GTG: Terms & Conditions for Predoctoral Trainees
Stipend & Tuition: This fellowship provides a yearly stipend of $28,224 and typically covers 60% of the operating fee component of tuition. Remaining salary and tuition amounts will be covered by your thesis advisor. The student is responsible for student fees.
Programs which choose to supplement salary and tuition amounts must do so from non-federal sources. Programs which choose to instead provide additional compensation for work unrelated to the trainee's research activities under the training grant may do so from federal sources. The part-time work cannot be part of the trainee's progress reports for the training grant and cannot conflict/compete with the trainee's training experience. The Request to Perform Additional Work form must be completed, approved, and submitted to the Department of Genome Sciences (attn: Brian Giebel, Box 355065)
NIH policies on this topic:
Stipend Supplementation, Compensation, and Other Income
Full-Time Training (NOT-OD-17-095)
ORCiD account: Trainees will either need to create an ORCiD account, or link their eRA Commons profile to an existing ORCiD account. This can be done via the eRA Commons Personal Profile.
NHGRI Annual Meeting: Trainees are expected to attend at least one NHGRI annual meeting to present their research. The GTG typically provides travel funds for this purpose.
Going on leave: If you decide to go on leave while receiving GTG support, please contact Brian Giebel (bgiebel [ a t ] uw.edu) with information about your plans.
In the past, Trainees who have decided to go on leave for six months or less during their period of support have generally been able to resume grant support upon their return. However, each case must be considered individually within the context of available funding on the grant. We cannot guarantee that you will be added back.
While exceptions are possible under unusual circumstances, trainees who end up being away for longer than 6 months typically are not added back to the grant upon their return.
Health Insurance: The award covers insurance costs through the UW Graduate Appointee Insurance Plan. Additional insurance for dependents may be purchased as an out-of-pocket expense. Due to the awarded trainee allowance being lower than actual health insurance costs, the GTG may not be able to cover the full benefits amount. The remaining amount will need to be covered by your advisor from a non-federal budget. Costs will be calculated at the end of the training period and your advisor will be contacted at that point.
Full-time Training and University of Washington Registration: Predoctoral trainees must be registered for a minimum of 10 credits for AU, WI, and SP quarters, and 2 credits for SU quarter, as required by the graduate school. Trainees are required by the NIH to pursue research training (research, independent study, coursework) on a full-time basis, devoting at least 40 hours a week to the program.
Taxability of stipends: Generally speaking, tax is not withheld from the portion of salary funded by the training grant, but trainees typically owe tax on this income in April. You are strongly encouraged to attend one of the UW tax workshops held each spring. Additional information is available on the Genome Sciences website.
Continued support: Awardees may apply for an additional year of support contingent upon satisfactory academic and research progress and a genomics-related research program compatible with the goals of the training grant. Predoctoral trainees are typically supported for no more than two years. You will be contacted for the following items:
- your updated CV
- brief research update (1-2 pages is fine), to include a few sentences justifying your work with respect to Genome Sciences
- brief note of support from your advisor (an email is fine)
Citizenship: The training fellowships are available only to citizens of the United States or foreign nationals holding Permanent Resident Visas (alien registration receipt card I-151 or I-551).
Research ethics: Fellowship awardees are required under the terms of the training grant to attend ethics training provided by the Department of Genome Sciences. This training generally takes place during Spring Quarter each year; trainees are not required to attend until they begin their second year of graduate school. Trainees who have previously attended the Biomedical Research ethics series sponsored by the School of Medicine are exempt from this requirement.
Course requirements: Trainees are expected to complete a course load that will provide them with a broad background in genomics. They are also required to regularly attend a seminar series (for instance, the Genome Sciences seminar series) that will cover both current research in the trainee’s area and increase the trainee’s knowledge of other areas of genomic research, as well as a journal club/research-in-progress series as part of their training. All trainees are required to attend any mini-symposia organized for GTG trainees and faculty. Continued support is contingent on active participation in these series. Elective courses are required as specified by a student's home department.
Does your project include human or animal subjects? If so, please provide the existing protocol # and approval date or contact the Genome Training Grant assistant if this needs to be set up.