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Michigan State University

College of Engineering
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Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research

Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR)

The MSU College of Engineering takes seriously the responsibility to train students in the responsible and ethical conduct of research. All graduate students within the College are required to participate in appropriate RECR training each academic year.

MSU has established minimum requirements for RECR education for graduate students at MSU, which vary by year in program and degree type. All students are required to complete online, asychronous training through CITI Program and at least 6 hours of discussion-based training through approved workshops, seminars, or courses. For more details, please visit the Research Integrity website hosted by the MSU Graduate School.

You must log in to the CITI Program website using your MSU NetID and password. You will not receive credit at MSU for completing CITI modules unless you are logged in using your MSU credentials. Instructions for logging in are provided toward the end of the Graduate School's Research Integrity webpage.

The College of Engineering has developed an online, asychronous, discussion-based, non-credit course that allows students to meet the requirement for 6 hours of discussion-based training. This online class is the recommended method of completing discussion-based training for all new engineering graduate students starting in Fall 2020 or later. The class is designed to complement the first year CITI modules, and focuses on one topic per week for a total of four weeks. This class is run through D2L (Desire2Learn, the MSU course management system) and is offered twice a year. New graduate students are generally enrolled automatically by their departments during their first semester (fall or spring). Other graduate students who wish to take this course should watch for enrollment instructions for the spring semester offering.

In addition to taking this online course through the College of Engineering, graduate students may meet discussion-based training requirements in the following ways:

  • Register for and participate in discussion-based workshops offered through the MSU Graduate School
  • Participate in RECR-focused seminars offered by the College of Engineering, typically as part of the "Lunch and Learn" series (note that only RECR-designated seminars count, and you must complete the attendance form to receive credit)
  • Enroll in a regular MSU course that includes RECR training; such classes must specify in the syllabus that students can earn RECR hours and must submit participation information directly to MSU (recent examples in the College of Engineering include EGR 891 Section 002: Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists, and CMSE 890 Section 005: CyberAmbassadors Communications, Teamwork, Ethics and Leadership training for Muldisiplinary Research Teams)
  • Participating in group discussions with an advisor or facilitator. In such cases, the individual leading the discussion must complete and submit a spreadsheet for inclusion into Ability (and transfer to the Track RCR page in SIS). The directions for this can be found here, Academic Unit Administrator Access and Responsibilities (sharepoint.com).

For students entering graduate school in Fall 2022 or later, one-on-one discussions with a faculty mentor or advisor can NO LONGER be used to fulfill the 6 hours of discussion-based education.

Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of 3 hours of RECR training each year, starting in the third year of their program and continuing until graduation. Typically students meet these requirements by participating in workshops, seminars, or courses organized by the Graduate School or the College of Engineering; one-on-one conversations with your advisor about RECR can also be used towards the annual refresher training, as can additional CITI modules beyond those required in years 1 and 2. Note that you cannot "work ahead" or "bank hours" to meet this requirement; for example, completing 6 hours of training in the third year only counts for the year 3 requirements - you will still have to complete at least 3 additional hours in year 4, and each subsequent year.

Your participation is automatically tracked (in the MSU Ability system) when you complete CITI Program modules and designated RECR workshops, seminars, and courses hosted by the MSU Graduate School or the College of Engineering. This includes the Engineering RECR Discussion Hours D2L course.  Once uploaded to Ability, courses are automatically added to GradPlan (additional information is available). To receive training credits for RECR discussions with your advisor, you must make a request through GradPlan (see page 18 of the GradPlan job aid for graduate students).

Ability is set up to record RECR training in 15-minute increments, and each workshop, seminar, or course tracked through Ability is set up as a specific number of training minutes. For example, RECR workshops hosted by the MSU Graduate School typically count as 1.25 hours (75 minutes) of training, while "Lunch and Learn" seminars hosted by the MSU College of Engineering typically count as 1 hour (60 minutes) of training. RECR training should be reported in 15 minute increments (e.g., a 12 minute conversation with an advisor should be reported as 15 minutes of training, while a 38 minute conversation should be reported as 45 minutes of training). Note that this is a change from the College policy prior to Fall 2021, which had allowed "rounding up" to the nearest whole hour when reporting it in RTTS.

RTTS (Research Training Tracking System) was used prior to Fall 2021 for engineering graduate students to report RECR training that they had completed. Training reported in RTTS is NOT automatically transferred to the new GradPlan system. Students who recorded their training in RTTS should download PDF copies of all of their training reports and work with the graduate program coordinator in your program to have the training information added to your GradPlan record manually.

  • I am a BAE, BME or CMSE graduate student; do I have to do RECR?
    •   Yes. All graduate students affiliated with the MSU College of Engineering are required to complete RECR training each year.
  • I am a non-thesis (or coursework-only) M.S. student in Engineering; do I have to do RECR?
    • Yes. All graduate students affiliated with the MSU College of Engineering are required to complete RECR training each year.
  • I am a shared-enrolled B.S. and M.S. student; do I need to complete RECR training?
    • After you complete your B.S. degree (i.e., earn your diploma), you are considered a graduate student and must complete RECR training requirements for your program and year. Before completing your B.S. degree, you do not need to complete RECR training.
  • I did RECR last year; do I have to do it again this year? 
    •  Yes. RECR is an annual requirement and must be completed each year while you are a graduate student.
  • I am graduating this semester; do I need to do RECR? 
    •  RECR is a graduation requirement and must be completed prior to graduation. Please check with the graduate program coordinator in your program to ensure you have fulfilled all requirements to earn your degree.

Current Graduate Students