PI Status and Research Scientist Qualifications and Procedure

Definitions

• Principal Investigator (PI) status: this status is granted to an individual who has the appropriate level of authority and responsibility to direct research projects and activities, including: technical conduct of the research; compliance with the terms and conditions of research sponsors; financial management of research funds; and compliance with all university and sponsor policies and procedures.
• Co-PI status: this status is granted to an individual who may conduct research only with the participation and oversight of an individual with PI status. The participating PI has all the responsibilities described above.
• Limited PI status: this status is granted to an individual in training to facilitate individual funding proposals and awards.
• Candidate: this is an individual for whom PI, co-PI or limited PI status is being requested.

Qualifications

PI status is granted using the following guidelines:

• PI status is automatically granted for individuals holding the following titles, provided the individual is a faculty member having at least a 50 percent appointment: professor; associate professor; assistant professor; research professor; research associate professor; or research assistant professor.
• Persons holding other faculty titles may be eligible for either PI or co-PI status, at the discretion of their unit.
  • PI status for emeritus faculty can be requested as described below. These appointments are made for three-year terms and may be renewed.
• Persons holding non-academic titles (i.e., staff) may be granted the appropriate PI status for projects directly related to the mission and responsibility of their office, using the process outlined below. 
• Graduate students or post-doctoral trainees, including residents, may be granted limited PI status for the purpose of submitting funding proposals and receiving funding to support their work. The Sponsored Program Officer for such funding proposals may activate limited PI status for these trainees. Such proposals should list the supervising faculty member with PI status on the ePA-005 as a co-investigator (greater than or equal to 0% effort, based on funding mechanism). This allows trainees to serve as PI on such proposals or grants; however, all regulated research activities (e.g. human subjects, animal or biosafety research) require a faculty member with PI status to assume responsibility for these activities.  These appointments are for a three-year term and may be renewed as appropriate.

Process to Request PI (or co-PI) Status:

• A formal request must be made by the supporting college’s associate dean of research, or by a center director or unit leader for those not reporting to a college. 
• The documentation required for college or unit-level review includes:
  • a letter requesting PI (or co-PI) status provided on department letterhead by a candidate’s chair or director, and
  • the candidate’s CV.
• Request letters and all supporting documentation for College of Medicine appointments can be sent to CoMOR@osumc.edu.
• In all other colleges, submit the request letter and CV to the associate dean for research of the candidate’s college for approval.
  • Once approved at the college level, ADRs should send all supporting documentation to the Office of Research at or-pistatus@osu.edu. Direct any questions regarding the review and appointment procedures to the Office of Research at or-pistatus@osu.edu or call 614-292-1582.
• The original requestor, associate dean of research and candidate will be notified once the request has been approved.

Training

The Office of Research offers an online training to provide guidance for principal investigators and their staff, exploring the lifecycle of a sponsored project, including research administration, compliance processes and useful resources. Visit BuckeyeLearn and search for Being a Principal Investigator: Roles, Responsibilities and Resources to complete the training.

To qualify as a Research Scientist, the candidate must have earned a doctoral degree in an appropriate field and have previous research experience. They should have authored publications, made presentations of papers to professional societies, and/or will have contributed inventions, new designs or techniques that are of material significance in the solution of important applied programs. A typical candidate would have served in a postdoctoral position for at least two full years, have demonstrated productivity and would be competitive for an RO1 grant from the NIH. They should have demonstrated a level of experience and productivity beyond that of a postdoctoral fellow.

Rights and Responsibilities

Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists are expected to secure external funding for their salary and to support their research program. They may direct undergraduate research and advise graduate students subject to the approval of the departmental graduate studies committee and the Graduate School. They may also train postdoctoral fellows. If the letter of support from the department chair acknowledges that it is his/her understanding that as a Research Scientist this individual will have Principal Investigator (PI) status, then PI status is effective the date of the Research Scientist appointment. If this is not included in the department chair’s letter of support, a separate request for PI status and a curriculum vitae must be sent to or-pistatus@osu.edu.

