National calls to improve undergraduate biology education have advocated for widespread engagement of students in research. Undergraduate researchers report gains in their ability to think and work like scientists and increased interest in and enjoyment of science. They are also more likely to pursue further education and careers in science and research, which drive the nation's progress and economic prosperity. Yet, research experiences are typically structured as internships, which limits the number of students who can participate. In response, colleges and universities have begun to transform their laboratory courses into scalable research experiences, called Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Students who participate in CUREs achieve many of the same gains as students who participate in research internships, but there are colleges and universities that have yet to integrate CUREs into their undergraduate curricula - especially colleges and universities that enroll significant proportions of students from under-represented and under-served backgrounds. The CURE Network 2 (CUREnet 2) will take a multi-pronged approach to build capacity for CUREs at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and other under-resourced colleges and universities. As a result, broader and more diverse populations of students will have access to research experiences. CUREnet 2 will also support networking and collaboration to understand what makes CUREs effective for student learning and development and to maximize the effectiveness, impact, and long-term sustainability of CURE instruction.
CUREnet 2 aims to support the national shift in undergraduate lab instruction toward student engagement in research. CUREnet 2 is designed in response to educational needs and according to theories of change in higher education, thereby maximizing its likelihood of impact and success. With leadership representing seven universities and colleges, including four HBCUs, CUREnet 2 will build national capacity for CURE instruction by: (1) Offering campus-based faculty professional development on CURE instruction; (2) Supporting the development of cross-institution CUREs and acquisition of resources needed to support undergraduate research; (3) Convening meetings to synthesize research in education, cognitive science, psychology, and learning sciences to understand how CUREs influence student learning and development and to plan collaborations to develop needed assessment frameworks, methods, and tools; (4) Convening meetings to identify problems and solutions for sustaining CUREs over time; (5) Improving the functionality, sustainability, and widespread use of the CUREnet website; and (6) Sharing information and resources among CURE-related networks. Ultimately, CUREnet 2 will help ensure the availability and effectiveness of research opportunities for a broad and diverse population of undergraduates early enough to make a difference in their academic and career trajectories.
This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/). This project is also co-funded by the Division of Human Resources Development (HBCU-UP) in the EHR directorate.
