Mentor Areas
Professor Lapinski’s primary area of research is concerned with understanding elections and campaigns in the United States. He conducts research in the areas of public opinion, Congress, and the American South. Professor Lapinski also serves as the Director of Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), which runs a Student Research Fellowship Program that pairs Penn undergraduate students with PORES-affiliated faculty members to conduct research.
Description:
The Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) solicits applications for its Student Research Fellowship Program on an ongoing basis. The fellowship runs during each academic semester and over the summer, pairing Penn undergraduate students with PORES faculty who are conducting research on political outcomes in the United States using public opinion and election-related data.
Projects we are currently working on include: researching past presidential election polling data, compiling large datasets of historic public opinion data, compiling information about election administration, researching supreme court decisions and public opinion, surveying special populations and attempting to better understand attitudes toward government - federal and state.
While this is only a general framework for our research, most of our projects fall into one of these broader categories.
Preferred Qualifications
Applicants should have an interest in public opinion research, politics and voting habits. Students should be detail-oriented and have a strong writing background. While some projects may require fellows to already possess statistical and data analysis skills, PORES Student Research Fellowships are also open to those with little experience in statistics. However, a strong interest in learning these skills is required. Please highlight in your statement of interest any previous experiences with:
- Statistical Software (such as R, STATA, SPSS)
- Microsoft Excel
- Data-visualization
- Python
Please check the PORES website for the deadlines related to specific semesters: www.pores.upenn.edu/research-opportunities/pores-student-research-fellowship
Details:
Preferred Student Year
First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.