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A team led by UNCG URSCO director Lee Phillips has been awarded a UNC system Undergraduate Research Award.
UNC announced the selection of four teams as recipients of the awards last week, granting them $100,000 in funding to support projects that span nine UNC institutions. Phillips’s team, comprised of UNCG, NCA&T, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, will collaborate to promote the development of CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences) across the system.
UNC President Margaret Spellings praised the quality of the projects. “The UNC system has a longstanding reputation as an innovator in teaching and research, and we are excited about these exceptional projects that will further our excellence in both of these areas. The highly collaborative nature of these projects once again demonstrates that the whole of the UNC system is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.”
Undergraduate research is a learning tool in which undergraduate students explore a topic or discipline and make a unique contribution to the research or scholarship in that field. Undergraduate research is typically carried out in close collaboration with a faculty mentor and is well recognized as a key contributor to student success.
Students who participate in undergraduate research are generally more likely to remain in school and are more likely to engage in various professional activities. They are also more likely to continue their education beyond their undergraduate studies and are more competitive for jobs.
The overarching goals of the UNCG-led project are to: 1) Promote the development of CUREs; 2) Create a network of CURE developers on each partnering campus, as well as across the entire UNC system; and 3) Develop a system-wide, two-day CURE Summit designed to bring together a community of faculty, administrators, and students from a variety of disciplines to discuss best practices in undergraduate research.
