Penn State purchases Council on Undergraduate Research membership

Any faculty member, administrator, student or staff member can now join CUR at no cost

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Office of Undergraduate Education and the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses have collaborated to purchase an enhanced institutional membership for Penn State in the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). As a result of this enhanced institutional membership, any faculty member, administrator, student or staff member from any Penn State campus or college may join the Council on Undergraduate Research at no additional cost to the individual. 

Membership benefits include a digital subscription to CUR Quarterly, substantial discounts on CUR materials and conferences, access to CUR’s online archive of Webinar Recordings and materials, and access to the member’s only portion of www.cur.org, which includes information on funding opportunities, jobs and other resources.

Individual members may choose to participate in online forums related to their own research interests and are eligible to apply for participation in "Posters on the Hill," an event that brings undergraduate research to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Laura Guertin, a Penn State Brandywine professor of earth sciences and long-time participant in CUR, encourages members of the Penn State community to take advantage of this new membership model.

“It allows every faculty member, on every campus, to register and receive access to journal archives, subscribe to the email lists of the discipline divisions or CUR's interest groups, and more. There are several CUR divisions beyond the core STEM fields — social sciences, psychology, health sciences, education, arts and humanities, and even a division for undergraduate research program directors," said Guertin.

Guertin believes the membership can have tremendous value for individual faculty members. "Since many of our campuses have a limited number of faculty in each discipline, this CUR membership opportunity allows faculty to connect at a national level with peers in the same field to share undergraduate research strategies for mentoring and doing field work," she said. "In addition, some of the disciplines have grant funding available to students and/or awards for faculty — but only if the faculty mentor is a member of the division, which all of our faculty now could be under the new CUR membership model for the University.”

To enroll in the individual membership, complete the application form at members.cur.org/members_online/members/newmember.asp. When asked for the institution, select “The Pennsylvania State University” (alphabetized under "t") from the drop-down menu and affirm that the University does have enhanced membership status. There should be no additional cost to individuals registering. Then select your discipline and interest affiliations carefully, knowing that there may be regular emails sent in connection with each selected area.

Questions about Penn State's Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) membership may be directed to the Office of Undergraduate Education at [email protected].