Cascadia Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience Conference

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are a well-documented high-impact practice that has the potential to increase the retention and transfer of underrepresented students in STEM. CUREs have been defined in many ways, but are in essence, used to teach students research skills within the context of regular coursework. Many STEM faculty members within Washington State’s 34 community and technical colleges are developing and implementing CUREs that are matched to the disciplinary fields and curriculum of associated courses. All 34 of these colleges are also adopting the Guided Pathways model to increase students’ retention and successful transfer to four-year universities or direct entry into the workforce. Despite these measures, none of the colleges have institutional plans to implement and sustain CUREs on a broad scale. The goal of the Cascadia CURE Conference (C3) is to convene teams of STEM administrators and faculty from ten Washington State community colleges to create long-term plans to institutionalize the widespread practice of CUREs in a manner tailored to their colleges’ assets, employees, students, and cultures and also consistent with their applications of the Guided Pathways model. These plans are expected to be aligned with their institution-wide strategic plans. Nationally recognized experts will participate as facilitators and presenters. This will ensure that the colleges’ long-term plans build on prior research concerning the institutionalization of CUREs, and that each plan is achievable using the resources available at each college. The conference will be facilitated by leaders of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI), an effort that has to date worked with 142 colleges to develop and institutionalize CUREs. CCURI’s research has identified seven characteristics associated with colleges that have successfully embedded CUREs within their STEM academic cultures. Prior to the conference, each college will complete a baseline survey to assess the academic culture of CUREs on their campus. At the conference, each team will 1) evaluate their college’s capacity for institutionalization of CUREs, based on CCURI’s list of characteristics and other research findings; and 2) write long-term plans for institutionalizing CUREs at scale, using the seven characteristics identified by CCURI. The colleges will repeat the survey after a year to evaluate their progress, as well as note lessons learned that may be useful for other colleges seeking to expand the use of CUREs. This study will help to clarify the applicability of CCURI’s research as a planning and decision-making tool. 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.