Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research
The mission of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is to support and promote high-quality mentored undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. CUR defines undergraduate research as a mentored investigation or creative inquiry conducted by undergraduates that seeks to make a scholarly or artistic contribution to knowledge. Undergraduate research, a term that encompasses scholarship and creative activity, is recognized as a high-impact educational practice that has the ability to capture student interest, create enthusiasm for and engagement in an area of study, and prepare students for the work world.
CUR, as the leading voice in undergraduate research, has more than 45 years of experience working with faculty and institutions to build and sustain undergraduate research and with evaluating undergraduate research programs. This document represents a compilation of the experience of CUR in building and evaluating undergraduate research programs at all types of institutions, including public and private, primarily undergraduate through research-intensive. This document is intended as a guide for those who oversee undergraduate research and those who wish to build, evaluate, and maintain robust, productive, meaningful, and sustainable undergraduate research programs. Institutions, programs, academic departments, faculty, and administrators should find this document valuable as they work to develop and enhance their undergraduate research enterprise.
The Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR) is a summary of best practices that support and sustain highly effective undergraduate research environments. This document is organized into sections that correspond to various functions or units of a typical college or university campus. Whenever the term undergraduate research, scholarship or creative inquiry is used throughout this document, we are being inclusive of all disciplines. In CUR’s experience, successful programs exhibit many of the characteristics enumerated in this document. Further, many of the characteristics described in this document overlap and are important elements in an integrated, synergistic approach to enhancing undergraduate research.
The first edition of COEUR was developed in 2011 and published in 2012. The contributing authors were Roger Rowlett, Linda Blockus, and Susan Larson.
COEUR 2.0
Both the free downloadable publication and this web page represent the second edition of the Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR 2.0). The updated second edition, COEUR 2.0, was developed in 2023 and published in 2024. This content was written, edited from the first edition, and collected by:
- Lourdes E. Echegoyen, Associate Research Professor of Chemistry and Director, Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives at the University of Texas at El Paso
- Winny Dong, Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- Buffie Longmire-Avital, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Black Lumen Project at Elon University
- Jeanne Mekolichick, Professor of Sociology and Associate Provost for Research, Faculty Success & Strategic Initiatives at Radford University
Here are some of the updates you will find in COEUR 2.0.
The number of characteristics has been streamlined from 12 to 11, with the ‘Strategic Planning’ characteristic now incorporated into the ‘Campus Mission and Culture’ section. There is a stronger emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in all the characteristics. Additionally, a discussion on integrating research, scholarly work, and creative inquiry with other high-impact practices, such as community engagement, study abroad, internship, and work-based learning, has been included.
Additional details about COEUR 2.0 and quotes from the editors can be read in the press release for the publication.