The Council on Undergraduate Research defines undergraduate research as “an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline”. CURE includes scholarly and creative activities across the Arts and Humanities as well as STEM fields.
There is a large and growing body of evidence which shows the positive impact of CUREs on student retention, graduation rates, and early career success (see: Bell 2015, Rodenbusch et al. 2016, and Hensel 2018 for more info).
- CUREs allow more students to engage in original research than the traditional “apprentice model”.
- CUREs are beneficial to faculty members and contribute to their professional development.
- CUREs are beneficial to institutions.
This fall the CRI is planning to facilitate discussions about how PSU can support CURE development within and across Integrated Clusters.