Undergraduate Research Opportunities Database
Our database is a great resource in helping students find exciting undergraduate research opportunities at Penn State.
To get the best results, we recommend that you select all of the research areas that interest you. We also recommend that you conduct multiple searches.
Campus – Select the campus(es) where you would be interested in participating in research. Depending on the time of year when you are using the database, consider whether your location changes. For example, do you spend your summers closer to a different campus than where you regularly attend school?
Research Area – Select the area(s) of research that interest you most, keeping in mind that research is often interdisciplinary so it might be appropriate to select more than one area. For example, if you are interested in health you might want to search for opportunities in the physical sciences, life sciences, and nursing and health sciences, because these research areas could all be relevant to your interest in health.
Position Type – Select the position type(s) that are most appealing to you. If you prefer whether you earn credit versus being paid, be sure to narrow down the search results using this field. Note: You may not receive academic credit and be paid for the same research experience in a given semester.
- “Variable” refers to situations where the position type is likely to change. For example, some mentors like to accept students on a volunteer basis and after a semester of working together will consider paying the student or offering course credit.
- “Work Study” is only available to students who have received a federal work-study (FWS) award. You can verify if you have an FWS award by visiting LionPATH and reviewing your "Financial Aid Summary.” If you do not have a federal work-study award, your mentor can also inquire with the Office of Student Aid - 814-865-6301 - to determine if you are eligible to be awarded one.
Work Setting – Select the work setting(s) that works best with your schedule.
- “Variable” refers to situations where the work setting could change throughout the duration of the project or research. For example, some opportunities can start off in-person and be adapted to remote if circumstances were to require such a change.
Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive database of all the research opportunities available at Penn State. Please visit our Finding an Opportunity at Penn State section for other ideas for finding a research opportunity!
Mentors interested in creating an account or posting an opportunity should visit the Using the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Database section.
| Title | Description | Research Area(s) | Position Type(s) | Work Setting(s) | Updated Date | Posting Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Child Health Study |
Study Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to learn more about the different ways in which the environment and biology can affect a person's health over their lifetime. Children beginning at the age of 8 along with one of their caregivers spends a day visiting The Center for Healthy Children at Penn State to help us learn about their different life experiences and environments and how these shapes human development. The information we gather during these visits will help us achieve our long-range goal of understanding more about children, adolescents, and their families to improve health outcomes. Research Assistant Benefits:
|
Communications and Journalism, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
Credit, Variable, Volunteer, Work Study |
On campus |
September 21, 2021 | May 6, 2021 | |
| Human-Computer Interaction |
My research group addresses a wide range of challenge areas in which people collectively and individually use information technology to solve problems, to learn, to be healthier and more active, and even to be better citizens. Our work involves investigating innovative activities and projects that are or can be transformed with information technology, developing new systems and applications to support human activity, and directly studying the appropriation and use of technology by people in lab and field studies. We are especially interested in how people use technology to share and collaborate, to stay aware of news and activity, and to make sense and make decisions in complex and dynamic circumstances. Current focus areas include designs to support community activity and projects,... |
Communications and Journalism, Education, Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
Credit, Volunteer |
Community-based, On campus, Remote |
September 20, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | |
| Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of Facial Analytics |
There is an immediate opening for an ambitious 3rd or 4th year undergraduate student in engineering (or a related major) to join the research team of Jennifer Wagner, JD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Law, Policy, and Engineering. This project is an extension of the study examining the ethical, legal, and social implications of research involving human facial images, which was funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). This project's aim is to identify and assess biometric data protections laws, ordinances, and policies that would affect the use of facial analytics (e.g., facial recognition technologies) across the United States in diverse settings. |
