Research-Related Experiences

Office of Professional Practice

• Graduate-level opportunities for internships and co-ops, often involving research with industry or government labs.

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

Purdue’s College of Engineering requires all on-campus engineering graduate students to complete both of the following RCR trainings by the end of their first semester. Students on NSF- or NIH-funded research projects may have additional requirements or earlier deadlines and should check with their research advisor.

• Complete the CITI online course on Responsible Conduct of Research Training — Faculty, Postdoctoral, and Graduate Course (CITI-RCR). The CITI-RCR online course includes 8 required modules. Each module takes approximately 30-60 minutes to complete and ends with a short multiple choice quiz. Students can enter, leave, and re-enter the course and each module as many times as they would like prior to taking the quiz. Students must achieve an average score of at least 80% on all quizzes in the required modules. When students have completed all the quizzes, they can print out a certificate of completion.
• Attend a follow-up seminar or workshop. The seminar or workshop may be one given by the School or one offered by the Graduate School. The seminar should be at least 60-90 minutes in length and give the opportunity for students to ask questions and discuss RCR-related issues with the speaker.
• Responsible Conduct of Research topics available as workshops or online:
  • Copyright
  • Grant Writing
  • Intellectual Property
  • Plagiarism and Ethical Practices
  • RCR — Authorship/Publication
  • RCR — Data Management
  • RCR — Human Subjects
  • RCR — Research Integrity
  • Roles and Responsibilities

CITI Program

• The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) is dedicated to promoting the public’s trust in the research enterprise by providing high quality, peer-reviewed, web-based educational courses in research, ethics, regulatory oversight, responsible conduct of research, research administration, and other topics pertinent to the interests of member organizations and individual learners.
• The CITI Program materials are designed and regularly updated to:
  • Enhance the knowledge and professionalism of investigators, staff, and students conducting research in the United States and internationally
  • Educate members, administrators, and leadership of ethics committees that review and oversee research
  • Promote ethical research at organizations through the education of research administrators and organizational leadership