Faculty perspectives on course-based undergraduate research experiences in engineering: Adoption, implementation, and institutional conditions

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been promoted to expand access to authentic research within the curriculum, yet most scholarships have focused on student outcomes rather than faculty experience, especially in engineering and Historically Black College or University (HBCU) contexts. This study examines how engineering faculty at HBCU understood the value, difficulty, and sustainability of CURE teaching. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 10 faculty members at Tennessee State University, supplemented by instructional materials, the study uses Diffusion of Innovations as its analytic lens. The findings show that faculty valued CUREs because they strengthened student learning and connected coursework to real engineering problems; however, instructors also described burdens related to workload, scaffolding, resources, and administrative support. The study shows that research-integrated teaching depends not only on pedagogical promise but also on the organisational conditions under which faculty are asked to enact it.