As a member of the Rensselaer Research community, you have access to online research training courses through the CITI Training Program. CITI courses are self-paced and offered at no charge to Rensselaer-affiliated researchers with a RIN and RCS email. You may take only the required courses or as many as you like. It's up to you to create and manage your own CITI account, courses and training requirements. If you’re already registered with CITI, please log in periodically to check your course completion records and expiration date(s). CITI Course Completion certificates expire after 3 years (4 years for the Conflicts of Interest course).
Training requirements vary by research role and are described below. Faculty investigators and advisors are responsible for advising student, postdoctoral and visiting researchers of the training requirements. Investigators facing deadlines are reminded to complete or renew the required trainings before submitting a proposal to RAF or a research protocol to the IRB or other Compliance committees.
CITI Research Training Requirements
Note: Faculty investigators are responsible for ensuring that their student, postdoctoral, and visiting researchers complete the required CITI training courses before beginning research.
All Investigators and Research Support Staff must complete the following CITI course:
- Conflicts of Interest
ALL Graduate and Undergraduate Students who are paid from an NSF or NIH grant must complete one of the following CITI courses (choose most relevant field):
- Responsible Conduct of Research (Biomedical)
- Responsible Conduct of Research (Engineering)
- Responsible Conduct of Research (Physical Sciences)
- Responsible Conduct of Research (Humanities)
- Responsible Conduct of Research (Social and Behavioral)
All Graduate and Undergraduate students engaged in Research or studying Research Methods are strongly encouraged to complete one of the RCR courses. (Undergraduate research includes URP, grant-funded research, senior theses, and any course assignment that involves research methods). Note: The Office of Graduate Education requires all graduate students to complete the RCR training prior to candidacy.
ALL Investigators engaged in Human Subject Research must complete one of the following CITI courses (choose most relevant field):
- IRB: Human Subject Research (Biomedical)
- IRB: Human Subject Research (Social and Behavioral)
ALL Graduate and Undergraduate Students engaged in Research Practica with Human Participants must complete the following CITI course:
- IRB: Human Subject Research (Student Class Projects)
ALL Investigators engaged in Animal Research must complete the following CITI course:
- IACUC: Animal Care and Use (Investigators, Staff, Students)
ALL Investigators engaged in Animal Research must also complete any of the following modules that apply:
- IACUC: Aseptic Surgery for Non-Rodent Species
- IACUC: Reducing Pain and Distress in Mice and Rats
- IACUC: Research with Wildlife
- IACUC: Research with Amphibians
- IACUC: Research with Horses
- IACUC: Research with Mice
- IACUC: Research with Rabbits
- IACUC: Research with Rats
ALL Investigators who work with Protected Health Information (PHI) subject to HIPAA regulations must complete the following CITI course:
- IRB: HIPAA and Health Privacy for Human Subject Research
ALL Investigators involved in the export of materials, technology, technical data, and/or software from the United States, or who engage foreign research personnel in their work, must take the following course:
- Export Control Compliance for Researchers
Definitions
- Research means any systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge, regardless of funding source, funding status, or whether Investigators are paid for their work.
- Research Practicum/Practica refers to course assignments or degree requirements with the primary aim of teaching research methods, the results of which are not shared beyond the classroom setting.
- Investigator means all Rensselaer-affiliated faculty, staff, students, visiting researchers and others engaged in Research, regardless of funding source, funding status or paid/unpaid status.
For More Information
- To create or manage your CITI account: CITI Training Program
- For questions about Rensselaer's Conflict of Interest policies: Office of Human Resources
- For Rensselaer Research Compliance resources: Research Compliance
More Research Ethics Resources