John Noonan's interests lie in the areas of English language learning for the purposes of journalism, communications and various forms of mass media. In particular, he is interested in English language environmental writing, media ethics, visual media production and experiential learning. Prior to attending journalism school, Noonan obtained a TESOL certificate, and has taught ESL for over 20 years, from Istanbul, Turkey, to New York City.

His research focus is the comparative study of Islamic and Western political thought. His work has appeared in Journal of Religion, Perspectives on Political Science, American Political Thought, Iranian Studies, Interpretation, Review of Politics, Renaissance & Reformation, and Eurorient, as well as collected volumes. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include Islamic and Western political thought. His book (forthcoming with Cambridge University Press) is a comprehensive study of Leo Strauss's writings on Islamic political thought.

His research focuses on the intersection of religion and ecology in China. He has published six books including "China's Green Religion: Daoism and the Quest for a Sustainable Future" (Columbia, 2017). He is noted worldwide as an expert in Daoism, China's indigenous religion. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include ethics and leadership, global China studies, environmental science, U.S. studies, religious studies and philosophy. Miller has a B.A. (honors) in Chinese studies from Durham University, a B.A. (honors) and M.A.

Her primary focus in classroom instruction is to prepare students for real-life interaction with native speakers of Chinese. Her primary research interests include interactive instruction, comprehension-led learning, cross-cultural communication, teaching material development, and Chinese language teacher training. Miao has a M.A. in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages (TCSOL) from Northeast Normal University, China.

Her research encompasses the intersection of language learning and teaching, intercultural competence development, and perspective transformation, with a particular focus on international education. She is also investigating the effects of curriculum ideologies on glottophobia and epilinguistic behaviors, as well as Native American language revitalization. Mauldin-Chiocca has B.A.s in history and English and an M.A. in history from the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, France, and a Ph.D.

His archaeological work focuses on the southern Lake Chad Basin of Central Africa. His main research interests are in state formation processes in Africa, international cultural heritage management issues, the archaeological study of ethnicity and social boundaries, and African and global archaeogenetics. His most recent book is "Searching for Boko Haram: A History of Violence in Central Africa." His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include cultures and movements, anthropology and archaeology, and courses that connect to global health and environmental science. MacEachern has a B.A.

His research focuses on service provision in authoritarian regimes and the incentive structure of developing nations in providing social welfare benefits, as well as how individuals are impacted by and react to state narratives and ideology. His primary interest is in finding new ways of unlocking data to better understand individual-level outcomes in China. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include political economy, institutions and governance, and political science. MacDonald has a B.A. in history and an M.A. in East Asian studies from Stanford University, and an M.Phil and Ph.D.

His broad research interests are climate variability, weather extremes, and atmospheric dynamics. The essential motivation for his research is to better understand and predict the behavior of the climate system, which has led to his focus on the variability of the large-scale atmospheric circulation and the related weather extremes. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include environmental science and physics. He has had papers published in leading academic journals including Nature Communications, Journal of Climate, and Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.