Penn Graduate Student Center
Navigating the Grant
Navigating the Grant Resources
We hope you find these resources useful and if you have any comments or suggestions, please let the Gnome know!
While researching grant opportunities and ultimately writing a grant narrative may seem daunting, you are not alone! Penn resource centers exist to assist you as you determine which grants to apply to, how to hone your skills writing in the "grant genre," and how to manage your time as efficiently as possible.
Despite the resources available on-campus at Penn, never forget the value of your advisor, committee, and colleagues within your department.
Penn Resources
Graduate Student Center
Our Navigating the Grant program provides a repository of information to help you get started. Use this site as a jumping off point.
If you are looking for feedback on the content of your grant narrative, your best bet would be to approach an expert in your field — someone familiar with the literature and lingo surrounding your topic. More advanced graduate students within your department/school who have sucessfully acquired funding may prove to be invaluable resources.
We also provide a
- peer-to-peer grant advising program which can match you with a grant winner to provide feedback on your draft.
- calendar of upcoming funding opportunities to help with your research or dissertation.
- handouts from recent events.
Career Services
Not just for finding your future job, Career Services has an in-house library including volumes of lists of granting agencies, maintains an online database of available grants at Penn as well as links to other universities' resources, and participates with the Grad Center on workshops helping students with the ins and outs of the grant process
Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowship (CURF)
Often stigmatized by the "undergraduate" portion of its acronym, CURF does help graduate students. While the office is not the place to go for discipline-specific grant advice, CURF advisors can help you with the personal statement portion of your fellowship or grant application. Also, if applying for such fellowships as the Fulbright or Luce, you must go through CURF to have your application submitted to the appropriate agency. Although focused on fellowships, CURF provides a database of funding opportunities (still under construction).
Nobody likes a procrastinator!
If a third party (CURF, SAS, etc) has to administer your grant and you wait until the last minute to seek help, you will find yourself against deadlines with too much to do and too little time.
Give yourself plenty of time! Indeed, get help at Weingarten with managing your workload!
The Graduate Catalog
Section 3 lists internal Penn grants and fellowships.
GAPSA
GAPSA offers limited travel grants and along with the Provost's Office, promote interdisciplinary research through summer reserach grants
International S.O.S.
Are you going to do research abroad? In case of emergency, make sure you're covered. Before going abroad for academic work, register using the "Personal Locator" in order to be covered during emergencies free of charge.
Weingarten Learning Resources Center
Grants are all about time management and Weingarten Learning Resources Center can help you manage your time effectively. In addition, they can help you work through the strategy of grant writing – not simply the writing itself. Students can make appointments for one-on-one consultations with a Learning Instructor to address concerns and develop strategies for completing the grant researching/writing process.
"Time Management for the Grant" (PDF) by Dr. Pat Thatcher
Finding Grants
The Finding Grants calendar advertises any grants and fellowships we hear of that could fund your Master's or Ph.D. It is nowhere close to comprehensive and we strongly suggest that you look at the other links following the calendar.
If you notice we've missed one, especially one you've won, do tell; and sign up to be an Advisor as well!
Career Services provides a funding database and other resources.
PennERA Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) is an up-to-date listing of funding opportunities from national and international governmental and private funding sources.
SMARTS (SPIN Matching and Research Transmittal Service) is an email alert system that allows investigators to receive email notifications about funding opportunities matching their specific requirements.
Cornell University Graduate Fellowship Notebook offers a large repository of fellowships and grants.
Foundation Center is a national nonprofit service organization and maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants.
Grants.Gov is the single access point for over 900 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies.
GrantsNet is a searchable database of grants to fund training in the sciences.
H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online provides announcements of funding for research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
Michigan State University Libraries Grants Guide
SRA International is a professional society dedicated to educating and supporting research administrators.
Vice Provost for Research has databases and other information geared to researchers.
Funding & Writing Guides
Penn Library's Research Guide to Funding
"Demystifying the World of Funding" (PDF) by Dr. Jennifer Wofford
Foundation Grants to Individuals compiled by the Foundation Center
From Idea to Funded Project: Grant Proposals That Work by Jane C. Belcher and Julia M. Jacobsen
Graduate School Funding Handbook by April Vahle Hamel
Proposals That Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals by Lawrence Locke
A Guide for Proposal Writing: Directorate for Education and Human Resources from the National Science Foundation
Just for Fun!
Professor Writes Worst Op-Ed Ever
Have some more helpful resource suggestions? Tell the Gnome!
Thanks to Grad Center NavGrant Fellows who have worked on ensuring these resources are thoughtful, helpful, and up-to-date. A shout out to Kim S-T., Nicole M., Sarah S., John R., and Amruta I.
Common Room Hours
Monday - Thursday:
9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sat & Sun: 12 Noon - 6:00 PM
Graduate Student Center
3615 Locust Walk
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6221
215-746-6868
center@gsc.upenn.edu
