Discovery Summer Research Grant

One way to continue to build your research skills is to apply for the Discovery Summer Research Grant to fund an independent project of your own choosing and then present a poster of your work. The Discovery Summer Research Grant is designed to provide summer funding to start, continue, or finish an independent project. An independent project can be on any topic but should be one that is your idea or one where you are taking the lead. You should not be proposing to spend your summer primarily assisting a graduate student or faculty member in completing their project.

The University Libraries has created this worksheet to help you in starting to identify potential research questions and mapping out your project.

Applications for summer 2026 grants will open December 1, 2025 and close on February 16, 2026.

Background

The Rodney A. Erickson Discovery Grant Program, named in honor of Penn State's seventeenth President, supports undergraduate student engagement in original research, scholarship, and creative work under the direct supervision of a research mentor.

Forty-three Erickson Discovery Grants were awarded for summer 2024.

The Erickson Discovery Grants are directed to student-initiated projects in the arts, engineering, humanities, sciences, and social sciences that provide experience in all facets of the research, scholarship, or creative processes. This includes conceptualization of a question or focus, proposal writing, identification and implementation of methods, and communication of results (reporting, exhibition, or performance). Projects should be primarily the student's own work; although the project may be related to the supervising faculty member's research or scholarly interests, it should not simply provide assistance to faculty work.

Grants may be used to cover living expenses and project costs (supplies, materials, books, specialized software, travel for the purpose of data collection, etc.). Note: Funds will be deposited to student accounts and therefore may have an impact on student aid or be applied to outstanding charges.

Eligibility

Current undergraduate
Must have at least one semester remaining after the funded summer
Research must have a Penn State mentor
Not have accepted a Discovery Summer Research Grant previously (Formally an Erickson Discovery Grant)
Ability to dedicate significant time to research over the course of the summer. Students should plan for about eight weeks of half-time work—approximately 20 hours per week, totaling around 160 hours.

Application

Apply here for the Discovery Summer Research Grant

A completed application consists of the following:

Two-page research proposal (single- or double-spaced) that addresses the following:
- The question or goal to be addressed and its relevance to the discipline or field. Proposals for creative projects should describe the academic nature of the work.
- The methods or processes that will be used to address the question or goal
- Why the project is of interest to the student and their preparation to complete it
- How supervision by the faculty member will contribute to the student’s project
Name and contact information of the research supervisor, so that the supervisor can be contacted to provide a letter of support that includes an evaluation of the proposal and the student’s ability to complete the project

Citations supporting the research topic may be included with the research proposal as a separate, third page.

Review Criteria

Applications are reviewed by faculty within your area of expertise. Review criteria include:

Scholarly nature – Does the project involve research, scholarship, or creative work? (Educational or personal enrichment activities – e.g. study abroad, travel unrelated to research, projects not grounded in an academic discipline, etc., do not apply.)
Student engagement – Did the student help to frame the question or focus of the project and will the student activities involve the major steps in the research or creative process? (Projects should not merely provide assistance to the faculty supervisor's work.)
Faculty collaboration – Will the faculty supervisor provide a level of supervision that guides the student's work and adds value to the project?
Faculty recommendation – Does the faculty supervisor consider the project worthwhile academically and endorse the student's ability to complete it?

Timeline

Application opens December 1, 2025.
Deadline to apply is February 16, 2026.
Results will be announced in mid-March.

Questions about the Discovery Summer Research Grant Program should be directed to Alan Rieck, associate vice president and associate dean for undergraduate education, at 814-863-1864 or ajr83@psu.edu.

