Bringing a CURE into a Discrete Mathematics Course and Beyond

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been well developed in the hard sciences, but math CUREs are all but absent from the literature. Like biology and chemistry, math programs suffer from a lack of research experiences and many students are not able to participate in programs like REUs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates). CUREs are a great alternative, but the current definition of CURE (see [1]) has potential barriers when applied to mathematics (e.g. time, novelty of project). Our solution to these barriers was to develop a math CURE pathway in which students complete “Math CUREs” in targeted courses. After finishing the pathway (or part of the pathway), students complete a research project in at least one of the following areas: Lie theory, representation theory, or combinatorics. The focus of this paper is the math CURE implemented in a discrete mathematics course for math and computer science majors. We share our experiences with the development and implementation of this CURE over several iterations as well as the impact of the CURE on students experiences through participant survey data obtained from this CURE.