- What opportunities are open to me?
There are many opportunities for Penn undergraduates to conduct research in any discipline—regardless of their previous experience. Research positions can be:
- Volunteer
- Arranged through work-study
- Paid -- funded directly through a faculty member’s grant or via a program that provides a stipend
- Conducted for academic credit, or
- Supported via a grant for which you apply.
Keep in mind that funding options are often specific to particular kinds of research, fields of study, grad year, etc. In addition, most (but not all) CURF funding is reserved for research conducted under the mentorship of a Penn faculty member.
Use the list below 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.
- What grants should I apply for?
The Penn Undergraduate Research Mentorship (PURM) program is ideal for first and second-year students who have little to no prior research experience. For more advanced researchers, the College Alumni Society Research Grant, the Vagelos Undergraduate Research Grant, and the Class of 1971 Robert J. Holtz Endowed Fund for Undergraduate Research are good places to start.
Other options are often specific to particular populations or kinds of research (e.g. grants for international research, social-impact endeavors, or for juniors who have not done research before).
Project in Humanities, Urbanism, and Design
Deadline: 09/04/2025 (Tentative)Small research grants will be awarded to support interdisciplinary design/humanities projects undertaken by undergraduate and graduate students in humanities and design disciplines that focus on the built environment. Eligible research must draw from both humanities and design disciplines.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Internship
Deadline: 09/15/2025 (Tentative)Opportunity to conduct three months of hands-on, collaborative research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.
Sigma Xi Grant
Deadline: 10/01/2025The Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research (GIAR) program provides undergraduate and graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines with financial support for scientific research.
Vagelos Undergraduate Research Grant
Deadline: 10/13/2025 (Tentative)The Vagelos Undergraduate Research Grant funds an independent scholarly project conducted by an undergraduate student during the academic year.
Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies Student Research Fellowship
Deadline: 11/11/2025 (Tentative)The Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) is an undergraduate research program committed to conducting high-quality social research in the public interest on issues of national and international importance.
Gutmann-Doyle Research Opportunities Fund
Rolling DeadlineThe Amy Gutmann and Michael Doyle Research Opportunities Fund supports undergraduates to present their research at an academic conference.
Koch Internship Program
Rolling DeadlineThe Koch Internship Program combines individualized education with hands-on work experience to empower social entrepreneurs to drive their own careers and make a positive contribution right away.
Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS) Program
Rolling DeadlineThe Institue for Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA offers several versions of its Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS) program, a summer research experience for students of math and related disciplines.
Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration (CSERI) Turner Schulman Undergraduate Fellowships
Deadline: 04/30/2025 Rolling DeadlinePenn students in any school interested in social science approaches to race, ethnicity or immigration can apply for support for either their own research or a research assistantship.