RCR Training Course

Per Georgia Tech’s Responsible Conduct of Research Compliance Policy, it is a requirement for PURA students to complete an online RCR training course through the CITI Program. The training must be completed prior to the start of your semester of PURA funding. Georgia Tech believes it is important for researchers to have a shared understanding of their obligations when conducting research. Please visit the website here, read all instructions, and follow the link to begin the CITI RCR Training. You only have to complete the training once, even if you are awarded subsequent PURA salary awards. If you have any questions concerning the training, please contact Judy Willis, Administrator of Graduate Research Ethics Programs, at judy.willis@gatech.edu.

“Important: For security reasons, before clicking the green “button” on the online training page, be sure to close all browser windows and tabs and then reopen your browser.  Otherwise you may not get proper credit for your CITI courses.”

Hire, Payroll, and Award Disbursement

Each student awardee will be allocated up to $1,500 to be used during the specific semester of application for hourly wages. Students are not paid a stipend. The number of hours worked and the schedule will be determined jointly between the faculty mentor and student awardee and any graduate/post-doctoral student co-mentor. Suggested hourly wage is at least$12.00/hour.  Please note that the $1500 is gross and not net income (this means you will be taxed on your pay).

Students that receive salary awards will be put on the payroll in the faculty mentor’s school and must clock in and out via the WebClock or a Kaba Clock.  Faculty mentors will serve as supervisors and approve all timesheets in OneUSG Connect. The financial or human resources manager/officer in the faculty mentor’s school/department will assist with details regarding placement on the payroll. We advise each student to speak with his/her faculty mentor first to agree upon an hourly rate and number of hours to work before talking to the financial point of contact. During fall and spring semesters, PURA salary students are not permitted to accept salary or stipend funding from other sources for work on the same project funded by PURA. During the summer, it is permissible for a mentor to use his/her own funding to continue a student’s hourly wages after the PURA funds are expended. Students eligible for federal work study may use this in conjunction with PURA funding. It is the student and faculty mentor’s responsibility to keep track of hours worked and to not overspend the $1,500 maximum. Overcharges must be paid back by the school or may be the responsibility of the student.

There are several steps students must complete to be hired that require completion by the faculty mentor's school. For details on new hire onboarding or rehiring student assistants, review the Student Onboarding page.  If you are a new hire, students will receive emails from Equifax to complete the Student Hire Packet via the University System of Georgia Employment Center.  After completing the hiring paperwork, students will receive an email to schedule an appointment at Georgia Tech Human Resources to complete the I-9 and Security Questionnaire.  Students will be expected to bring original and unexpired identification documents to the appointment. View the list of accepted documents prior to your visit to Georgia Tech Human Resources.  All student employees are highly encouraged to review the Student Employee Onboarding Tutorial on Canvas for step-by-step guides for completing the student employee onboarding process.  Once your job record is activated, you will be able to report your time via the WebClock or Kaba Clock.  You must clock in when you begin working and clock out when you complete work, every time you work.  Review the bi-weekly payroll calendar for timesheet due dates, pay dates, and links to knowledge articles for time reporting, paycheck resources, and other helpful information. You may also find all this information and more resources on the Student Employment webpage.  

Undergraduate students at Georgia Tech are not allowed to perform research for pay and receive course credit for a project at the same time. Monies not used in the semester of funding will revert back to the Institute for reallocation by the UROP office as both PURA salary and travel funding. Students who do not plan to accept their award should inform the UROP office before the start of the first day of classes.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS:

International students who do not have a social security number must apply for one before being able to receive compensation. This may take time, so do not delay in applying. Please refer to the Office of International Education’s website here for information on how to apply. The UROP office does not issue formal letters of employment. Your faculty mentor’s school will be hiring you, therefore requests for a formal letter of employment should be directed to your mentor’s school’s financial point of contact.

