NEXUS: National Experiment in Undergraduate Science Education

The National Experiment in Undergraduate Science Education (NEXUS) was established in 2010 as a four-year, multi-institutional, interdisciplinary curriculum and faculty development project, guided by recommendations in Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians (2009, AAMC-HHMI).

Faculty teams from four universities—Purdue University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, and University of Miami—developed and piloted models for competency-based undergraduate courses and curricula that reflected the dynamic nature of science at the intersections of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

The results include a publicly available collection of integrative science education modules and a full-year introductory course, “Physics for Life Science Majors,” which was implemented on two of the NEXUS campuses, accompanying assessments, and peer-reviewed publications.