Colloquium 4 October: Dr. Rachael Merritt, University of Colorado Boulder
On Friday, October 4, Dr. Rachael Merritt, University of Colorado Boulder will be presenting Colloquium in the Department of Physics and Astronomy entitled “CURE-ing Physics Labs”. The talk begins at 3:15 pm in 140 Bennett Hall.
Abstract
Undergraduate research experiences have been shown to offer significant benefits to students, particularly students from marginalized groups. However, the over-subscription of traditional research opportunities combined with systemic barriers prevent many from participating in these experiences. A promising alternative is a course-based undergraduate research experience, or CURE. CUREs are shown to have similar outcomes to traditional undergraduate research experiences, while reducing the barriers to participation and providing an authentic research experience to an entire cohort of students. Within STEM disciplines, physics has been identified as lacking in CURE implementation and a field where CUREs could be added. I will discuss the advantages of integrating CUREs and our ongoing initiative aimed at developing a scalable and sustainable framework for implementing CUREs within physics departments nationwide. In particular, I will discuss our current efforts to create a CURE at University of Colorado Boulder where students are studying the degradation of a new generation of metal halide perovskite solar cells.