2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engaging undergraduate mechanical engineering students in research offers a substantial opportunity to enrich their educational experience and increase their interest in STEM fields. However, undergraduate students at many institutions often face significant barriers to engaging in research such as limited access to research opportunities, heavy course work, study-work schedule, and lack of research experience and knowledge. In order to address these challenges and introduce research to undergraduate engineering students, Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience and Entrepreneurial Mindset (CURE-E) is implemented to a lower division Mechanical Engineering course, Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, at California State University, Chico. CURE-E is created as part of the Cultivating a Culture of Entrepreneurial Mindset and Undergraduate Research (CEMUR) project funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant. The CURE-E project in to Materials Science and Laboratory course aimed to integrate research experiences into the curriculum, focusing on developing research skills and entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students. As part of the project, students conducted literature reviews, fabrication, and material property characterization of hydrogels for bio-related applications/tissue regeneration. Students collaborated closely with faculty and a student research mentor, applying materials science and engineering concepts to practical, real-world challenges. At the end of the course, students completed a 60-question survey to assess the impact of the CURE-E project on their self-perceived capabilities, their connection to the STEM community, and their interest in research and STEM fields. The results demonstrate high level of student satisfaction with research teamwork on important research, strong value alignment with STEM professional. In addition, students reported increased confidence in their ability to learning and applying STEM skills. This projects shows the impact of scientific collaboration and hands-on research on undergraduate engineering students and indicates students gain valuable experience and confidence that may positively influence their future success as engineers.