers as they refine the technology and test its potential as a low-cost, sustainable solution.
Nathan Hauthaler, assistant professor of philosophy, is examining how different ways of understanding and explaining human action can be connected. His project explores the relationship between people’s first-personal views on their choices and actions and broader explanations of how they become the people who make such choices.
“We are all interested in ourselves and our agency,” Hauthaler said. “We ask ourselves what to do — but also what makes us tick and act the way we do, and what we can do about that.”
The project will involve collaboration with researchers in Germany and aims to bridge different philosophical approaches to explaining human agency. By linking perspectives that are often treated separately, Hauthaler hopes to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of human action and self-understanding.
Xianzhi Lin, assistant professor of biology, is investigating the secondary structure of UCA1, a cancer-promoting long noncoding RNA molecule that is highly expressed in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest gynecologic cancers, partly because it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage and can develop resistance to chemotherapy. UCA1 has been linked to tumor growth, metastasis and drug resistance, but the structural basis of its function remains poorly understood.
“Our project investigates the secondary structure of a cancer-promoting RNA molecule called UCA1, which is highly expressed in ovarian cancer,” Lin said. “By understanding how UCA1 folds, we hope to uncover targetable regions of UCA1 for treating ovarian cancer.”
The grant will support student researchers and provide resources for computational and experimental analyses of UCA1’s secondary structure. Lin’s team aims to identify key secondary structural elements of UCA1 and determine how these structures may contribute to its cancer-promoting functions.
Hyun Jeong Ha, assistant professor of sociology, is exploring a question that challenges conventional assumptions about globalization and education: Why do some socially privileged young adults embrace conservative views on gender and sexuality despite access to elite education, economic opportunity and international mobility?
Through a transnational study of megachurch communities in Gangnam, Seoul, and Irvine, California, Ha is investigating how churches shape everyday moral understandings of family, gender, and citizenship across national contexts.
The project responds to the growing influence of anti-gender politics in South Korea and elsewhere, where religious organizations have played a significant role in public debates surrounding anti-discrimination legislation and gender equality.
“This project addresses a major contemporary puzzle: why global education and transnational mobility do not necessarily foster more inclusive social and political attitudes,” Ha said.
Working with undergraduate researchers, Ha will conduct ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and participant observation to better understand how moral and political ideas circulate through transnational religious networks.
The 2026 Summer Research Grant recipients are:
- Meifang Chen – “Menopausal Health, Quality of Life, and Work Outcomes among Long-Term Care Workers: A Comparative Study of China and Singapore”
- Jimmy Choi – “Transboundary Conservation of Migratory Waterbirds – Starting from the Temperate Wetlands”
- Hyun Jeong Ha – “Transnational Megachurches: Why Global Mobility Doesn’t Always Cultivate Young Liberals”
- Nathan Hauthaler – “Linking Theory: Proximate vs. Distal Philosophy of Action”
- Rebecca Hock – “Adapting and Piloting Tuko Pamoja (“We Are Together”) to Strengthen Family Functioning in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya”
- Xianzhi Lin – “Probing the Secondary Structure of lncRNA UCA1 in Ovarian Cancer”
- Xiaoxiao Miao – “The Fourth International Voice Privacy Challenge: Planning and Post-Evaluation”
- Mustafa Misir – “Router Portfolios: Multi-Criteria Meta-Routing for Accurate, Efficient, and Reliable LLM Deployment”
- Lincoln Rathnam – “Classical Chinese Political Thought: An Introduction and Sourcebook”
- Jiacheng Shen – “Efficient Agentic AI on Resource-Constrained Mobile Devices”
- Weiwei Shi – “The Optimized Photothermal Effect on the Bio-Inspired Evaporators”
- Xiawa Wang – “Vertical Multijunction Thermophotovoltaics for Extreme Heat Harvesting”
- Zhenjie Weng – “Emotion Experiences and Identity Constructions of Pre-service English Language Teachers During Practicum Teaching in Underdeveloped Regions of China”
- Dongmian Zou – “A Textbook on Geometric Deep Learning”
The next call for proposals is expected in November 2026, with a submission deadline in February 2027.
