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. Candidates with a non-doctoral terminal degree will also be considered. Research scientists are typically expected to have demonstrated a level of experience and productivity beyond that of a postdoctoral fellow.

Rights and Responsibilities

Research Scientists and Senior Research Scientists may be expected to secure or participate in securing external funding. They may supervise research staff and trainees. PI or Co-PI status may also be requested through support of the department chair, following the process for PI appointments. Research Scientists with less than two years of research experience following their terminal degree would typically be appointed as a co-PI for the first two years, with a change to general PI status upon request. PI status would start on the date of appointment for new hires. Alternatively, PI or Co-PI status may be requested for a research scientist at a later date by sending a separate request for PI or co-PI status and a curriculum vitae 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 unit leader of department chair (on letterhead);
• the individual’s CV; 
• a position description; and
• for college- or department-based appointments, 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 annotation made on the letter of request).

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 or-pistatus@osu.edu. Direct any questions regarding the review and appointment procedures to or-pistatus@osu.edu.

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 the Senior Associate Vice President for Research Operations. For newly created or vacant Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist positions, a copy of the individual’s CV, and a letter of support from the: unit leader (e.g. university center or institute) or chair and approval of the associate/vice dean for research or dean of the appointing college should be sent to or-pistatus@osu.edu 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 Senior Associate Vice President for Research Operations 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 or-pistatus@osu.edu for review and approval and should include a letter of support as described above, a position description and a CV. Any individual in a temporary appointment is considered an external candidate and is not eligible for reclassification.

Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist positions are in the same job family - Senior Administrative and Professional staff category - and the compensation is market-driven. 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 HR will advise the unit on salary ranges based on internal peer equity. If a (Senior) Research Scientist moves between departments or units, the appointment should go through the same process.

Senior Research Scientists

For promotion from Research Scientist to Senior Research Scientist, a candidate would typically have demonstrated sustained research productivity, through a significant number of publications or patents. Please forward the recommendation of the unit to or-pistatus@osu.edu for final approval by the Senior Associate Vice President for Research Operations.

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.