Karsh STEM Program

Karsh STEM Applications

Applications for the next class of Karsh STEM scholars will open shortly after spring break.

The Karsh STEM Scholars Program is a transformative initiative at Duke University designed to support high-achieving juniors in Science, Technology, Engineering, Economics, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Made possible through a $25 million investment from Bruce ’77 and Martha Karsh, the program provides need-based financial aid, research mentorship, and enrichment opportunities to help students thrive academically and professionally.

Each year, new scholars will be selected, eventually creating a cohort of thirty juniors and seniors at full capacity. The program ensures that students from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering receive hands-on mentorship from faculty, immersive research experiences, and access to $3,000 in enrichment funding for academic and professional development.

The Faculty Director, working in collaboration with Duke leadership, will oversee the program’s growth, support faculty mentors, and implement innovative initiatives to enhance student outcomes. Faculty mentors will provide scholars with one-on-one guidance in research labs, offering invaluable professional and academic preparation.

In addition to financial aid and mentorship, the Karsh STEM Scholars Program is dedicated to fostering an inclusive community of scholars who will go on to make significant contributions in their fields. By integrating research, mentorship, and professional development, the program empowers students to reach new heights in their academic and career trajectories.

For more information about the Karsh STEM Scholars Program, including eligibility and application details, please email karshstem@duke.edu.

Karsh STEM Team

Dorian Canelas

Associate Professor of the Practice of Chemistry

dorian.canelas@duke.edu

Prof. Canelas has been active in implementation of student-centered pedagogies and developing programs to increase undergraduate retention in science tracks. Research interests include chemical education research and the scholarship of teaching and learning as well as macromolecules for industrial and biological applications, such as microelectronics, coatings, membranes, gene therapy delivery, and blood compatibility.

Maria Gorlatova

James N. & Elizabeth H. Barton Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

maria.gorlatova@duke.edu

Dr. Maria Gorlatova's research is at the intersection of sensor, mobile, and pervasive computer systems and communications and networking. She creates human-facing pervasive computing platforms that enable transformative applications and support users in leading healthy and productive lives and in reaching personal and professional goals.

The focus of her recent work is on advanced augmented reality (AR) platforms that integrate edge computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable contextual, responsive, and scalable AR experiences. She conduct research in edge AI, collaborative and infrastructure-assisted spatial and semantic awareness for AR, AR user cognitive context sensing, and AR QoS and QoE evaluation.

Dr. Gorlatova earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and her M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada. She has several years of industry experience, where she had been affiliated with Telcordia Technologies, IBM, and D. E. Shaw Research. She came to Duke from Princeton University, where she held the positions of an Associate Research Scholar in the Electrical Engineering Department and an Associate Director of the Princeton EDGE Lab.

Dr. Gorlatova received multiple awards including the 2025 DARPA Director’s Fellowship Award, 2023 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2021 NSF CAREER Award, 2021 Facebook Research Award, 2023 Cisco Research Award, 2020 and 2023 IBM Faculty Awards, 2016 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award, 2020 ACM/IEEE IPSN Best Research Artifact Award, and 2011 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications. She also received the Google Anita Borg USA Fellowship, Columbia University Presidential Fellowship, and top national Alexander Graham Bell Canadian Graduate Scholar (CGS) NSERC M.Sc. and Ph.D. Fellowships. Dr. Gorlatova serves on technical program committees of multiple conferences including ACM SenSys, ACM/IEEE IPSN, IEEE INFOCOM, IEEE ICDCS, ACM SIGCOMM, and ACM MobiCom. She chaired the TPC of the Edge Computing track of IEEE ICDCS, the TPC of ACM/IEEE IPSN, and the TPC of ACM/IEEE SenSys.