Undergraduate and Master’s Research Fellows Program
Program Information
Applications are now open for PDRI-DevLab Spring 2026 Student Research Fellowships!
Deadline for submissions is December 14.
PDRI-DevLab Academic Year Fellowships
Through the three initiatives listed below, PDRI-DevLab is building a cohort of Undergraduate and Master’s students working to build a better future through rigorous social science. Throughout the year, these students work with faculty on methodologically rigorous, impactful research.
- Program 1: PDRI-DevLab Research Fellows: This fellows program is managed directly under the PDRI-DevLab. We accept applications for undergraduate and Master’s research fellows on a rolling basis. These are paid research fellowships on a broad array of research projects. The students are matched to projects based on skills, interests, and available funding. Interested students should apply here. If you have any questions about the application, please contact sandrafa@sas.upenn.edu.
Please note that our funding is very limited this year. Below, we have included a list of internal Penn funding opportunities that you may wish to explore if you are not selected for a paid position with PDRI-DevLab. If you are able to secure alternative funding, we are open to the possibility of connecting you with a research opportunity in the Lab. In addition, if you qualify for federal work-study or are a highly aided student, please indicate this in the relevant section of the application. This list also includes summer funding opportunities for those planning ahead and potentially interested in a Summer 2026 research fellowship or internship with the Lab or one of the Lab’s partners. We will release a call for summer positions in January 2026.
Internal Funding Opportunities at Penn:
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- Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF): CURF provides a wide range of academic year and summer funding. Students should begin their funding search here. Note that the CURF deadline for summer funding is around mid March.
- College Alumni Society Undergraduate Research Grant: Supports creative research for first- through third-year students in the College of Arts & Sciences, in any field.
- Gelfman International Summer Fund: Provides opportunities for enriching international research or service during the summer between junior and senior year.
- Holtz Fund: Established by the Class of 1971, this fund supports undergraduate researchers at Penn in any field.
- Jumpstart for Juniors: Offers rising seniors intensive summer research training with a faculty mentor. Strongly recommended for students new to research.
- Paul and Kathleen Barthmaier Award: Provides financial support for travel related to research or fellowship experiences.
- Hassenfeld Social Impact Grant: May be especially relevant for PDRI-DevLab applicants, as the Lab supports internship-style opportunities with the UN and World Bank.
- Career Services Summer Funding : This funding is focused on summer internship funding for students receiving financial aid from Penn.
- Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS): Highly aided students should explore SRFS’s various funding opportunities for research and internships.
- GAPSA Summer Internship Funding Program: This is an opportunity for graduate students that aims to support selected students who are pursuing unfunded summer opportunities.
- Kleinman Center for Energy Policy – Student Grants: Provides internship funding as well as travel, research, and events.
- Program 2: Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES): The PDRI-DevLab collaborates with PORES to provide students with research fellowships during the academic and summer semesters. This fellowship pairs students with PDRI-DevLab faculty who are conducting research that involves applications of data science and data analytics.
- Program 3: Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM): The PDRI DevLab collaborates with the PURM program, which 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.
PDRI-DevLab Summer Fellowships
Student Research Fellows who engage with our projects during summers on a full-time basis are part of PDRI-DevLab Summer Fellowship program, which aims to build a community of undergraduate, predoctoral and postdoctoral students who work with faculty on methodologically rigorous, impactful research. To that end, the program has the following components:
- Weekly project meetings for each of the project teams.
- A brown bag series on `New Research, Tools, and Methods for International Development’, which will cover everything from current research projects to new tools for research in international development to fundamental issues in research design. Presenters will include faculty, PhD students, as well as predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows.
- Research presentations by Summer Fellows, for which in the middle of the program, project teams will put together a ~30 minute presentation about their work.
- Please click here for the application.
Spring 2025 Fellows
- Caroline Bach (PDRI-DevLab)
- Felicia Merino-Ostlund (PDRI-DevLab)
- Kaynath Chowdhury (PDRI-DevLab)
- Alejandro Mosquera Garcia (PDRI-DevLab)
- Doer He (PDRI-DevLab)
- Solemei Scarmoni (PDRI-DevLab)
- Sophia Tian (PDRI-DevLab)
- Rohan Kapoor (PDRI-DevLab)
- Jackson Owen (PDRI-DevLab)
- Zainab Adeoye (PDRI-DevLab)
- Dina Zhanybekova (PDRI-DevLab)
- Raymond Liu Ao (PDRI-DevLab)
- Maria-Doriana Gheorghe (PDRI-DevLab)
- Isaac Habon (PDRI-DevLab)
Fall 2024 Fellows
- Tianyi Zhou (PDRI-DevLab)
- Paavani Arora (PDRI-DevLab)
- Caroline Bach (PDRI-DevLab)
- Naimah Bilkiss Haman (PDRI-DevLab)
- Max Nothackar (PDRI-DevLab)
- Sylvia Lam (PDRI-DevLab)
- Vrinda Agarwal (PDRI-DevLab)
- Camellia Bui (PDRI-DevLab)
- Wagiha Mariam (PDRI-DevLab)
- Olubukols Alliyu (PORES)
- Rohan Kapoor (PDRI-DevLab)
- Victor Silva (PDRI-DevLab)
- Dina Zhanybekova (PDRI-DevLab)
- Bedansh Pandey (PORES)
- Raymond Liu Ao (PDRI-DevLab
- Megan Zhang (PDRI-DevLab)
Fall 2023- Summer 2024 Fellows
- Paavani Arora (PORES)
- Caroline Bach (PORES)
- Naimah Bilkiss (PURM)
- Tianyi Zhou (FELS/PDRI-DevLab)
- August Crane (PURM)
- Ria Rege (PDRI-DevLab)
- Sierra We (PORES)
- Megan Zheng (PURM)
- Anya Sinha (CURF)
- Riya Sinha (CURF)
Fall 2022- Summer 2023 Fellows
- Paavani Arora (PURM)
- Caroline Bach (PURM)
- Kate Barnes (PDRI-DevLab)
- Ceci Duncan (PORES)
- Arda Enifiyeci (PURM)
- Jean Claude Lane (PORES)
- Yasmin Abdul Razak (PORES)