Getting Started in CUREs

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)

Increasing Undergraduate Students' Access to Research Via Courses 

CUREs are an attractive model for engaging more students in research experiences. While CUREs are most broadly employed and evaluated in the sciences, instructors across numerous disciplines at Purdue developed and implemented CUREs. The CURE—Purdue team encourages broad participation form departments across campus.

CUREs have a number of attractive features and the current body of evidence suggests that CUREs yield many positive outcomes for both faculty and students: 

• CUREs can operate at a larger scale than the traditional apprenticeship model of undergraduate research experiences, increasing the overall capacity for undergraduate research.  
• CUREs are more inclusive than the apprenticeship model, which is often selective in the students chosen and require students to know how to find such opportunities. 
• Faculty who develop and teach CUREs have cited the benefits of: 
  • greater enjoyment when teaching CUREs over a traditional course,
  • the ability to integrate their research and teaching,
  • advancement of their research agenda,
  • recruiting students to their personal research group, and
  • the potential to positively impact promotion and tenure.  
• The benefits students report after a research apprenticeship are shared by students participating in CUREs.  

 The Office of Undergraduate Research supports instructors’ development of CUREs through: 

• One-on-one consultations
• The CURE—Purdue professional development program

Scope and Definition of a CURE 

A CURE is a specific model of undergraduate research occurring within a course that: 

• includes a novel research experience, 
• is holistic, engaging students' creativity and ownership in the discovery process and presentation, 
• is mentored by a Purdue faculty/staff instructor, and 
• is offered for credit. 

A course must include all four characteristics to be a CURE, but there are numerous models for a CURE regardless of discipline. CUREs can run for an entire semester or be a module within a course. CUREs engage students in the entire process of discovery from the creation of questions to a presentation of findings.

Resources

For more information about CUREs, we recommend:

Dolan, E., & Weaver, G. (2021). A Guide to Course-Based Undergraduate Research. W. H. Freeman & Company. Electronic version available through Purdue University Libraries.

Calède, J. J. M. (2023). A CURE for everyone: A guide to implementing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences. Electronic version available through Ohio State University.