Research Funding

All UScholars in good academic and student conduct standing are eligible to apply on a rolling basis for very limited funding to travel to present their research at a conference during the calendar year, or to conduct research during the academic year. Such funding enables students to pursue research opportunities by defraying related expenses. 

Students may apply only once per calendar year (for conference funding) or academic year (for research funding). Disbursements are capped for each student at $500 for domestic travel and $1,000 for international travel. 

Scholars must submit an application that specifies the rationale for funding, demonstrates how funds will be utilized, justifies each line item, and details other sources of financial support (if any). The application must follow professional standards and include appropriate references to others' academic work.

For conference presentations, please include as a citation in the proposal:

• Conference name, dates, and location
• Presentation title, author list (if more than one author), format (oral, poster, etc.), date/time of presentation, duration, and URL of presentation link (if available)

Academic year research or conference funding proposals must be submitted via an online form at least four (4) weeks before the funding is needed. 

The Program Coordinator and Faculty Director review and issue decisions on funding requests within a week of the Scholar’s submission. If you receive any funding, you must complete all post-award requirements as listed in your award letter.

Proposals must address, in narrative form, the following items and follow professional standards for your field of inquiry, including citations to other scholars' work.

The research narrative should outline your project’s:

• Theoretical premise: What do you aim to learn? On what previous related work within your field of inquiry is your project based?
• Relevance & degree of independence: Why does this work matter and how might its outcomes contribute to an existing body of knowledge?If your work will be conducted in a larger group setting, how will your project or role in the lab differ from what has been or will be done by others??
• Methodological process: How you will come to answer the project’s driving questions? What is your timeline for completing each stage/step of your chosen method(s)?
• Discussion of expected outcomes: Anticipate the kinds of data/information you will be collecting. How will you analyze, present, and share it? What are the implications of your work and how might it be used? 

Additional mechanics to follow:

• Times New Roman, 12 pt font, double-spaced
• Limit proposal narrative to 800-1000 words (not including citations)
• In-text citations or footnotes (whichever is used by your field)
• Bibliography (separate page after your proposal; whichever format is utilized in your field)

The narrative proposal is the most important part of the application; please work closely with your faculty mentor to ensure that it is well-developed. 

As you prepare your research proposal, please consult with your research mentor to determine if your intended proposal meets the definition of human subjects research. If you determine that your proposal does meet this definition, please indicate this in your proposal and provide proof of where your proposal currently stands in the Penn Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. For more information on the IRB, please see this webpage: https://irb.upenn.edu./.

The proposal’s budget must itemize, detail, and justify the specific expenses you anticipate to incur while you conduct your research over the summer. For example, you must specify the rental amount for the period of any rented housing, your monthly food costs, and other expenses resulting from pursuing your research. 

Disbursed awards depend on individual need and vary on a case-by-case basis. 

Eligible costs : 

• Costs of living (e.g., rent, meals, etc.): Up to $1,500 per month for up to three months. These costs must be itemized as specifically as possible.
• Travel costs (e.g., economy air or train fare, economy lodging, etc.): You must use the most economical options.  You cannot receive travel funding to somewhere you are already going to be, even without the research project, such as for a job or study abroad.
• Materials and supplies: While laboratory supplies and research materials are normally provided by the lab in which a student works, non-laboratory fields may not necessarily provide such resources. In all cases, when requesting funding for supplies, materials, or books, you must list what is already supplied by your mentor’s resources , and describe how the additional resources are needed and why UScholars funding is needed to purchase them. 

Ineligible costs include: 

• stipends, hourly wages, salaries, tuition for credit-bearing opportunities, field camps, and other learning experiences justified by a training proposal;
• computers/laptops;
• equipment or other durable goods.

Your Penn faculty mentor (please see Requirements > "Note on Faculty Mentors") must provide a letter of support specific to the research proposal that addresses its usefulness and feasibility within the intended time frame. Particularly, the letter of support should include or describe the following:

• affirm that you have the skills, background, experience, and knowledge required for the chosen methodology and independent work.
• the nature of the mentorship that the letter writer is going to provide, including how often they will meet with you or how, if applicable, they plan to train or hone your researching skills.
• their acknowledgement of the project.
• the degree to which the project is independent, the faculty advisor’s role in your project, and how closely or distantly they will engage with the project.
• the feasibility of your research project.
• and discuss others who will provide additional advice or consultation, if applicable. This might include post-doctoral fellows, grad students, or other professors.

