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 grantsPenn Global Research & Internship Program (GRIP)
Deadline: 01/08/26 (Tentative)The Global Research & Internship Program (GRIP) offers outstanding undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to intern or conduct research with a variety of organizations and companies abroad for 8 to 12 weeks over the summer.
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
Deadline: 01/10/26 (Tentative)The Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship is designed to encourage the study of less commonly taught languages by providing undergraduate and graduate recipients with a stipend and funding to take courses in South Asian Language and Area Studies for either a full year or as part as a summer intensive language program.
Undergraduate Clinical Scholars Program (UCSP)
Deadline: 01/10/26 (Tentative)The Undergraduate Clinical Scholars Program (UCSP) is a 9-week rigorous summer research enrichment program for undergraduate students with an interest in clinical/epidemiologic research, with an eventual goal of MD, PhD, or MD-PhD degrees.
Penn Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium
Deadline: 01/15/26 (Tentative)The Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium facilitates faculty- and doctoral student-mentored, urban-focused research through funding support and a semester-long, credit-bearing seminar (CPLN 528/URBS 428).
Grants for Faculty Mentoring Undergraduate Research
Deadline: 01/20/26 (Tentative)Grants for Faculty Mentoring Undergraduate Research will be awarded to offset undergraduate research expenses, such as to provide stipends for undergraduate students or for any other expenditure necessary to facilitate continued support of undergraduate research.
RealArts@Penn Internships
Deadline: 01/20/26 (Tentative)RealArts@Penn Internships help students jumpstart their chosen artistic lives and career paths through paid internships with creative professionals across the country.
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program
Deadline: 01/21/26 (Tentative)The MMUF Program at Penn provides a small cohort of extraordinary Humanities and Social Sciences undergraduates with an intergenerational, intellectual family that nurtures their disciplinary aspirations.
Penn Program for Public Service Internship Program
Deadline: 01/26/26 (Tentative)The Penn Program for Public Service (PPPS) Summer Internship is an 11-week multi-faceted summer program that immerses undergraduates in real-world problem solving in the West Philadelphia-Penn community.
CHOP Research Institute Summer Scholars Program (CRISSP)
Deadline: 01/31/26 (Tentative)The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Research Institute Summer Scholars Program (CRISSP) is a 10-week competitive summer internship program for undergraduate students interested in careers in the biomedical sciences.
EPFL School of Life Sciences International Summer Research Program
Deadline: 01/31/26 (Tentative)The Summer Research Program in Life Sciences and Technology at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) offers an intensive research training opportunity to undergraduate students interested in research careers in life sciences.