Here are four reasons why you should take a CURE:
1. You want a research experience but you don't have time outside of class.
Course-based undergraduate research experiences are just that — research experiences embedded into your regular courses. They involve everyone in your class collectively addressing a research question or problem that is of interest to the scientific community — and sometimes beyond.
If you don't have the time or can't afford to volunteer in a professor's research lab, you can still experience what it's like to do real research. Plus, professors have limited student positions in their labs so even if you approached a professor about an opportunity, they might not be able to take you on.
"Anybody who has an opportunity to do a real research project and do it as part of your homework, it's the coolest learning experience and it's a good challenge," said Melissa Palmer, a post baccalaureate geology student who took Bershaw's Sedimentology and Stratigraphy class.
2. You want to do authentic and original research.
It might be a little unsettling when your professor doesn't even know what the outcome of a project will be, but that's part of their everyday life as a researcher — and CUREs give you a taste of that discovery process.
Bershaw said he was straightforward with his class: he didn't know the answer, he didn't know what they were going to find and there were a lot of ways it could turn out.
Palmer said she liked the autonomy they had to explore the data.
"As a group, we were assigned a well log, but all five of us went in different directions in how we digested the data, what we chose to draw from it to make suggestions or conclusions," she said. "We thought of ways to tie our findings back to the watershed to see if we could offer advice for how water could be more equitably shared, distributed or conserved."
Though the class' conclusions weren't necessarily groundbreaking, their work does provide new insights about the aquifers in central Oregon that could prove useful to both farmers and regulators.
"This is new information we're gathering," Bershaw said. "This is a water-stressed area and there are water rights issues that can be contentious. Depending on the nature of these aquifers, one farmer's well usage can affect another well."
Even if Bershaw repeats the same project, it's unlikely to look the same from year to year as questions and answers evolve with each new class.
In some CUREs, the work done in the classroom directly relates to your professor's research program. You might be helping them scale up or pursue a new research direction or collect enough preliminary data for a project to apply for a larger grant.
3. You want (or know you need) to get comfortable with uncertainty.
Uncertainty is a part of science — and taking a CURE can teach you the value of failure (which isn't a bad thing!)
"Experiments fail, populations die off, reagents don't work, instrumentation breaks," said Erin Shortlidge, a biology professor whose research aims to better understand best practices in teaching and learning in biology and other science fields. "There's an infinite number of ways science can go wrong, but you inevitably learn something from that experience."
Shortlidge said that through scientific trial and error, students can learn to think like a scientist through working your way around a problem, being flexible, making connections with things that might have seemed previously unconnected, and troubleshooting in real time.
"Doing research can involve developing a certain amount of comfort with uncertainty and unpredictability," she said. "It's a great skill to hone while you work with peers on something that matters."
4. You want to bolster your grad school or job application resume.
If you have your sights set on grad school, med school or professional school, chances are an undergrad research experience is going to help give you an edge. Even if you decide not to pursue research as a career, the skills you'll learn — discovery, creative problem solving, collaboration — will make you attractive to future employers.
Geology professor John Bershaw's Sedimentology and Stratigraphy class (Credit: Jeremy Chun Sajqui)Recent CUREs:
Chem + Bio CURE (BI 410 or CH 410)
You will investigate the microbial community in Pacific Northwest fungi. Specifically, you will discover the diversity and secondary compound chemistry in fungus-associated microbes. This is cutting edge research – there is not even a scientific term describing these microbial symbionts yet! In this class you will have an opportunity to: 1) use a natural fungus/microbe system to characterize molecular diversity using PCR and sequencing, 2) analyze microbial chemical profiles, 3) test for bioactivity of microbial compounds using different types of bioassays, and 4) learn how to analyze, interpret and present molecular and chemical data. Ultimate goal is to prepare a manuscript or parts of a manuscript suitable for submission to a scientific journal...depending on your findings! Suggested preparation: CH 339 or BI 336, 337. Instructor approval required.
3 credits
STEM Research: Solving Today's Problems (SCI 367U or 399U)
This course will examine tools for success in scientific disciplines. Students will be introduced to professional skills, scientific research, scientific literature and writing, and to working in interdisciplinary teams to address complex issues such as global environmental problems. The course will enable students to understand the skills, knowledge and social capital necessary to succeed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This course will prepare students to explore and engage in research. This course is the first in a three-part series, Green Roof Research Series, that fully satisfies PSU's 300-level general education requirements and partially satisfies the 300-level PSU Honors College requirements.
4 credits; Science in Social Context Cluster
Scanning Electron Microscopy in the Natural Sciences (G 438)
Theory and practice of scanning electron microscopy and elemental analysis, including beam interactions, signal detection, image and spectrum formation, sample preparation, and data analysis. Student teams pursue original research projects using natural or manufactured specimens provided by science faculty. Graduate students are encouraged to explore thesis-related projects. Prerequisite: introductory course sequence in geology, biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science or engineering.
4 credits
Numerical Modeling of Earth Systems (G 426)
Each student carries out an individual project where they define a system they are interested in understanding, propose a mathematical model for it, write code to solve the model equations numerically, and analyze model results. They write a project proposal and meet with the instructor early in the processes, and then give a presentation of their results to the class, as well as hand in a written report in scientific journal article style. Students end up choosing quite a wide variety of interesting systems including global biogeochemical cycles, contaminants in water, soil erosion, glacier movement, volcanic processes, etc.
4 credits
Hillslope Materials and Processes (G 462)
You'll do two field-based projects. For one project, you'll measure soil and topography on a forested hillslope and use your data to test soil transport theories. For the other, you'll survey a landslide and try to determine its age and what triggered it. The final product is a written report following the conventions of a scientific journal article.
4 credits
Green Roof Ecology (SCI 368U)
Plan and conduct experiments to help a project client understand how the urban environment affects their green roof ecosystem. Our current projects focus on interactions between plant species, between different plants and their engineered soil, and how green roof systems age with time. Our current project site is the research green roof on the Science and Research Teaching Center.
4 credits; Science in Social Context Cluster and Environmental Sustainability Cluster
Advanced Molecular and Cell Biology Research Lab aka Viruses from Hell (BI 431)
You will be researching mutant extreme viruses, determining mutations, characterizing mutant viruses and learning molecular biology, microbiology and virology techniques. Prerequisites: Bi 334, Bi 235 or Bi 337.
2 credits
Green Roof Monitoring and Ecodesign (SCI 369U)
Measure how a project client’s green roof impacts the urban environment, and design ways to maximize their green roof’s benefits. Our current projects focus on designing specific plant communities for Portland's year-round climate, and monitoring the long term resilience of plant communities designed by previous classes. Our current project site is the research green roof on the Science and Research Teaching Center.
4 credits; Science in Social Context Cluster and Environmental Sustainability Cluster
Mathematics and Society (UNST 421)
Do you want to have fun, learn about the world, and satisfy the University Studies Capstone requirement? If you have completed the 300-level math major/minor requirements, you have the background to appreciate how mathematics underlies our society: spread of COVID-19 and exponential functions; racism, representation in Congress, and proportional relationships; gentrification and geometry. You live in a society where mathematics is at the foundation of many aspects of life and a necessary component of being a democratic citizen, however many students are not given real opportunities to learn mathematics. In "Mathematics and Society," you will examine the impact of marginalization on student mathematics learning. Your contribution to counteracting this trend will be to share your mathematical enthusiasm with K-12 students through presentations at K-12 schools or after-school programs.
6 credits