For each sponsored project, one investigator is typically designated as the PI. The PI bears ultimate responsibility for academic decisions as well as for financial, administrative and compliance matters of the project. Other individuals with significant involvement may be listed as "Co-Principal Investigator" or "Co-Investigator".

All federal research agencies are currently preparing for the implementation of policies and procedures to formally allow more than one PI on individual research awards. This presents a new and important opportunity for investigators seeking support for projects or activities that clearly require a "team science" approach. For more information about the multiple PI model, please refer to the NIH's General Information Overview at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/.

In order to maintain academic standards and in recognition of the University's assumption of liabilities under sponsored projects, the University limits the eligibility of persons who can serve as PIs.

A PI normally must have a full-time appointment and must be an:

• Officer of Instruction in the rank of:

§ Professor

§ Associate Professor

§ Assistant Professor or

§ Instructor

 

or an

 

• Officer of Research in the rank of

§ Senior Research Scientist/Scholar or

§ Research Scientist/Scholar

 

Persons with appointments carrying other instructional or research titles, including those in a visiting or adjunct grade, may act as co-PIs with officers in one of the instructional or research grades cited above. However, individuals who do not meet the above criteria may not serve as the sole PI without the approval of their department chair, director, dean or vice president and the Provost.

The Provost has delegated the authority to make such exceptions as follows:

• For officers at CUMC, the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences;
• For those holding appointments at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Director; and
• For those holding appointments elsewhere in the University, the EVPR.

Officers seeking an exception to this policy should submit a request through SPA. Approval may be requested on a project-by-project basis or for all projects of the officer. The request must be countersigned by the appropriate chair or director and dean or vice president in order to acknowledge the financial responsibility of the department or school for the proposed project or projects. In addition, the request must include the individual's curriculum vitae and, if it relates to a specific project, an abstract of the project.