 In 1935, Powell became a research fellow at the Franklin Institute's Bartol Laboratory and began investigation of cosmic rays.During the Depression years, funds for research were difficult to secure.Powell managed to obtain financing for his research on cosmic rays and the construction of bigger and better cloud chambers from the Rumford Fund of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Carnegie Institute, the Committee on Research of the American Philosophical Society and the Fund for Astrophysical Research.