Generalizing the CS Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)

Undergraduate research experiences have a demonstrated impact on computer science students, however scaling these experiences with growing enrollments can be difficult. Creating experiences tailored to the diverse research fields within computer science can require the support of a large number of faculty and mentors dedicated to these students. Instead, initiatives for group work with focused research topics have been proposed, implemented through the CURE model where students enroll in a course and collaborate to complete research tasks. This work instead proposes a reconfigured CURE for CS, which will enable students to individually pursue a topic in their subfield of interest through a course focused on fundamental research methods and with the support of peers in special interest groups (SIG). The proposed CS-CURE retains the original elements of scientific approach, discovery, iteration, collaboration, and contribution, identified as critical components of a CURE. This course is scheduled to be offered at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in Spring 2024.