September 25th, 2007 9:00am EDT. Arlington, VA.

The National Institutes of Health, Office of the Director, Office of Intramural Research, Office of Intramural Training and Education, Graduate Partnerships Program (NIH/OD/OIR/OITE/GPP) was established in Summer 2000 to bring PhD graduate students to the NIH for dissertation research, establish NIH-University partnerships for PhD graduate students, and foster the development of a graduate student community. Since the program's inception, the number of PhD graduate students at NIH has grown from ~125 in 2000 to ~425 in 2007.

Graduates students coming to the NIH for dissertation research do so through one of two pathways: institutional partnerships or individual partnerships. Institutional partnerships are open to students wishing to enroll in a PhD program after completing an undergraduate or advanced degree program and submit an application for admission in the fall of the previous year of admission. Individual partnerships are open to students who already are enrolled in a PhD or equivalent degree program and submit an application for admission any time during their education–typically between the second and third year of graduate school. A complete description of the GPP and admission options may be found through the GPP website: http://gpp.nih.gov.

Symplicity will utilize its product suite to create a series of web-based portals designed to increase the efficiency of GPP operations by automating tasks in the service to applicants, researchers, and graduate students at the NIH, thereby enabling the expansion of our services into new areas.

The major categories of the GPP services are as follows:

1) Admissions Portal – online forms to collect and review applications for admission into institutional and individual partnerships, as well as travel, lodging, and mentor visits of candidates.

2) Events Portal – online forms to collect data for
annual activities and workshops.

3) Progress Portal – online form to review graduate students progress toward degree

4) Investigator Portal – online form to create a searchable database of NIH investigators wishing to train PhD graduate students; online form to create a searchable database of potential dissertation projects and laboratory rotation opportunities.

Related web sites: http://www.nih.gov

Contact: Public Relations