CURE Fellows Program

The UWF Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Fellows Program is designed to increase student access to undergraduate research experiences (including research, scholarship, and creative activities) by supporting faculty to develop and embed authentic research activities into courses.  The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) will select 6-8 faculty as CURE Fellows to develop a CURE course component during Summer 2024 for course implementation during Fall 2024 and/or Spring 2025.  Compensation of $3,000 (pre-tax) will be provided to each CURE Fellow ($2,500 as a summer assignment and $500 following successful integration into the course).  Other faculty who teach a section of a course for which a CURE Fellow creates a research component may also request $500 following the successful integration of the CURE component into their section. 

Priority will be given to faculty teaching 100- and 200-level courses with enrollment of at least 25 students/term.  Instructional faculty of all types, including tenure and non-tenure lines (lecturers, instructors, adjuncts, etc.) will be considered.  OUR is particularly interested in supporting faculty and departments that are not currently well supported by other OUR programs.

CURE is when all of the students enrolled in a course address research (including scholarship and creative activities) problems or questions that are of interest to someone other than the instructor or students in the course.  CUREs should include the potential for students to make discoveries, i.e., produce novel, however modest, results that both build off and contribute to the larger body of knowledge.  The potential may not be realized in a single offering of the course or even across multiple offerings. (Dolan and Weaver, 2021).

• Attend an introductory UWF OUR workshop on CUREs (anticipate May 7 & 8, 2024)
• Develop course-based research component for an existing course (Summer 2024)
• Attend progress update meetings on CURE development (Summer 2024)
• Apply for HIP Undergraduate Research course designation status (submit for review Fall 2024)
• Teach course with a developed research component (CURE) within the next academic year (Fall 2024 or Spring 2025)

• March 4, 2024 -- Application deadline
• March 11, 2024 -- Anticipated notification of CURE Fellow Award recipients
• May 7 & 8, 2024 -- CURE workshop
• Summer 2024 -- CURE Fellows develop research components
• Fall 2024 and/or Spring 2025 -- research components implemented in courses

Applications should include: (1) the applicant signature form, which also includes the signature of the department chair who has approved the course redesign and commits to the applicant teaching the redesigned course multiple times over the next three years; (2) a one to two-page narrative that describes (i) your motivation for applying for the CURE Fellow program, (ii) details on the target population for your course (i.e., first/second-year students versus third/fourth-year students; majors versus non-majors; satisfies a General Education requirement, etc.), (iii) the potential (if any) for the CURE that you develop to be implemented beyond your course or section of the course (i.e., will instructors of other sections of the course implement the CURE?), (iv) and how you will redesign or restructure the course to make time for the addition of the CURE.  If you already have an idea for a research component for your course, you may also include a short description of your idea.  Please write this narrative in such a way that someone outside of your discipline will understand it.  

Submit application to our@uwf.edu by 11:59 p.m. on March 4, 2024, with “CURE Fellow Application'' in the subject line.  

Download to edit and complete: CURE Fellows Applicant Signature Form