Trainee Appointments

(Info will be updated for 2024 in May)

National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires all Trainees to establish an eRA Commons account to track your progress throughout your participation in the full time training program. This email provides instructions for your Username and establishing your Password. We will be working on other portions of the process during Trainee Onboarding. Please read the steps below carefully and thoroughly before proceeding with the instructions to change your password.

Click on the section header below for detailed instructions to follow at each step of the process.

Step 1: eRA Commons username and password (due before 6/2/2023 MPM)

Step 1: Access the eRA Commons Login Page

Follow this URL to access the eRA Commons Login Page: http://public.era.nih.gov/commons/. Bookmark the webpage for future use.

Step 2: Access Your eRA Commons Username

We are establishing an eRA Commons account for you. We will send the Username to you via your pdx.edu email this week. The subject of the email might read: “eRA Commons: An account has been created for YOURUSERID.” In the coming days, please search for that email in your pdx.edu account.

Copy and paste the Username into the Username field on the eRA Commons login page (Step 1).

Step 3: Change Your eRA Commons Password

You can change your password in one of two ways:

Option 1

You will receive a SECOND email containing a temporary eRA Commons password.

Copy and paste the temporary password into the Password field on the eRA Commons login page
You will then be automatically prompted to create a new password. Follow the instructions provided to make sure that your password meets the site requirements. Please note you will not be able to paste the temporary password on the new password page. You will need to type it out.

Option 2

Go to the eRA Commons login page
Click “Forgot Password/Unlock Account?” You will need your PSU email and eRA Commons ID to reset your password.

IN ORDER TO SUCCESSFULLY LOG-IN TO THE SYSTEM, YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD.

Step 4: Link your eRA Commons Account to Login.gov

eRA Commons is moving to a two-step authentication process using login.gov. Please complete the following steps after changing your eRA Commons account password.

Sign out of eRA commons.
Go back to the homepage: http://public.era.nih.gov/commons/
Follow these instructions. Below are some notes relating to the instruction page
1. Before you start this process you must complete all the other steps in this email.
2. Use the email where you received your User ID
3. If you select the app authentication method you can use the Duo app, which you may already use for two step authentication on your PSU account
After completing this process you will need to log in using the login.gov link not the “Login with eRA Credentials” login fields on the eRA commons homepage.

Step 2: eRA Commons Personal Profile & ORC ID (Happening 6/2/2023)

eRA Commons Personal Profile & ORC ID Instructions

Step 3: URISE Creates Trainee Appointment (Happening 6/2/2023)

Trainees MUST be registered Full Time at PSU (12 credits) for Fall 2023 before sending the

Once your personal profile is complete AND you are registered full time for Fall 2023, your Trainee Appointment will be initiated. After your Trainee Appointment is initiated, eRA Commons will send you an email asking you to review it.

Step 4: Review, Accept, & Route to PI (Due 6/15/2023)

eRA Commons Login

Access your Trainee appointment at eRA Commons here: http://public.era.nih.gov/commons/. (If you have trouble with the link, Google era commons). You will need to enter the USERNAME we created for you last year, as well as the PASSWORD you created.

If you have forgotten your password, you can click the Forgot Password/Unlock Account link and follow the steps as noted. Use your USERNAME & PSU email. If you have forgotten your eRA Commons USERNAME, contact Caitlyn Beals (urise@pdx.edu).

Verify Information is Correct

Your appointment is located in the xTrain module of eRA Commons. Please verify that information in your Trainee Appointment matches all of this information:

Field of Research Training or Career Development (for this appointment): Should be similar to your current major in BanWeb, it will most likely not match 100% since I have to select from a drop down.
Start date: 7/1/2023
End date: 6/30/2024
Stipend/salary/other compensation: $13,920

If there are errors on your Trainee Appointment, please contact Caitlyn Beals (urise@pdx.edu) right away so that corrections can be made.

Save & Route to PI

Once you have verified that the profile and appointment information is correct, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "Save & Route to PI."

Once your Trainee Appointment is routed to the PI, your first July stipend will be disbursed.

Sample Trainee Appointment

Note: This sample Trainee Appointment is from 2021-2022. Dates and stipend amount are out of date, but this is what your Trainee Appointment will look like in eRA Commons.