Undergrad Fellowships & Grants

A number of research funds available for Bucknell students studying various humanities disciplines are available below. For a full list of undergraduate research funds, visit the Student Research Funds website. For a full list of academic fellowships and awards presented to Bucknell students, see the Student Prizes and Academic Awards webpage.

For assistance applying for research funding, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Fellowships and Research.


Bucknell Program for Undergraduate Research

The Bucknell Program for Undergraduate Research (PUR) is a University-wide program providing summer awards to students to conduct research, engage in other scholarship, or undertake creative projects with faculty mentors. Awards are determined on a competitive basis by a faculty selection committee representing all of Bucknell’s academic divisions. For more information, visit the Bucknell Program for Undergraduate Research webpage.
Applications due in February.


Digital Scholarship Summer Research Fellowship

The Digital Scholarship Summer Research Fellowship, run by L&IT at Bucknell, is a competitive fellowship for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, who will develop an independent digital scholarship project focused in the arts, humanities, and/or humanistic social sciences. Broadly defined, digital scholarship entails research that is made possible by digital technologies, or that takes advantage of technology to ask and answer questions in new ways.  As a fellow, you will learn to use digital tools and methodologies, and apply them to a digital research project of your design. For more information, visit the Digital Scholarship Summer Research Fellowship website.
Applications due in February.


Emerging Scholars Summer Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Program

The goal of the Emerging Scholars Summer Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Program is to support students in the early exploration of their research and scholarly interests, and in developing their research skills, under the tutelage of a faculty mentor or mentors. This program differs from other summer research grant programs, such as the Program for Undergraduate Research (PUR), that call for detailed project proposals outlining structured research projects. Instead, Emerging Scholars are expected to pursue exploratory, conceptual, and applied research, scholarship, or creative projects. For more information, visit Emerging Scholars Summer Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Program website.
Applications due in March.


Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation Summer Environmental Internship

The Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation Summer Environmental Internship is a University-wide program initially funded in 1982. The student participants conduct environmental research, primarily but not exclusively, with a focus on West Branch of the Susquehanna River Bioregion. In the past students from biology, geology, chemistry, economics, English, environmental studies and engineering have been funded. For more information, visit the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation Summer Environmental Internship website.
Applications due in February.


Mellon Confounding Problems Undergraduate Research Grants

Confounding Problems Grants assist undergraduate students in pursuing research related to so-called confounding (or wicked) problems. These are large-scale problems that resist any simple solution — and that concern us as citizens as well as scholars. The expression has been used primarily in the sciences and social sciences to describe problems or issues that have multiple causes and no single answers, such as a quick technological fix or a central authority to solve them. Grants support both original student research and travel to present that research at academic conferences. founding Problems Grants are supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information about the various grants available as part of the Mellon Confounding Problems Undergraduate Research Grants, please visit the Confounding Problems website.
Application deadlines vary.


Additional Undergraduate Research Funds

You can learn more about the below funding opportunities on the Student Research Funds webpage.

Douglas K. Candland Undergraduate Research Fund

This fund is designed to encourage imagination, innovation, and the development of problem-solving skills among students majoring in the humanities and social sciences.

Culliton Family Fund for Undergraduate Research

Income from the fund will be used to support summer undergraduate research opportunities for students.

James L.D. & Rebecca Roser Research Fellowship

Stipends from the fund shall be awarded as fellowships to undergraduate students conducting research under direction of faculty. The vice president for academic affairs, or his or her successor, will name research fellows on recommendation of the deans of the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Engineering.

Helen E. Royer Undergraduate Research Fund

The fund shall support faculty-mentored research projects by undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need.

Juliet Shield-Taylor Fund for Undergraduate Research

First preference for research stipends shall be given to undergraduate students undertaking summer projects in the performing arts. Secondary preference shall be given to projects in the visual arts.