At Wharton, you have all the building blocks for relevant and rigorous research. These include dedicated computing support, office space near your doctoral colleagues and faculty in your department, and specialized research facilities such as the Wharton Behavioral Lab.
What It’s Like to Do Research at Wharton
Wharton PhD students talk about shifting to a full-time focus on independent research and the freedom, flexibility, and community support that comes along with it.
Research That Matters
Our faculty will tell you that producing high-quality research is critical to your success. It’s the core of the doctoral experience and academic life. The best way to understand what our students do is to browse their research on each program of study site, learn about the awards and honors they receive, and read about their career placements at top universities and institutions.
Centers for Knowledge
Through Wharton’s 10 departments and 20 research centers and initiatives, you have access to faculty within a deep and broad environment that fosters your intellectual growth. As your ideas take shape and even change, you can build on your foundational knowledge base with areas such as entrepreneurship and leadership to health care economics and business ethics.
Cross-Disciplinary Research
The faculty’s diverse research agendas encourage you to follow new ideas that go across boundaries — not just at Wharton but also at Penn’s other globally renowned graduate and professional schools. At Penn, you find unparalleled opportunities to work with leading faculty in such disciplines as law, engineering, medicine, economics, sociology, psychology, and mathematics.
Learn more about Penn’s graduate programs.
Research Resources
Wharton is part of the University of Pennsylvania, an R1 research institution with deep commitment and broad resources to support student and faculty research. Here are some of the assets that will facilitate your academic interests:
Lippincott Library
Wharton’s Lippincott Library, located in the west wing of the University’s Van Pelt/Dietrich Library Center, contains approximately 200,000 volumes. Lippincott maintains an outstanding digital library that includes thousands of e-journals, ranging from sources like the Wall Street Journal and The Economist to the Journal of Finance and the Academy of Management Journal.
The collection also includes over 100 business databases, including data intensive resources like Bloomberg Professional Service, DataStream, FactSet and SDC Platinum, as well as business literature sources like Business Source Complete and Dow Jones Factiva. Subject specialist librarians are available for reference and research consultation services.
Learn more about Lippincott Library.
Wharton Computing
Wharton Computing is recognized in the industry for their innovative use of technology and has committed support for faculty. With this dedicated resource, facilities include microcomputers in student labs, group computing workstations, and classroom teaching stations throughout the Wharton complex. A network of Unix workstations are used for PhD and faculty research applications. Wharton’s school-wide network provides data communications services, connections to Wharton’s host systems, and access to Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS).
Wharton Computing is also home to the Alfred West, Jr. Learning Lab, another example of innovation at the School. The Learning Lab develops technology-enhanced learning materials — simulations, web-based exercises, and interactive programs — to explore new paradigms for learning and instruction. Products developed engage students in real-world exercises that challenge them to apply principles they’ve learned across disciplines and business environments.
Find out more about technology at Wharton, and how it helps create and support both research and teaching and the student experience.
Wharton Behavioral Laboratory
A state-of-the-art experimental research laboratory, the Wharton Behavioral Laboratory provides Wharton faculty and doctoral students with a dedicated behavioral research environment.Over the past year, 20 faculty and 11 graduate students ran experiments totaling 16,000 subject hours and collected more than 40,000 observations.
Supporting a broad range of behavioral research and experimental research methods – from psychology studies on consumer behavior, to experimental economics research on market behavior, to investigations into group and interactive situations such as negotiations and game theory – the lab is an integral resource for innovative research being conducted across the School.
Learn more about the Wharton Behavioral Lab.
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)
World-class researchers need the best tools to do their work. To allow Wharton faculty and students quick and easy access to the broadest spectrum of data, the School, with extensive faculty input, has developed WRDS. Now licensed to more than 250 top business schools and institutions worldwide, WRDS offers state-of-the-art web-based data management with seamless delivery of data from multiple sources.
Data resources available to Wharton faculty and students include CRSP, Compustat, and CITIBASE financial data series; online financial market information systems; and a large selection of economic, bibliographic, and news datasets.
Learn more about WRDS.
Wharton-INSEAD Alliance
Wharton and INSEAD faculty and doctoral students conduct research and teach across the Alliance’s four campuses. Forty faculty and 8 doctoral students have crossed campuses to collaborate on research. In addition, the Alliance has generated five joint doctoral dissertation committees.
Learn more about opportunities through the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance.
Penn Resources
More than just Wharton, students have access to Penn’s abundant research across its globally recognized schools. All 12 graduate schools are located on our compact campus – a proximity that fosters and furthers the University’s commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry and research. Doctoral students regularly take classes in and engage in research with faculty from other programs and schools including economics, law, medicine, communications, and psychology.
Learn more about Penn’s research.