Course Registration

Students who accept a salary award are required to register for the Research Assistantship course (XXXX 2698 or XXXX 4698) in the appropriate school and college of the faculty mentor. This audit, non-billable (free) course will be listed on the student’s transcript and will indicate the number of hours the student performed research for pay. The hours for this audit class do not count towards graduation. Permits are required to register for these courses. Please contact the academic advisor in your faculty mentor’s school for additional information. Each school has different procedures for students to follow, and specific course sections must first be created for students. A list of PURA awardees will be sent to each school so that the 2698 and 4698 course sections with appropriate faculty may be listed as options during registration. Please follow the procedures for permits that exist in your faculty mentor’s school. Please submit your permit requests several days before the deadline to add courses, as several signatures are often required before a course can be created for a student and registration code provided. For more information, please visit the Registrar’s website here.

For example, if your faculty mentor resides in the School of Mechanical Engineering, you would sign up for either ME 2698 or ME 4698, depending on your class status. For each three hours of research expected per week, a student should register for one hour. For example, if you expect to work on the project nine hours per week, you should register for three hours. Co-op students or students with full-time paid internships during a semester may not accept PURA funding during that same semester.

Students should not sign up for other special problems courses or other undergraduate research courses (i.e., XXXX 2699/XXXX 4699) for which grades are received unless working on a completely separate research project. Georgia Tech does not allow undergraduate students to receive pay and credit for the same work.
 

Final Report Requirement

All PURA Salary Award recipients are required to submit a final report to the UROP office by the last day of finals during the semester of award. This final report focuses on project and professional development outcomes from your PURA Salary Award research experience. Whether you plan to apply to research positions, graduate or professional programs, or industry jobs, you will likely be asked to write and talk about your undergraduate experiences. This final report is structured to help you develop a narrative of your research experience with concrete examples of your progress and development. It’s a great idea to reflect on your undergraduate experiences, including research, at the end of each semester and build an archive of notes and examples. Think of this as journaling your research experience. Later, when you sit down to work on applications, this archive will help you organize your thoughts and write strong statements.

In your final report, please address the following (maximum three pages):

Project Outcomes: 

  • Recap your specific aims, goals, or questions from your project description (Part 1 of your PURA Salary Award proposal).
  • Describe your progress, using language that can be understood by a wide audience.

Professional Development Outcomes:

  • Reflect on your research experience over the past semester. What were your successes and accomplishments? What challenges did you face? How did you grow as a researcher and scholar?
  • Consider the expectations outlined in your statement of mentor/mentee expectations (Part 2 of your PURA Salary Award proposal). How well did you meet those expectations? What might you do differently in the future?
  • Set goals for the future. Based on this past semester, what goals do you want to set for yourself? How will you work towards those goals?

Submit your final report by the last day of finals during the semester of your award through the online form here.

­Research Co-Mentors

Students who are co-mentored by a graduate student or post-doctoral student should share the information on this page with their co-mentor. Students should also inform the UROP office of any additional mentoring being performed on a day-to-day basis by a graduate student or other mentor so that he/she can be appropriately thanked for their work at the end of the semester.
 

Human or Animal Subjects Research

Some research work may need to be monitored via the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for ethical reasons. This mostly pertains to any work with human or animal subjects, however other work may fall under their purview (e.g., surveys or questionnaires). To be safe, please discuss this possibility with your faculty mentor and the IRB. The Georgia Tech IRB has asked that students list PURA funds on any IRB forms. For additional information, please visit the Georgia Tech IRB website.
 

Research Abroad

Students participating in research abroad that is not associated with an official Georgia Tech Study Abroad program should ideally have already spoken with the Office of International Education concerning the experience. Students will be considered to be officially associated with Georgia Tech in an "International Academic Project (IAP)." Each student should read and complete the required documents on the IAP website here.
 

Presentation Opportunities

Students are strongly encouraged to present their work in an appropriate forum on campus during or after their research experience. Students are particularly encouraged to apply to present at Georgia Tech’s Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, as well as other college or school-sponsored symposia or events.