Computer Training Spring 2008 Term is Now in Session!
A Flood and A New Beginning

The CIT Computer Training Program has overcome quite a challenging start to the new 2008 calendar year. On January 3, a water pipe above the classrooms in Bldg 12A burst and thousands of gallons of water poured into the training rooms. The ceiling tiles, walls, light fixtures, and carpets were damaged, as were a few laptops and other equipment. Thankfully, the rooms were not in use at the time and no one was injured. For several weeks the rooms were unusable which meant CIT Training staff had to cancel and reschedule many training sessions. A lot of people were inconvenienced through this challenging time; but, cooperation prevailed as the instructors and students worked together to make changes. The CIT Training Program would like to thank all the folks that were involved in the massive cleanup process. CIT Training is back in session!

With the ever-changing community at NIH, our courses have evolved to keep pace. One of the unique opportunities afforded through our training program allows individuals from the NIH community to share their expertise with other colleagues. Are you involved in an emerging field of interest which will benefit the mission of the NIH? Are you a project lead rolling out a new or updated program? Contact us as we may be able to assist you with the opportunity to share what you know to benefit others.

Over 60% of the courses offered through CIT Training are scientific seminars. In order to meet the needs of the diverse scientific community here at NIH, we offer sessions dealing with Image Processing I & II, Microarray Data, AFNI, MIPAV, “Effective Utilization of the Biowulf Cluster for Bioinformatics,” “Bioinformatics Resources for Functional Categorization and Splice Variation Analysis,” “Mathematica 6,” SPSS topics and many more.

In addition to scientific topics, the extramural staff will find a series of grants courses, including a new topic - “Grants Management Spreadsheet.” This new seminar will cover the Grants Management Standardized Categorical Excel Spreadsheet and its use. The always popular, “Understanding the Grants Process,” QVR (Introduction, Intermediate, and Advanced) and QVR Training Profile sessions explain the workings of the system here at NIH. Sessions in ECB Data Administration (Basic and Advanced) and “ECB Early Concurrence Workshop” round out the exciting sessions for grants.

NIH has a diverse user community, so our offerings cover many areas. Come see what all the hype is about in Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista. Two new offerings are “Office 2007 – What’s New” and “Getting to Know Windows Vista.” In addition, a sampling of topics to be given this term are “Basic PC Skills for NIH,” “Demystifying the Mac,” and “Microsoft Visio Professional 2003 Introduction.” There are also sessions of returning favorites including Excel and “BlackBerry Tips and Tricks.”

You can obtain full course information, register for Spring 2008 classes, join our CIT Training mailing list, and check out your transcript or current application status at our web site, training.cit.nih.gov.

Most CIT Training courses are free of charge to NIH staff! While NIH employees get first priority for classes, contractors are welcome to attend when space is available, the class is related to their NIH work, and they have approval from their NIH supervisor.

If you have questions about the CIT Training Program, contact us by phone at (301) 594- 6248 x2 or email us at CITTraining@mail.nih.gov.