Principal Investigator (PI) Guidelines for qualifying as a university grants principal investigator (PI) are provided by the OSU Office of Research. PI status is automatically granted for many titles including: professor, associate professor, assistant professor, research professor, research associate professor, research assistant professor and instructor.
Directors, Associate Directors, and Assistant Directors are not automatically granted PI status, but may request PI status for projects directly related to the mission and responsibility of their office. In addition, research staff seeking external funding can also qualify for PI status but need to apply before they submit their proposal so that an Authorization to Seek Off-Campus Funds (ePA-005) can be submitted. Once completed, this ‘form’ is automatically routed for signature by each PI and Co-PI, and pre-designated Department and College approvers. The fully approved ePA-005 is the Office of Sponsored Program’s authorization from the department and college to submit the proposal.
The request for PI status requires submitting a letter to the Senior Associate Vice President for Research Operations – Cynthia Carnes. A request letter on department letterhead (from the dean, a chair or director) and the approval of the EHE Associate Dean for Research, Natasha Slesnick are required. Here is a PI Request Template to follow in developing the letter.
Send the letter needing Natasha Slesnick’s signature to Matthew Eveland with the CV. Matthew will get Natasha’s signature and forward to the OSU Office of Research. Using DocuSign as a routing mechanism works well.
Special guidelines for visiting professors, postdoctoral researchers, and students are found below.
Guidelines for Visiting Professors
Visiting professors don’t normally qualify for PI status because of the temporary nature of their appointment. However, they can be granted co-I/PI status with a strong justification. Use the letter template above as a starting point and the same process to request co-I/PI status.
For any questions about Visiting Professors and PI Status, contact Kim Lightle.
Guidelines for Postdoctoral Researchers
Postdoctoral Researchers can receive limited PI status to submit proposals focused on postdoctoral training. This status doesn’t require a letter – the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) will confer the status as needed. Work with your grant manager to make sure you have the correct status.
In addition, postdocs aren’t normally co-I/PIs on proposals – they are Other Personnel. If there is a reason why a postdoc should be co-I/PI, then a request needs to be made following the same process as above with the letter stating the reason why a postdoc needs that status for a particular proposal. Include the name of the program and the deadline for the proposal in the letter. Here is a co-I/PI Request Template postdoc version to follow in developing the letter.
For any questions about Postdoctoral Researchers and PI Status, contact Kim Lightle.
Guidelines for Students
Students must also have PI status to submit proposals to external funders.
In certain cases, the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) will be able to automatically grant limited PI status if the student has a certain title AND if the student is applying for a fellowship or similar grant type that provide training AND where the sponsor requires the student to be named PI or co-PI.
Titles Include:
- 4874 – Graduate Supplemental Fellow
- 4875 – Graduate Fellow
- 4894 – Graduate Research Associate
- 4905 – Graduate Teaching Associate
- 6504 – Post-Doctoral Researcher
- 7968 – Student Assistant
- 4869 – Graduate Admin Associate
- 4873 – Graduate external Fellow
- 4895 – Grad Research Assoc-GS Match
- 4908 – Graduate Trainee
- 6500 – Postdoctoral Fellow
- 7969 – Student Associate
If the student has a different title than those listed above and if the call doesn’t require the student to be named PI or co-PI, Limited PI status must be requested via a letter to the OSU Office of Research. Here is a Limited PI Request Template student version to follow in developing the letter.
