Funding short-term/summer students

[mtlve]

Anyone know if NIH has any funding policies regarding how to fund these or not? Can PIs fund 2-3month projects on grants?

[Usmivka]

Yes. Write it into the grant, possibly under "broader impacts" or whatever NIH's version of this is.

[mtlve]

Yes. Write it into the grant, possibly under "broader impacts" or whatever NIH's version of this is.

If a PI already has an existing R01 and did not do this, can they hire someone for a short term period of time? Summer rotation labs for people starting graduate school is a good example, since they are not likely registered as a student at the time that they are being paid. I was under the impression that the people paid on a R01 are flexible, but I heard that one may not list short term positions. This may not be true though.

[Usmivka]

I'm not following you entirely, but if the funding is coded "miscellaneous" or some equivalent, then there are no restrictions on how it is spent. Most grants have a large portion earmarked for specific expenses (including salaries and contracting), and some excess (5-15%) specifically written in for miscellaneous use. This is how I was paid as an undergrad in a lab, albeit on an NSF grant. This seems like a highly specific question though, given where you steered the response. It seems like the best place to find the answer is to look at the NIH grant guide that covers all financial aspects in detail. If the answer doesn't spring out at you, contact the program office that the grant was issued under. Or even better, contact your departmental administrator, since s/he will have a lot of experience with submitting and administering grants. Since you are asking here, I'm assuming you are a grad student and want to bring in an undergrad helper for some period of time, but are trying to do the legwork before bringing the idea to your PI. It seems like your PI might already know the answer, or be able to easily get it from the grant administrators (at the university or at NIH) though.