- 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).
History Undergraduate Research Grants
Deadline: 05/03/2025 (Tentative)The History Department Undergraduate Research Fund awards grants to students who require funds to travel to archives or for research materials for extensive projects, usually as part of a History seminar or independent study. The Department also has additional funds to support undergraduate research for students in the History Honors Thesis program.
John Carter Brown Library STEM Research
Deadline: 05/06/2025 (Tentative)This pilot fellowship will allow STEM concentrators to work with Americana, a digitized program of the library's unique collection, under the supervision of the JCB digital team, contributing to their work on enhancing the platform’s capacities while creating their own project based on our digital assets
Penn IUR Fellows in Urban Leadership
Deadline: 05/31/2025 (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.
Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellowship
Deadline: 06/05/2025 (Tentative)The goals of the JGS Fellows Program are to elevate photography and digital media as pathways for undergraduate students to pursue their careers and to make a difference in their communities.
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.
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.