Posted: December 17, 2025
Undergraduates from all majors and campuses can now apply. Applications close February 16, 2026.
Projects of all kinds are welcome: the arts, engineering, humanities, business, education, sciences and social sciences. While proposals may be related to the supervising faculty member's research or scholarly interests, projects must be independent and designed by the student. While some students travel for their experience, many choose to stay at their home campus to conduct their work.
Applications are open now on InfoReady.
About the application
Applications are open now. Penn State University Libraries developed a worksheet to help students identify potential research questions and map out their project.
The final application asks for a 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.
Applicants will also need to provide the 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. Students should aim to work on their projects for about eight weeks at half time, or about 160 hours.
This year's cycle will have fewer available grants than in previous years, said Alan Rieck, associate vice provost for Undergraduate Education.
"We're working with our partners to identify donors and new sources of funding for the Erickson Discovery Grant program," Rieck said. "Each year, students from across the commonwealth use Erickson grants to travel, conduct research and discover their passions in life and work. It is our intention to secure Erickson grant funding that will sustain the program closer to its previous number of awards."
Erickson Discovery Grants are supported by Penn State Undergraduate Education.
