Research Awards

Students completing a two-semester Mentored Research projects can compete for the research awards given by the Department each Spring.

To be eligible, students must submit their theses to the undergraduate office in the Spring and give a 15-minute presentation in the Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. To facilitate scheduling these presentations at the symposium, please contact Claire Ingulli (cingulli@psych.upenn.edu) stating your interest and the title of your project in early Spring. No additional application or nomination is required for the Viteles award; however, both the Sabini and Abela awards have additional application requirements. Please note that only psychology majors are eligible to win the Sabini and Viteles awards. The Abela award is open to students pursuing any undergraduate major.

You will only need to do one presentation in total at the symposium. The same presentation will allow you to be considered for the Viteles, Sabini, and/or Abela awards, if applicable. A panel of faculty will select award recipients after the research symposium, and winners will be announced at the department graduation ceremony in May. 

 

The annual research awards are:

  • The Morris Viteles Award: The Morris Viteles Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Psychology was established to recognize one or more psychology majors who have demonstrated a passion for psychological research.  
  • The John P. Sabini Undergraduate Award for the Study of Emotion, Character, and Responsibility: The John P. Sabini Award for the study of Emotion, Character and Responsibility is awarded to a psychology major with an impressive undergraduate record and a specific interest in social psychology, broadly defined, including the study of emotion, social motives, moral action or character from the perspective of social psychology, evolutionary psychology, analytic philosophy, moral philosophy, or the philosophy of mind. 
  • The John R. Z. Abela Undergraduate Award for the Study of Positive Psychology: The Abela Award was created in May of 2011 to recognize outstanding undergraduate research in positive psychology. All students who complete a two-semester independent study or Honors Thesis on a topic related to positive psychology are eligible to be considered for the Abela Award. 

There is more information about each award on the Mentored Research Canvas site.