- 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).
LGBTQ & Gender Studies Undergraduate Student Research Expense Grants
Deadline: 04/04/2025 (Tentative)Grants designed to support research-related expenses for undergraduate students working on projects related to LGBTQ and/or gender studies.
American Friends of Herculaneum (AFOH) Scholarships
Deadline: 04/10/2025 (Tentative)The American Friends of Herculaneum (AFOH) are pleased to announce scholarships for research on a topic related to Herculaneum (preferably) or other ancient sites around the Bay of Naples.
Asian American Studies (ASAM) Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Deadline: 04/12/2025 (Tentative)ASAM Undergraduate Research Fellowship is an interdisciplinary program that provides students with comprehensive academic training in archival research, methodology, and theory to enhance their critical thinking and writing skills.
Penn Museum Fellows
Deadline: 04/14/2025 (Tentative)The Penn Museum Fellows is a year-long program that supports and promotes advanced research at the Museum for three undergraduate students from Penn.
Hoesley Digital Literacy Fellows Program
Deadline: 04/21/2025 (Tentative)The Hoesley Digital Literacy Fellows Program encourages creative exploration of technologies commonly used in our rapidly evolving 21st century workplace and beyond through hands-on training and support as they design and develop a digital project and curate their professional digital presence.
The Urban Studies Program Gordon Fellowship
Deadline: 04/26/2025 (Tentative)Winners of the Gordon Fellowship will receive a $5,000 stipend to explore careers that would lead to improving the quality of life in cities, whether in the public, non-profit, or private sectors and will benefit from career mentoring through alumni activities during the school year.
Fund for Latino Scholarship
Deadline: 06/15/2025 (Tentative)The Fund for Latino Scholarship through the American Political Science Association (APSA) is designed to encourage and support the recruitment, retention, and promotion of political scientists students and scholars who study and research Latina/o politics (especially students and tenure track junior faculty).
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.