PI Eligibility
Who Can Be a Principal Investigator?
ECU strongly encourages and fully supports faculty and staff engagement in externally sponsored research, instruction and service programs that embrace the institutional values of student success, public service, discovery and innovation, and regional transformation. Such engagement requires commitment from qualified individuals to ensure ethical conduct of the activities, appropriate stewardship of funds, and project results.
Proposal submission and award acceptance by ECU for research or other sponsored activities carry significant financial and legal obligations. Although proposals are funded and contracts are awarded based in large part on the expertise of the faculty member(s), awards generally are made to the university. Thus, ECU must ensure that the individual primarily responsible for the conduct of the project has the technical and administrative competence to carry out the project activities, the access to university business and financial processes to appropriately manage project funds, and the likelihood of a continued relationship with the university for the duration of the sponsored project.
| Can I be a Principal Investigator? | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored Project Role* | Sponsor Recognized PI/PD | Internal Lead PI | Internal PI | Co-Investigator or Other | Mentor as Internal Lead PI** | Mentor as Internal PI** |
| Permanent & Fixed Term Employees | ||||||
| Tenured/Tenured-Track Faculty | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Fixed-Term Teaching/Research/Clinical Faculty | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Full-Time Non-Faculty EPA Staff | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Full-Time SPA Staff | • | • | • | • | ||
| Non-Permanent Employees | ||||||
| Visiting Faculty | • | • | • | • | ||
| Artists & Writers-in-Residence | • | • | • | • | ||
| Adjunct Faculty | • | • | • | • | ||
| BSOM Affiliate Faculty | • | • | • | • | ||
| