MANSFIELD, PA—Mansfield University is one of only 12 institutions nationwide selected to be a part of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CRU) Transformations Project. 
This is a four-year project funded by the National Science Foundation. It focuses on creating cohesive, research-based undergraduate curricula in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology.
Twelve institutions and 24 departments nationwide will conduct fundamental research on student, faculty, departmental, and disciplinary influences on the process of integrating and scaffolding undergraduate research experiences throughout the curriculum. Departmental and school/college-wide transformations in student learning and the learning environment also will be pursued at the 12 partner institutions.
At Mansfield University, the Departments of Psychology and Biology were chosen to participate in the project. The principal investigator of the project is Gretchen Sechrist, chair of the Psychology Department. In addition to Sechrist, MU team leaders are Robert Maris, chair of the Biology Department, and Dean of the College of the Natural and Social Sciences Nancy Sidell.
Other team members include Psychology faculty Francis Craig, Brian Loher, Nicolle Mayo and Karri Verno and Biology faculty Steven Stein, Leslie Clifford, Jeanne Kagle, Kristen Long, Gregory Moyer and Steven Hensley.
Selection for the project was a three-stage application process, which included a preproposal stage, an invited full-proposal stage and an invited interview stage. There was tremendous interest in this initiative with 88 institutions across the country submitting preproposals. Thirty institutions were invited to submit full proposals and 16 institutions were selected for interviews. Mansfield University’s proposal stood out among the many strong proposals received. The project will begin October 2017.
More information about the project, go to cur.org/conferences_and_events/special_offerings/iuse_2016/