2026 Recipients

Reilley Barish - Do Perfectionist Tendencies Affect How Student Musicians Perform? - Arts and Architecture (including Visual Arts)
Kate Bukowski - Perceptions of Safety: Increased Police on Washington, D.C. Metro - Social Sciences
Justin Cheetham - Evolutionary Origins of Circadian Genes - Life and Health Sciences
Ava Ciabattoni - Evaluating the Toxicological Relevance of PFAS Mixtures Beyond Targeted Chemical Analysis - Agricultural Sciences
Sofia Costa Miranda - From Regulation to Representation: LGBT Politics in United States Sports Since 1960s Examined Through Administrative, Media and Athlete Perspectives - Social Sciences
Amanda Easley - Improving the Prediction of the Final Menstrual Period in Women During the Late Menopause Transition - Life and Health Sciences
Ciara Garvey - Impact of Centromeric Genes in Neuronal Microtubule Regulation - Life and Health Sciences
Sean Golder - Classical and Quantum Dynamics in an Information Theoretic Space - Physical Sciences (e.g. Chemistry; Math; Physics; and Statistics)
Fabian Gonzalez Gomez - Optimization of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines Through Active Flow Control Using the Venturi Principle - Engineering
Owen Hoover - Image-Based Characterization of Rotating Detonating Waves in a Continuously Rotating Detonation Engine (CRDE) - Engineering
Daniel Huang - Hydrogel-in-Hydrogel Approach to Enhance Mechanical Properties and Drug Retention of Macroporous Hydrogels - Engineering
Ali Iranmanesh - Evolving Efficiency: A Systematic Ablation Study on the Necessity of Engineering Enhancements in Modern LLM-Based Test Generation - Business and Informational Sciences
Jaabili Kuruvella - Investigating the Long-Term Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Anxiety, Learning, and Memory in Aged Zebrafish - Life and Health Sciences
Penelope Leming - Navigating Enzyme-Coated Microparticles in Multiple Chemical Gradients - Engineering
Alexander Litak - The Influence of Carbon Black Loading on the Kinetics of PDMS Cross Linking - Physical Sciences (e.g. Chemistry; Math; Physics; and Statistics)
Kayla McCafferty - Determining the Genetic Diversity of the Western PA Equine Population - Life and Health Sciences
Lydia Meressi - Effects of asthma during development on brain gene expression - Life and Health Sciences
Madison Millin - Discordance and Destruction: A Look into the Applications of Discordance Dating for Bolide Impacts - Earth and Mineral Sciences
Jonathan Mwangi - An Investigation into Aquaculture Extension Services and Education Systems within Kenya - Business and Informational Sciences
Jacqueline Negron - Investigation of Ethylene-Forming Enzyme Homologs for Applications in Sustainable 3-Hydroxypropionate Production - Physical Sciences (e.g. Chemistry; Math; Physics; and Statistics)
Om Patil - Racial Identity and Social Determinants of Health as Predictors of Sport-Related Concussion Risk in Division I Athletes - Social Sciences
Briana Pearsall - Investigating the Pollinators and Seed Dispersers of Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) in Pennsylvania - Agricultural Sciences
Shalini Prasath - Reclaiming Tamil Typography: Evaluating Indian Design Methods to Revise Tamil Type Design Practices - Arts and Architecture (including Visual Arts)
Abbie Preston - Strengthening Detection of Female Genital Schistosomiasis in Kenya - Business and Informational Sciences
Barbara Price - The Grange be Apolitical: Agrarian Political Identity in 19th Century Newspapers - Humanities
Jeniann Rodriguez Rosa - Tracing the Developmental Onset of Spider Silk Gene Expression in Parasteatoda tepidariorum - Life and Health Sciences
Alli Satterfield - Subtle Objects (and Acts) of Resistance Across Northern Ireland and Ireland - Humanities
Cara Schmitt - Analyzing the Effects of Preventing Sexual Maturity on Circadian Learning and Memory - Life and Health Sciences
Tatiana Seremula - Design and study of color-tunable boron–nitrogen heterocycle fluorophores - Physical Sciences (e.g. Chemistry; Math; Physics; and Statistics)
Conrad Street - Effect of patient-derived mutations on the motor properties of the neuronal kinesin KIF1C - Life and Health Sciences
Quinn Sullivan - Using Machine Learning to Select Active Galactic Nuclei in the Rubin LSST Deep-Drilling Fields. - Physical Sciences (e.g. Chemistry; Math; Physics; and Statistics)
Skyler Tan - Identifying Early Sexual-stage Markers in Plasmodium falciparum Using Single-Cell Transcriptomics - Life and Health Sciences
Calvin Yoder - Engineering a Transwell Insert Using Melt Electrowritten Polycaprolactone membrane for Air-Liquid Culture - Engineering