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SDO captures an image of anÌýM5.6-class solar flare occurring on Jan. 12, 2015. This is one of many solar flares analyzed by the students in the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ remote physics CURE.

During the Fall 2020 term, when faced with the challenge of instructing a large (400+ student), introductory physics lab virtually, we redesigned the entire course to create a unique experience for the students in this very unique situation--a CURE.ÌýCourse-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) involve students in authentic research by engaging students in inquiries where neither the students nor the instructor know the answer. CUREs have been shown to have a multitude of benefits including: (1) the potential to make research opportunities available to students who do not typically access research, including those with lower GPAs and students from backgrounds historically underserved in STEM (Bangera & Brownell, 2014), (2) allowing students to experience novel research in a supportive setting and the opportunity to develop a sense of ownership of their lab course work (Corwin et al., 2018), and (3) improvedÌýgraduation rates (Rodenbusch et al., 2016) and persistence in STEM (Hanauer et al., 2016).Ìý

During the virtual lab, where it was not feasible for students to tinker with instrumentsÌýnor engage in-person with classmates, we sought to provide them with an opportunity to engage in an authentic research experience. We partnered with Dr. James Mason at (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) to study the relationship between the power of solar flares and their frequency.Ìý