Table of Contents
- Online Orientation
- Division of International Services (DIS)
- Health Insurance
- Travel and Attendance at Scientific Meetings
- Vacation
- Transportation and Parking
- Transhare
- Federal and State Taxes
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Online Orientation
New NIH staff members, including students, are required to complete an online orientation upon their arrival at NIH. GPP students should plan to complete the online orientation within three weeks of starting full-time work at NIH. The NIH Orientation covers the following topics:
- NIH Overview
- Your First Days
- Rights and Responsibilities
- Compensation and Benefits
- Training and Career Development
- NIH Resources
The orientation can be accessed at http://orientation.nih.gov/; you do not need to complete all sections of the orientation in one sitting. Once you have completed all orientation requirements, print out a certificate of completion for your records.
Mandatory Scientific Training Courses
All scientific staff must complete a number of required training courses upon arrival at NIH. The courses listed below should be completed very soon after starting your research at the NIH, even if you completed similar courses at your university. Always keep a record of completion of these courses and provide a copy to your Administrative Officer.
To be completed by all students:
Depending on your area of research, you may be required to take additional training courses, including:
GPP Electronic Student Records
We require that electronic student records be kept accurate and up to date. We will e-mail all GPP students annually and ask that you update your academic (publications, presentations, etc.) and contact information; we expect that all students will respond to this request in a timely fashion; failure to provide up-to-date contact information can delay your appointment paperwork and impact your stipend, health insurance, and tuition payments.
NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) and NIH ID badges
When you complete your appointment paperwork (IRTA, Visiting Fellow, or Special Volunteer) you will be entered into a system called the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED). This is an online, searchable database of every person that works at the NIH and is your official “identity” at the NIH. You should periodically update your contact information in NED; this is easily done on-line.
When you are first entered into NED (by the GPP or an AO in your IC), you will receive an individual NIH ID number; this allows you to obtain an NIH e-mail account and an ID badge. All NIH employees and trainees have NIH ID numbers and are required to have an NIH ID badge.
To obtain your NIH ID badge, you will need to make an appointment to be fingerprinted when you arrive to the NIH. Students in Institutional Partnerships will do this in a group during summer orientation. If you are in an Individual Partnership, you should do this on your own, but contact the GPP for assistance. The fingerprint and background check can take up to 2 weeks to process so initiate this process immediately upon arrival at NIH. Fingerprinting is done in Building 31, Room 1B03.
To complete any NIH online training courses you will need to know your NIH ID number, which is printed on your NIH ID. You can obtain this number from your NIH AO even before an ID has been generated for you.
Students who will work at the Baltimore campus or other campuses away from Bethesda must obtain an ID badge from these campuses directly. Please contact your AO or the NIH researcher you will be working with for specifics.
NIH Email Account
When your appointment to NIH has been finalized, the GPP (for students in institutional partnerships) or your AO (for students in individual partnerships) will make a request to the Center for Information Technology (CIT) to generate an NIH email account for you. You will then be contacted by CIT so that they can meet you at your office/lab to create a personal desktop for you on your computer. Before CIT can set up your email account you must complete the NIH online Computer Security Awareness training; you will need your NIH ID number to do this. When finished with the training, be sure to forward your certificate of completion to your AO.
The GPP (and your partnership directors) will use this email account to communicate with you, even if you are not on the NIH campus (e.g., during the first year, while collaborating off campus, etc.). You are expected to monitor your NIH e-mail account on a regular basis so that you don’t miss out on important information. If your funding source is other than NIH (e.g. MD phase of MD/PhD training, or an outside scholarship), you can maintain your NIH email account and other privileges by obtaining special volunteer status. There are many options for accessing this account, including the web (http://www.mail.nih.gov/). Depending on your status at NIH, and particularly if you are in an international or MSTP partnership, it may be useful to obtain a VPN account which allows you to access all protected NIH servers, even when you are off campus. Please discuss with your NIH mentor(s) if this is important and contact CIT for assistance.
NIH “Global” is the database of email accounts at the NIH. You can access Global while in your email inbox to find an email address of anyone working at the NIH. You should periodically check your information in Global to ensure that it is correct.
GPP hosts the Grad-L listserv, which is used to post official notices to all graduate students at NIH. All graduate students registered with the GPP will be added to Grad-L. Messages submitted to Grad-L go through an approval process prior to distribution to eliminate inappropriate and unwanted email. We expect that you will read and, if necessary, respond to all Grad-L emails.
Health Insurance
All individuals must be covered by health insurance to work or do research in NIH facilities. First year students in Institutional Partnerships will be insured through the FAES. This insurance is paid for by the GPP directly to FAES during your first year if you have not yet chosen a dissertation mentor. In subsequent years your NIH mentor will support your health insurance. If you are a first year student who has already chosen a dissertation mentor, funding for your health insurance is through the lab of your mentor. Some students opt to use the insurance provided through their university or through a spouse. If this is an option that you choose, immediately communicate this to the GPP or your IC.
Health insurance support for students in individual partnerships depends upon the NIH appointment mechanism. If you are a Visiting Fellow or an IRTA, your health insurance will be supported by your mentor’s lab. If you are a Special Volunteer, you are responsible for getting your own health insurance. This might be through your spouse, your parents, your university, individual insurance, or through FAES. Regardless of what type of insurance plan you elect, a student cannot be appointed at the NIH without proof of medical insurance.