Engineering, Humanities, Information Technology and Computer Science, International Relations, Political Science, and Law, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
Volunteer |
On campus, Remote, Variable |
September 20, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | |
| Human Language Technologies Lab |
Natural language is crucial to how humanity communicates, synthesizes, and stores information. Our lab solves problems to enable computers to do meaningful work with large volumes of text. We develop methods for natural language processing (NLP) and apply them to a variety of domains in privacy, online social media, and computational social science. |
Information Technology and Computer Science |
Credit |
On campus |
September 17, 2021 | September 17, 2021 | |
| Astronomy & Astrophysics Research on Active Galaxies and Cosmic Surveys |
Professor Brandt's interests largely focus on observational studies of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and cosmological X-ray surveys. Specific objects investigated include actively accreting SMBHs (i.e., active galactic nuclei: AGNs), starburst galaxies, and normal galaxies. The work utilizes data from facilities at the forefront of astrophysical discovery, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the XMM-Newton satellite, the NuSTAR satellite, and the Hubble Space Telescope. For further details, I would suggest you watch the following YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLOAgQANVAA (Weak-Line Quasars) |
Physical Sciences |
Credit, Paid, Variable |
On campus, Remote, Variable |
September 17, 2021 | September 17, 2021 | |
| Rural Health Disparities Lab Undergraduate Research Assistant |
In the Rural Health Disparities (RHD) Lab, we conduct high-impact research on rural-urban and within rural health disparities in the US that have implications for policy, practice, and implementation. A key focus of the lab is on how place helps shape health outcomes. This includes accounting for differences in policy contexts, environmental exposures, built environments, economic contexts, and measures of rurality in explaining health disparities across place. To do this, we use spatial and multi-level modeling techniques of primary and secondary data. Current research activities in the RHD Lab are in the following interrelated topical areas:
|
Any |
Variable |
Variable |
September 17, 2021 | September 17, 2021 | |
| Neuroscience of Language & Aging |
Dr. Diaz and the Language and Aging lab are interested in how language changes across adulthood. |
Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
Credit, Volunteer |
On campus, Remote |
September 17, 2021 | January 3, 2022 | |
| Effects of non-natural morphology on ctenophore swimming |
Effects of non-natural morphology on ctenophore swimming Ctenophores are, evolutionary speaking, among the oldest animals on the planet; they have been swimming in the oceans for the last 350 million years. In this project, we are interested in exploring potential physical-mechanical constraints on the evolution and development of their ancient rowing system. Morphological data from ctenophores ranging from 7 to 40 mm in size will be used to inform a reduced-order analytical swimming model previously developed on our research group. The student will use the analytical model to explore the effects of non-natural... |
Engineering, Life Sciences |
Variable |
Variable |
September 10, 2021 | September 9, 2021 | |
| Research Opportunities at the Aerospace multi-Physical and Unconventional System Lab |
The research activities in the APUS Lab (apus.psu.edu) are motivated by the desire to expand the last frontier of aerospace engineering, represented by hypersonic vehicles and high-speed vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The development of these advanced aerospace systems has been constrained by their inherent complex multi-physics nature and the adverse uncertain working environment. While there are relatively mature solutions for each single disciplinary involved in multi-physics problems, these problems cannot be completely understood and solved without integrating the multi-disciplinary tools for the modeling, testing, and robust design of future unconventional aircraft. The following undergraduate research project opportunities are available:
|
Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Science, Mathematics |
Credit, Volunteer |
On campus, Remote, Variable |
September 9, 2021 | August 26, 2019 | |
| Research Assistants Needed for iPRACTISE Project to Develop and Test Innovative Digital Educational Tools |
Motivated undergraduate students are encouraged to apply research positions with the Individualized Pathways and Resources to Adaptive Control Theory-Inspired Scientific Education (iPRACTISE) project under the supervision of Dr. Sy-Miin Chow (Department of Human Development and Family Studies) and Dr. Dennis Pearl (Department of Statistics) on Penn State University Park campus. We are seeking undergraduate research assistants to contribute to the work in the iPRACTISE team and gain valuable research experience in the process. Students who are interested in development and testing of innovative digital solutions to education, and working with an interdisciplinary team are encouraged to contact us. Research assistants will receive academic independent study credits and are... |
Education |
Credit, Volunteer |
On campus, Remote |
September 3, 2021 | September 3, 2021 |