The need for inquiry-based instruction in undergraduate education is well recognized, but it has not been adopted widely in place of traditional "cookbook" instruction, where students follow lab manuals to reach known answers. One problem hindering the change may be insufficient time and resources for faculty to undertake new ways of teaching when they are under pressure to maintain productive research. Recently, my colleagues and I argued that one solution might be to build inquiry-based courses on faculty research programs, essentially combining teaching and research as synergistic activities. Here, I describe how I became involved in such an effort, in the hope that sharing my experience might help accelerate the spread of inquiry-based instruction. link to publication