The Evolution of the Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community

The Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community, MCC, was founded in 2017, supported by NSF IUSE Funding (NSF 1726932 EHR‐IUSE). The founding member schools (12 diverse institutions including PUI, Research Intensive, Comprehensive, and Community College) met in Summer 2017 to design and implement the first round of MCC CUREs which were taught in Spring 2018. Since then the community has grown and now consists of 23 institutions, (7 research intensive or comprehensive, 4 community college and 12 PUI) teaching MCC CURE classes to approximately 600 students per semester. As the community has grown we have learned that three key aspects of developing and sustaining such a community depend on not only the annual meeting of the group (in person or virtually) but on the availability of a network of colleagues willing to act as a support system for new members who are developing MCC CUREs for their classrooms. First, faculty interactions involve not only sharing of syllabi and written resources but more importantly the willingness to act as a sounding board and troubleshooting mechanism for new faculty participants who are in similar institutional settings. A significant strength of MCC is the breadth and balance of institution types involved. Second, the development of clusters of themed MDH CUREs focusing on specific scientific questions and supported by the development of appropriate biological resources and written background information has proved important for increased faculty and student engagement‐ this year one group of participating classes are engaged in exploration of the role of the flexible loop of Malate Dehydrogenase while another group is focusing on Protein‐Protein Interactions in metabolons and the regulation of these interactions by post translational modifications. Finally, the use of virtual meetings, of classes, and of participating faculty appears to energize students enhancing their ownership of the projects as well as providing a further resource for new faculty in the consortium. The faculty, like our students, progress from novice to expert on aspects of the project that they may be less familiar with. For example, the ability of the community to hold virtual PyMol tutorials significantly lowers the barrier for faculty less familiar with molecular visualization. In summary, what we learned during the initial phases of the project has contributed significantly to both the expansion of MCC and the sustainability of our classroom activities helping to provide CURE experiences for an increasingly diverse pool of students. Support or Funding Information Supported by NSF 1726932 EHR‐IUSE