Students receiving health insurance through the FAES can visit their office in Building 10/Room B1C18. For more information about eligibility and enrollment, call 301-496-8063.
Travel and Attendance at Scientific Meetings
Once you have an appointment at the NIH (as an IRTA or Visiting Fellow) all travel arrangements must be made through NIH travel orders; this applies to travel for rotations or collaborations as well as attendance at meetings. Travel arrangements and issuance of travel orders are carried out by the travel planner or AO who provides support for your NIH mentor’s lab. Ask your NIH mentor to introduce you to this person.
Travel support for Institutional Partnership students in their first year is through the GPP office; in subsequent years, your mentor pays all travel expenses. Travel support for Individual Partnership students comes from your mentor’s budget; therefore, you must work with your mentor to learn who in the laboratory can attend which meetings and the approval processes required.
Requests for travel orders should be submitted as far in advance as possible to allow adequate time to pass through several levels of approval. For domestic travel, the laboratory travel planner must be notified at least one month in advance of the days and destinations of necessary scientific travel. For foreign travel, the laboratory AO must be notified at least eight weeks in advance of the desired travel date to assure tickets will be ready when needed. These deadlines are strictly followed and travel requests submitted after the deadline may not be processed in time.
The individual who is responsible for preparing and submitting travel orders for your laboratory will create an electronic travel request/itinerary with exact details of the purpose and travel requirements for the trip. There are pre-determined maximum allowances for hotel and other expenses, including meals. You should not book a hotel or expect to be reimbursed for meals beyond those limits. In most cities there will be some hotels that have agreed to accept Federal per diem rates, as long as the reservation is made through government channels and you can provide a copy of your NIH travel order at check-in. Similarly, there will be a pre-determined airline that provides government-negotiated fares between most U.S. cities, and also to major international cities. Do not purchase tickets yourself; you will not be reimbursed for airline, train or bus tickets that you buy yourself.
Vacation
Graduate students and other trainees at the NIH follow the same Federal Holiday schedule as federal employees. If a holiday falls on Saturday, the preceding Friday is the day-off; if the holiday falls on a Sunday, the next Monday is the day-off.
- New Year’s Day (January 1)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration (third Monday in January)
- Presidents’ Day (Third Monday in February)
- Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
- Independence Day (July 4)
- Labor Day (First Monday in September)
- Columbus Day (Second Monday in October)
- Veterans Day (November 11)
- Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November)
- Christmas Day (December 25)
- Once every 4 years, NIH employees may also receive Inauguration Day off (January 20).
Trainees do not earn annual or sick leave. However, they are excused for Federal holidays, illness, personal emergencies, and vacations when awards are for more than 90 days. For vacations, two weeks excused absence is suggested and the number of days should be prorated for Traineeships of 90 days or less.
Six weeks of excused absence will be granted for the birth or adoption of a child or other major family health care issue. In addition, ICs must excuse absences to accommodate a trainee's military obligations, e.g., active duty, active duty training, and inactive duty training not to exceed six weeks per year.
Preceptors may exercise discretion in granting additional short absences (less than a week per year) as they deem appropriate. More extended absences must be approved by the IC Scientific Director. For more information about Pre-IRTA vacation policies please visit section Y and Z of 2300-320-7 of the NIH Policy Manual at http://www1.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/person/2300-320-7/.
Transportation and Parking
Traffic in the metro DC area can be quite heavy and parking at the NIH is difficult. Therefore, you may want to seriously consider using public transportation to commute to NIH.
The following links provide more detailed information on public transportation in the NIH area:
Transhare
http://dtts.ors.od.nih.gov/transhare.htm.
Transhare is a Federal program designed to increase the use of public transportation. If you live in the National Capital Region and agree not to drive your car to the NIH, you are eligible for up to $110 per month to cover the actual cost of your daily commute. NIH distributes two months of Metrocheks at a time in May, July, September, November, January, and March.
To participate in the Transhare program:
1. Go to the Transhare webpage and download the required forms
2. Complete the forms
3. Bring the completed forms to the NIH Parking Office (Building 31, Room B3B04) and present a valid NIH ID.
Metrocheks are distributed at the Recreation & Welfare Association (R&W) store in Building 31, Room B1W30 (open 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.) or Executive Plaza South, lobby level (open 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Recipients must appear in person, with a valid NIH ID, to pick up Metrocheks at the R&W store during the designated double-subsidy month.
Federal and State Taxes
Stipends for training are subject to federal, state, and local income taxes. However, because NIH does not withhold taxes from stipends you are required to file quarterly estimated income tax returns. Each state has different forms that you must use for filing declarations of estimated state taxes
- For trainees who are paid more than $600 in a calendar year, the NIH will file Form IRS 1099-G, Statement for Recipients of Certain Government Payments, or form IRS 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding (for resident aliens).
- You will not receive a W-2. A duplicate copy of the prior year’s 1099-G or 1042-S may be requested by contacting Edward Everitt (everitte@mail.nih.gov) in the Fellowship Payment Office.
Some useful on-line resources:
• http://felcom.nih.gov/infobank/IRTAtax.html
• http://www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/index.jsp
• http://www.irs.gov/individuals/students/index.html
For students traveling abroad for a portion of their program, consult http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/index.html, a tax guide for US citizens abroad.
For international students studying at NIH, please see http://dis.ors.od.nih.gov/advisories/05_workshops.html to learn more about tax seminars presented by the Division of International Services.