Admissions | After Admission

Training

As a new graduate student, there are some training requirements which you must complete. These are mandatory. All trainings are due by October 1 for fall matriculates and February 15 for spring matriculates. These trainings include:

Sexual Harassment Prevention and Responsible Conduct of Research trainings are online. A $75 late fee will be assessed if the online training requirements are not met by the deadline.


Sexual Harassment Prevention

Sexual Harassment Prevention training is mandatory for all new students. The training, "Lasting Choices: Protecting Our Campus From Sexual Assault," can be accessed here. Once you access with your NetID and password, visit the dashboard to begin the course. Once you have completed the course click on Grades. Your score should appear as 100%. If you don't see 100%, you have not completed the course. Return to Lasting Choices course and complete all screens.

Students will not be able to register for future semesters until the training is completed. Resulting late registration fees will not be waived.

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Responsible Conduct of Research

Training and education in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is an essential aspect of Rice’s commitment to maintain the highest standards for research integrity, and as such, it is considered an integral aspect of graduate education.

As a member of the Rice University community, all graduate students (including all professional Master’s students with the exception of MBA, MAcc, and MLS) are required to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Responsible Conduct of Research online course by October 1st for students starting the fall semester, and by February 15th for students starting in the spring semester. A minumum score of 80% is required to pass by Rice's standards.

The training modules required for all graduate students vary based on school and program. At a minimum, graduate students must receive training in ethical conduct of research; research misconduct; responsible authorship and publication; data acquisition and laboratory tools; conflicts of interest; the use of animal and human subjects in research; and safe laboratory practices. In addition, depending upon the academic school and type of research in which you plan to engage while at Rice, additional modules or individualized training may be required.

The responsible conduct of research (RCR) online training will take about 4 to 6 hours to complete. It does not have to be completed all in one session, but can be saved and logged out and back in later. Please follow the instructions at https://research.rice.edu/compliance/rcr/CITI-training for taking this course. You are not required to request CME/CEU credits for the course(s). If you have any issues with accessing the training, please contact the Office of Sponsored Projects and Research Compliance at rw68@rice.edu.

Students will not be able to register for future semesters until the training is completed. Resulting late registration fees will not be waived.

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Lab Safety Training

Lab safety training is for the safety of the students in the Schools of Engineering and Natural Science and all others who work in labs.

Lab Safety training is MANDATORY for all new students in the School of Engineering, the School of Natural Science, and any student outside those schools who will be working in a laboratory at Rice. Only students in the Departments of: Computational Applied Mathematics & Operations Research; Mathematics; Statistics; and Computer Science are exempt from the training.

New students admitted in fall must attend the EHS Lab Safety Training at 9 a.m. on Aug. 17, 2023, in Keck 100. You can view training requirements online here. Professional masters students and those in computational or theoretical fields are NOT exempt from lab safety training. Only students in the Departments of: Computational Applied Mathematics & Operations Research; Engineering Management and Leadership; Mathematics; Statistics; and Computer Science are exempt from the training. All students (regardless of their program who conduct experiments in a laboratory where chemicals, biological agents, and/or physical hazards are present must take the appropriate training before beginning work in the lab. Students will be obliged to attend make-up training if they miss the August session.

Failure to complete lab safety training by the deadline may result in your inability to access the lab and stipend checks being held.

Note: Anyone who will be working with human blood or tissue is required to take the Hepatitis B shots if they have not previously had it as part of their regular childhood immunizations.

Contact Environmental Health & Safety for more information.

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Teaching Assistant Training

Details forthcoming.

At Rice University, teaching assistants (TAs) play an important role in the success of many of the university’s courses. Each year, the Center for Teaching Excellence hosts training sessions to provide TAs with the basic information necessary to perform their work in these roles responsibly. We spend most of the session introducing the federal regulations and institutional policies that govern this work (ADA, FERPA, Title IX, Amorous Relations, and the Honor Code), but end with some quick tips for grading and working with students in office hours. Graduate instructors of record and postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to attend as well!

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Updated November 2023