Though it was only created four years ago, Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships has already helped students win some of the world's most prestigious fellowships and grants.
To date, the center has assisted two Rhodes Scholars and two Marshall Scholars, among others -- totaling the most winners of these awards in any four-year period in Penn's history, according to CURF Director Art Casciato.
But, according to Casciato, the center's mission is not limited to helping students who are applying for fellowships.
CURF strives to "promote and celebrate" undergraduate research at Penn as well, Casciato said.
In addition to housing the Benjamin Franklin Scholars and University Scholars programs, both of which offer research funding, CURF also provides interested students with an opportunity to win several other undergraduate research awards.
Since its introduction, the center's main contribution has been its identification and recruitment of appropriate students, according to Casciato.
"CURF was started mainly ... because Penn students were not winning these awards as regularly as at their peer institutions," Casciato said. "It didn't take me long to figure out that the problem was really a matter of getting what are very talented and very able students to apply."
"The problem was a lack of applications rather than a lack of ability," he added.
Since CURF's creation in 2000, the number of students applying for some of the most highly regarded awards has increased greatly.
For example, four years ago, only seven students applied for a Rhodes Fellowship -- a number which soared to 40 by the center's third year of existence.
Casciato said he is pleased by these numbers, since they are now much closer to those of Penn's peer institutions.
The increase in applications has resulted in more students winning, which in turn, Casciato hopes, will continue to result in more applications.
"I think our success has helped generate more and more applications and more and more candidates," Casciato said.
Cheryl Shipman, who serves as CURF's research coordinator, said she hopes that Penn students continue to apply for fellowships and grants that are available, despite what they think their odds of receiving them might be.
"Ordinary Penn students are capable of winning these," she said. "There isn't some magic sparkle that defines somebody as being a Rhodes Scholar."
However, Casciato was quick to add that the center does not wish to take full credit for the successes of Penn's recent award-winners.
"We do not make Rhodes or Marshall scholars," Casciato said. "We recruit them, guide them and support them. It's the Penn student who does the lion's share of the work and it's the Penn student who deserves the lion's share of the credit."
Shipman said that all Penn students remotely interested in pursuing research or applying for a fellowship should contact CURF.
"One thing I want to convey to all students is that they don't have to be at the point of being able to articulate what they want to do when they first come in," she said. "We'll brainstorm with them. You don't have to have a clear question to ask in order to come talk to us."
