Carnegie Mellon University
NSF & NIH Requirements

NSF, NIH, & NIFA Requirements

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Effective for all proposals submitted on or after July 31, 2023, the NSF will require the expansion of RCR training to include faculty and other senior personnel.  The institution must have a plan in place to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and other senior personnel who will be supported by NSF to conduct research.

Carnegie Mellon University has selected the CITI Program to fulfill the NSF requirement. An updated CITI training course, including new modules for those who completed previous versions, is now available.

RCR training must be completed by faculty and other senior personnel prior to receiving any financial support from the award. All undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers paid by NSF research awards must complete RCR training no more than ninety (90) days after salaries are initially charged to the account.  Salary costs for individuals who have not completed the required training are unallowable and will be removed from the account.

If the NSF application requires a description of the RCR education program at CMU you may use this standard language [PDF] as a guide.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The NIH requires RCR education for certain types of awards (D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R and other grant programs with a training component that requires instruction in responsible conduct of research).  The RCR program must include substantial face-to-face discussions among the participating attendees; a combination of didactic and small-group discussions (e.g. case studies); and participation of research training faculty members in instruction in responsible conduct of research is highly encouraged.

To fulfill this requirement, the CMU Office of Research Integrity and Compliance office, with support from the CMU Libraries, presents a series of interactive seminars each semester with subject-matter experts on the topics required for the RCR curriculum. A schedule for the seminars can be found under the ORIC website heading "RCR Training."

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

NIFA requires all program directors, faculty, students, postdocs, and staff participating on an NIFA-funded award to complete RCR training. must comply with NIFA’s RCR requirement.  RCR training must be completed by faculty and other senior personnel prior to receiving any financial support from the award. All undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers paid by NIFA research awards must complete RCR training no more than ninety (90) days after salaries are initially charged to the account

Carnegie Mellon University has selected the CITI Program to fulfill the NSF requirement.