June 4, 2025
Critical minerals are vital to advances in the global and domestic economies, the energy transition, and national security. This hub brings together experts from engineering and the natural and social sciences to establish an interdisciplinary platform for research and education of critical minerals. These experts will work on different angles of critical minerals and examine their full life cycle — from extraction and mining to processing, use and reuse — to develop a framework for managing demand and supply in the short term and reducing critical minerals dependence over the long term. A key element of the group’s work will be developing partnerships with industry as well as local communities impacted by mineral extraction processes. Other focal points include strategies to strengthen domestic supply chains, techniques to recover minerals from unconventional sources, development of environmental and geochemical methods to ensure the sustainability of critical mining exploration, and innovations that support the development of alternative materials.
Complete news release: https://interdisciplinary.duke.edu/news/new-hubs-represent-big-bets-interdisciplinarity-duke/