Four Year Research Engagement (Fyre) Program At The University Of Oklahoma: Integrating Research In Undergraduate Curriculum

The Four-Year Research Engagement (FYRE) program has been developed to promote STEM undergraduate research at the University of Oklahoma (OU). The FYRE program is a multi-year program for students interested in a STEM career path and is composed of FYREI FYRE4. This program parallels and significantly adds to the course curriculum of OU STEM students with an emphasis on developing research skills. In this program, we expect a diverse population of undergraduates including first-year, under-represented and transfer students to conduct semester-long, mentored research internships. The FYRE program is built on the foundation of a very successful campus-wide first-year research experience, existing since 2012. The first-year research experience (FYRE1 program) allowed selected OU first-year students to conduct a mentored, semester-long experimental project in an OU research laboratory. In the second year, we focus on the STEM engagement of students through a FYRE2 seminar course where discussing the role of science and technology in transforming society and the world. During the third and fourth years (FYRE3 and FYRE4), the content of the seminar courses emphasize tangibly important skills and content for a future in STEM. This project is a scalable program to engage students in meaningful chemical research that can readily incorporate independent inquiry.