Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Searching for a CURE: How to Engage All Students in Research

Merritt, Rachael L, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Rachel Merritt is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to conduct a program of research and activities related to broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Merritt supports her research project entitled “Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Searching for a CURE: How to Engage All Students in Research” under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Colorado Boulder and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Heather Lewandowski. Dr. Merritt will pursue a research project to work on the identification of physics-specific challenges and opportunities in creating and sustaining course-based undergraduate. research experiences, or CUREs. She will use a design-based research approach to create a CURE course to use as the research ‘laboratory’ for investigating which components of a physics CURE lead to specific outcomes. This knowledge will result in the development of a framework of effective practices to create and sustain CUREs in physics. Dr. Merritt will include Minority Serving Institutions in the CURE project to ensure the participation of students from historically underserved and currently underrepresented groups. The framework resulting from this project, and the new physics CURE developed, will foster the creation and sustainability of physics CUREs across the Nation. These CUREs will empower physics students by providing access to authentic research opportunities and better preparing them for their next career step in STEM. 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.