  Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) bring the excitement
of research into the classroom to improve learning and the sense of belonging
in the field. They can reach more students, earlier in their studies, than
typical undergraduate research. Key aspects are: students learn and use
research methods, give input into the project, generate new research data, and
analyze it to draw conclusions that are not known beforehand. CUREs are common
in other fields but have been rare in materials science and engineering. I
propose a paradigm for computational material science CUREs, enabled by
web-based simulation tools from nanoHUB.org that require minimal computational
skills. After preparatory exercises, students each calculate part of a set of
closely related materials, following a defined protocol to contribute to a
novel class dataset which they analyze, and also calculate an additional
property of their choice. This approach has been used successfully in several
class projects.