Appointment Procedures

Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists may be appointed in a department, division, center, institute, or laboratory. The request for the appointment may come from any faculty member (sponsor) or the department chair. All requests must include:

• a letter of support from the department chair (on department letterhead)
• approval from the associate dean for research, or vice dean (or dean) of the college. (This approval can be in the form of a separate letter, an e-mail, or anotation made on the letter of request)
• the individual’s CV
• a position description

Request letters and all supporting documentation for College of Medicine appointments can be sent to CoMOR@osumc.edu. All other colleges documentation can be sent to the Office of Research to or-pistatus@osu.edu. Direct any questions regarding the review and appointment procedures to the Office of Research at or-pistatus@osu.edu or call 614-292-1582.

An individual should not be offered a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist position until the credentials have been reviewed and recommended by the department chair, and approved by the Office of the Vice President for Research. A department has the option of involving the Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee in the review process, if it chooses.

For newly created or vacant Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist positions, a copy of the individual’s CV, a letter of support from the chair and approval of the associate dean for research, or vice dean (or dean) of the college should be sent to the Office of Research before the information is entered into the Human Resources (HR) system. All actions for Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists in the HR system are routed to the Office of Research for review and/or approval.

If an individual is being considered for the position, the credentials may be reviewed concurrent with or subsequent to the position posting approval. An individual holding a regular appointment at the university may be reclassified to a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist position. Reclassification requests submitted to the Office of Research for review and approval should include a letter from the chair, approval of the associate dean for research, or vice dean (or dean) of the college, a position description, and a CV. Any individual in a temporary or term appointment is considered an external candidate and is not eligible for reclassification. Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist positions are in the Senior Administrative and Professional category and the 00 Pay Range. Qualified persons may be appointed for indefinite periods of time and renewals of appointment are contingent upon satisfactory performance as determined by the supporting unit and the department chair.

The level of compensation (salary plus benefits) for the Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist will be negotiated by the candidate and the assigned unit. The amount of compensation established at the time of appointment should be comparable to salary levels for tenure-track faculty or equivalent rank in the appointing unit.

Persons in these positions are not eligible for professional leave. They accumulate vacation at the rate of 176 hours/year and sick leave at 10 hours/month.

Senior Research Scientists

For promotion from Research Scientist to Senior Research Scientist, a candidate must have demonstrated the ability to obtain extramural funding and have authored a significant number of publications. The overall productivity of the candidate should be equivalent to the requirements for promotion to full professor status in an academic unit. The department’s Promotion and Tenure Committee, at the request of the department chair, should generally perform this evaluation. Outside letters of recommendation are required. The candidates should not solicit their own outside letters and the reference letters should speak to and support the research experience and qualifications of the individual. Please forward the recommendation of the unit to the office of the Senior Associate Vice President for Research for final approval.

Adjunct Faculty

The department chair has the option of requesting that an individual with a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist title be appointed as an adjunct assistant/associate/full professor. This request must be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs for approval.

Departmental Administration

Classroom teaching is not required as part of the normal duty of a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist. However, if a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist wishes to participate in a course, he/she may request involvement with the approval of the department chair. There will be no additional compensation for any voluntary teaching duties. Research Scientists or Senior Research Scientists may be eligible to attend faculty meetings and may be allowed to vote and serve on committees within the unit subject to the guidelines of the unit. However, a Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist may not participate in promotion and tenure matters of the regular faculty. Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists who hold graduate faculty status are eligible for election to the Council on Research and Graduate Studies.

Classification Specifications

The Ohio State University job classification specifications can be found using the classification title search application. Use keywords “research scientist” or “senior research scientist” in the title or keyword search form field.

In rare instances, PI status may be suspended.

Serious or recurring noncompliance with laws, policies or regulations may result in recommendations to the Office of Research Institutional Official (IO) or designee to suspend or remove PI status. This may include, but not limited to, violations related to human research participants protection, animal research, unreported external activities, and harassment or other inappropriate behavior.

Such decisions will be reported promptly to the affected PI, their department chair, their college associate dean for research and appropriate Office of Research units.

Reinstatement may be considered upon written request by the PI or by unilateral action of the IO or designee. Generally, reinstatement should occur no earlier than three years after suspension. The IO or designee may approve or deny the reinstatement request or advise the PI of additional areas of improvement or other actions required before reinstatement will be considered. A denied reinstatement request may be reconsidered, but not within the six months following the denial.

The Researcher Profile application provides an easy way to review PI status eligibility.