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
Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program
PURM provides 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
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
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 grantsThe Urban Studies Program Gordon Fellowship
Deadline: 04/25/26 (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.
Penn Museum Fellows
Deadline: 04/30/26 (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.
Penn IUR Fellows in Urban Leadership
Deadline: 06/02/26 (Tentative)The Penn IUR Fellows in Urban Leadership Program, open to Penn undergraduates, engages a small cohort of selected students with high-level local, regional, and national leaders drawn from government, business, and civil society to discuss decision-making in urban places.
Fund for Latino Scholarship
Deadline: 06/15/26 (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).
NASA Internships and Fellowships
Deadline: 09/12/26 (Tentative)NASA’s internship programs provide training, mentoring, and career development opportunities while working with the best science, engineering, financial, information technology and business minds in the world. Please review each internship's eligibility guidelines, application details, and deadlines closely as they are different for each specific program.
Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
Deadline: 10/01/26 (Tentative)The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship provides both undergraduate and graduates students through conducting research in one of 17 participating U.S. Department of Energy laboratories/facilities for summer or for a semester-long experience.
Sigma Xi Grant
Deadline: 10/01/26 (Tentative)The 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.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Internship
Deadline: 10/15/26 (Tentative)Opportunity to conduct three months of hands-on, collaborative research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.
College Alumni Society Undergraduate Research Grant
Deadline: 10/19/26 (Tentative)Undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences can apply for a number of grants supported by Penn’s College Alumni Society to fund a research or scholarly project.
Pincus-Magaziner Family Undergraduate Research Fund
Deadline: 10/19/26 (Tentative)2nd or 3rd year students majoring in Art History, English, Literature, Biology, Mathematics, or Neuroscience are eligible to apply for research and travel support from Pincus-Magaziner funding each Fall and Spring semester through the College Alumni Society Research Grant program.