Funding Opportunities

Penn offers many resources for students conducting research.  Please note that funding options are often specific to particular kinds of research, fields of study, grad year, etc.  Also, CURF funding is reserved for research conducted under the mentorship of a Penn faculty member.

Use the Funding Opportunities database (below the highlighted opportunities) to identify research programs, grants and opportunities at Penn, elsewhere in the US and abroad.  While CURF strives to maintain a thorough and up-to-date website, these listings are not comprehensive and students are encouraged to conduct their own funding searches.

Highlighted CURF Opportunities

A PURM team in a robotics lab.

Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program

PURM provides Penn students completing their first or second undergraduate year the opportunity to spend a summer conducting cutting-edge research under the guidance of a standing Penn faculty member. No prior experience is required.

Learn more about PURM
A SHIP participant presenting at the Penn Museum

Summer Humanities Internship Program

Each year the College of Arts and Sciences and CURF fund approximately twenty-five summer research internships for students in the humanities and social sciences. Internships provide undergraduates with the opportunity to work in a cultural, historical, or archival setting.

Learn more about SHIP
A Barthmaier grant recipient doing field work with their team

Independent Research Grants

Undergraduates pursuing an independent or semi-independent research project with a Penn faculty member can apply for funding to offset research-related expenses. Multiple opportunities are available each fall and spring. Click below and then scroll down to see a filtered list of CURF-administered research grants.

browse CURF grants

Search Funding Opportunities

Display funding opportunities that match ALL of my selections: (Select more options to return a narrower set of results).

Department of Medicine Undergraduate Student Scholars Program (USSP)

Deadline: 02/06/26

Summer program hosted by the NIH Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive Liver Diseases at Penn that combines summer lectures and presentations with research experience in an affiliated laboratory.

First-Year Second-Year Junior

Women+ and Advanced Mathematics

Deadline: 02/06/26

Women+ and Mathematics (W+AM) is an annual program with the mission to recruit and retain more women in mathematics through collaborative research and mentorship. W+AM is open to all that support its mission regardless of gender.

Junior Senior - First Semester

Beckman Scholars Program

Deadline: 02/08/26

The Beckman Scholars Program provides immersive, mentored research that cultivates exceptional undergraduates into confident, skilled, discovery-driven scientific leaders.

First-Year Second-Year Junior

AAPM Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program

Deadline: 02/09/26

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program is a 10-week summer program designed to provide opportunities for undergraduate university students to gain experience in medical physics by performing research in a medical physics laboratory and shadowing at a clinical facility.

Second-Year Junior Senior - First Semester

FactCheck.org Undergraduate Fellowship

Deadline: 02/11/26

Year-round, paid fellowship program for undergraduates interested in utilizing journalism and scholarship to increase public knowledge and understanding of US politics.

First-Year Second-Year Junior

Wharton Social Impact Research Experience (WSIRE)

Deadline: 02/12/26

Grants to support summer research on topics that promote economic and social value for Wharton undergraduate students.

First-Year Second-Year Junior

SNF Paideia Fellowship

Deadline: 02/13/26

The fellowship is a unique, three-year program that bridges students’ academic interests with experiential development of skills essential to becoming an engaged global citizen both while a student at Penn and beyond.

First-Year

Howard C. Herrmann MD Student Research Fellowship Award

Deadline: 02/15/26

The Howard C. Herrmann Student Research Fellowship provides opportunities for undergraduate students to work full-time for 10 weeks during the summer on a cardiovascular research project in one of Penn's laboratories or clinical research groups.

First-Year Second-Year Junior

Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM)

Deadline: 02/15/26

Each year Penn supports undergraduate involvement in faculty research through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM), which provides students completing their first or second undergraduate year the opportunity to spend a summer conducting research with a standing Penn faculty member.

First-Year Second-Year

Summer Undergraduate Applied Mathematics Institute (SUAMI)

Deadline: 02/15/26

The Summer Undergraduate Applied Mathematics Institute (SUAMI) is an eight-week summer research program for undergraduate students interested in applied mathematics hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.