Fall 2025 CURES

What is a CURE?

CURE stands for Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience. Unlike traditional lab courses where students follow fixed recipes, a CURE gives students the opportunity to do authentic research. You’ll work on questions where the answers aren’t already known, contribute to real scientific knowledge, and gain experience in how research actually happens-complete with creativity, surprises, and challenges.

Our Focus: Chromosome Evolution

We’ll use comparative methods to investigate how chromosomes evolve across different clades. Chromosome number and structure vary widely across life, informing our understanding of genome organization, speciation, and evolutionary processes. You’ll build phylogenies, assemble datasets, and apply computational tools to analyze evolutionary change. Along the way, you’ll see how shared ancestry creates non-independence among species and why specialized statistical approaches are essential for valid inference.

How This Class Will Work

• Hands-on research: You’ll work with real datasets and phylogenies-not canned exercises.
• Active learning: Short concept talks blend with coding sessions, simulations, and discussions.
• Comparative methods: Practice phylogenetic independent contrasts, ancestral state reconstruction, and model-based tests.
• Computational emphasis: Use AI and R to clean data, run analyses, and create clear visualizations.
• Collaborative atmosphere: Share results, troubleshoot together, and present findings.
• Real outcomes: Produce results suitable for a poster, talk, or manuscript.

What You’ll Gain

• Experience thinking and working like an evolutionary biologist.
• Confidence with computational tools for comparative analysis.
• Deeper insight into the complexity of chromosome evolution.
• Teamwork and communication skills through collaboration.
• Opportunities to contribute to ongoing research questions.
• Opportunities to my research lab!