If you intend to complete your summer research at an institute or with researchers unaffiliated with Penn, you must also request a letter from the mentor or person overseeing your work at the unaffiliated organization. This letter should state their willingness to host you for the summer and should also outline your primary responsibilities as you work with them.

Please note that you are still required to have a Penn faculty mentor submit a letter of support for your proposal. Your Penn faculty mentor must also continue to check-in with you periodically throughout the summer to provide continued guidance on your work.

Students must answer, in narrative form, the following:

• Describe the training experience: What tasks will you complete over an 8- to-12-week period? How did you decide to pursue this training? Will you be working with/alongside a Penn faculty member or with an external entity?
• Expected gains: What skills or necessary experiences relevant to your future research do you anticipate gaining?
• Connection to future research: How will this training experience connect to a future independent UScholars research project? While you do not need to map out the specifics of your future project, you should share the general direction of where you intend to go and why it interests you.

Mechanics

• Times New Roman, 12 pt font, double-spaced
• Limit proposal narrative section to 800-1000 words (not including citations)
• In-text citations or footnotes (whichever is used by your field)
• Bibliography (separate page after your proposal)

The budget must itemize, detail, and justify the specific expenses you anticipate incurring while you conduct your training over the summer.  For example, you must specify the rental amount for the period of any rented housing, your monthly food costs, and other expenses resulting from pursuing your research. 

Disbursed awards depend on individual needs and vary on a case-by-case basis.

Eligible costs : 

• Costs of living (e.g., rent, meals, etc.): Up to $1,500 per month for up to three months. These costs must be itemized as specifically as possible.
• Travel costs (e.g., economy air or train fare, economy lodging, etc.): You must use the most economical options.  You cannot receive travel funding to somewhere you are already going to be, even without the research project, such as for a job or study abroad.
• Materials and supplies: In all cases, when requesting funding for supplies, materials, or books, you must list what is already supplied by your mentor’s resources and describe how the additional resources are needed and why UScholars funding is needed to purchase them. 

Ineligible costs include: 

• stipends, hourly wages, salaries, tuition for credit-bearing opportunities;
• computers/laptops;
• equipment or other durable goods.

The UScholar must have an advisor who is a member of the Penn faculty (please see Requirements > "Note on Faculty Mentors") and who, in a supporting letter, must describe the importance of the training for a specific future research project and agree to guide the student over the summer during which the training takes place. 

The faculty member should address the following in their letter:

• The usefulness of this training experience: how does this training connect with a relevant future project that the mentee intends to pursue? What concrete skills will the mentee gain from this experience?
• The degree to which the faculty member will mentor and guide the student over the duration of their training experience and beyond. 

No. At no point are you required to apply for summer or conference funds offered by the UScholars program. If you have other funds available to you, you are more than welcome to utilize them. Please note that, as a UScholar, there are some programs or grants for which you are ineligible to apply. For example, UScholars are ineligible for the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentorship (PURM) program.

Yes, you may still apply. However, you must attend a makeup proposal writing workshop led by the UScholars Faculty Council. If you have a course conflict and are unable to attend the makeup session, please contact the Program Coordinator for next instructions.

We expect your summer research project to be your full-time commitment over the summer, where you dedicate approximately 40 hours over an 8-to-12-week period on your research. What you do outside of those 40 or so hours are up to you—so long as it does not negatively affect your research productivity.

We understand that there are circumstances that may require additional funds beyond $5000. If you think that this applies to you, please clearly communicate what it is you need and why it is necessary for you to have this item(s) to complete your proposed research. However, you should utilize the most economic, cost-efficient items when crafting your budget. For example, if you are traveling for your research, it is expected that you are flying economy.

You may use UScholars conference funds to attend a conference at which you are presentingyour work. You may not apply for funds simply to attend a conference to network and hear others present—you must be sharing your own research. Similarly, we are unable to fund travel to competitions.

Summer funds are disbursed by Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS). Typically, SRFS aims to have summer funding posted to students’ accounts by late April. To receive funds in a timely manner, please ensure that all student balances are paid and that your payment preferences (i.e., direct deposit or mailed check) are up to date.

Conference or academic-year research funds are awarded through the Penn Marketplace. If you are offered funding, you should complete all instructions as detailed in your award letter in a timely manner to ensure you receive payment as soon as possible.

If you do not complete all requirements as outlined on your award letter, you may be asked to pay back the award in full or partial amounts. This applies for both conference/academic year and summer funds.