Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to work towards establishing research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution. and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. This project at Tuskegee University will provide research opportunities in undergraduate course work. The students will engage in research projects, collect and interpret data and present their findings to audiences.
The novelty of the Tuskegee CUREs (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences in STEM) project lies in its ability to provide authentic research experiences to early career college students as a part of undergraduate STEM courses, equipping them with strong research interests, fostering integrative or interdisciplinary learning, and to improving research skills. As a result of this effort, the over-arching goal/objective of this proposed project is to increase the opportunities for undergraduate students to increase both the number and percentage of undergraduate students who have science knowledge/technical skills, persist to graduation, and obtain advanced degrees in STEM disciplines. These goals/objectives will be accomplished by 1) increasing undergraduate participation in authentic research experiences by infusing traditional courses with CUREs; 2) fostering the develop of inquiry and scientific communication skills; 3) improving the persistence and retention of undergraduate students in STEM degree programs (especially freshmen) by using introductory biology CUREs to create learning communities; and 4) improving the persistence and retention of undergraduate students in STEM fields (especially freshmen) by using research experiences to foster/support the critical transition of undergraduates to graduate school and other STEM careers. The success of the Tuskegee CUREs project will contribute to increasing diversity in the STEM workforce, while serving as a model for such programs at other HBCUs. This project is jointly funded by HBCU-UP and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
