Mapping Connection: An Emerging Leaders Institute Team Project

Anyone who has been to Duke can tell you how incredible our campus is: filled with stunning architecture, immaculate landscaping, and countless resources, programs and community spaces. Yet as graduate and professional students and trainees, many of us only experience a fraction of it. We often move between a limited set of spaces: our department building and a nearby coffee or lunch spot. Over time, these routines create “campus bubbles.” While perhaps comfortable and efficient, they make it easy to overlook the broader Duke community and the multitude of amazing resources that lay beyond our departments. As a result, we often network, socialize, and collaborate within our own discipline, our same bubble, leaving our campus’ resources underutilized, and opportunities for connection missed. Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) brought many of us across disciplines together and charged us with developing and implementing a team project that would improve the Duke campus environment. As we brainstormed project ideas, we found ourselves wondering, “What would it take to make Duke feel more visible and interconnected for all trainees?”

Before we could tackle answering this question, we sought to detail the problem and identify the pain points people experience navigating campus, so we conducted a survey of Duke graduate and professional students and postdoctoral trainees. When we got the results back, the first finding that immediately stuck out to us was that most trainees already rely on Google Maps to get around campus. This data reinforced to us that any solution we developed needed to meet prospective users where they already are, rather than introducing an entirely new platform. 

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At the same time, respondents described several persistent challenges. Many noted confusion around building nicknames, where commonly used terms like “The Perk” or “BC” are not always intuitive to newcomers. Others highlighted their difficulty in navigating campus could be attributed to limited knowledge of the public transportation and parking options. Just as importantly, many respondents shared that they tend to remain within the same buildings or areas, rarely venturing beyond their immediate academic environments. We also asked respondents what they would want in an ideal campus navigation tool. Responses consistently pointed to practical, everyday needs: clear walking and transit information, recognizable building names and nicknames, accessible study spaces, and better visibility of campus resources and community spaces. 

To address these challenges, we had our work cut out for us. As the enterprising emerging leaders we are, we set out to understand what could be done. After meeting with representatives across campus, including Graduate and Professional Student Services (GPSS), Duke Groups and the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) and the Office of Postdoctoral Services, we heard a resounding need for graduate student and postdoc-focused navigation tool. Emerging from these meetings was a clear idea: we were going to make a Duke Asset Map. 

Turning Insight into Action

One issue remained: we were not mapmakers. Given our compact project timeline with ELI program (just eight weeks), lack of map-making skills, and limited knowledge of Duke (we too struggled to navigate campus), we looked to others for inspiration. Luckily, a viral TikTok provided the answer.

In 2021, Teddy Siegel created the “Got2Go NYC” bathroom map using Google Map’s share map feature. This crowd-sourced map blew up on social media, and through community input has grown to include over 2,000 verified locations. The success of “Got2Go NYC” inspired us to use the crowd-sourced map-building approach with Google maps to solve the problems our respondents had identified at Duke. Using the tool, we developed a similar concept for GPSS: a shared, trainee-informed campus map built within Google My Maps. This made it easier to implement survey feedback to shape the structure of the map and allow for students and trainees to add their own touch. 

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Each layer of the map has different categories reflecting the real lived experience on campus such as study spaces, wellness resources, identity and community centers, event spaces, and which lots accept the after-hours parking permit. Each map location contains details to help users navigate campus more seamlessly, including building nicknames, brief descriptions, and accessibility information.  Additionally, because graduate and postdoc trainees at Duke rarely receive a formal campus tour and often are unfamiliar with even the iconic landmarks this beautiful campus has to offer, we created a “Self-Guided Welcome to Duke Tour” through the shared map. Coded as a route with highlighting key spaces across campus, this feature allows people to get acquainted with campus on their own time.

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Conclusion

This map will never be a finished product. It is a living resource. We have started crowdsourcing from our ELI team and within our programs and friend groups, but what we have created is simply an initial template. Our map is now open to the broader Duke community, encouraging students, trainees and community members to contribute new locations and share their own perspectives on campus spaces. Over the years, we are encouraged that this map will grow and represent the ever-changing campus and how it best serves trainees. With this new resource in hand, we hope to remove one barrier to navigating Duke and connect trainees with all the amazing resources and hidden gems this campus has to offer. 

Now it is in your hands. Come take a look at our map, add your favorite study spot or resource, and help us map connections. 

We thank our ELI teammates who helped to bring this project to reality: Lei Hei (M.F.A. student in Experimental & Documentary Arts) and Margaux Kreitman, Ph.D. (postdoctoral associate in the Duke Eye Center).

AUTHORS

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Mary Ann Fahmy

M.S. student, Global Health

Mary Ann Fahmy is a rising second-year master's student in global health and is involved with the Center for Global Mental Health. She traveled to Moshi, Tanzania this summer to conduct qualitative thesis research focused on understanding the social environment following discharge from inpatient psychiatric care. Prior to coming to Duke, Mary Ann served in AmeriCorps at a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic in Philadelphia, where she worked with patients experiencing substance-use disorder. These experiences shaped her interests in the intersection of social welfare and public health among underserved populations. She hopes to work in global health policy, with the goal of contributing to international institutions focused on advancing equity.

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Kalina Larsen

Ph.D. candidate, Pharmacology

Kalina Larsen is a rising fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in pharmacology, working in the Donnelly Lab within the Department of Anesthesiology. Her research focuses on neuron-immune interactions in oral cancer, examining how stress signaling influences immune responses, chronic pain, and disease progression. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with dual majors in genetics and life sciences communication. With interests at the intersection of biology, strategy, and therapeutic application, Kalina brings a strong translational mindset to her work and aspires to a career in medical affairs or medical strategy, bridging scientific discovery with clinical and organizational impact.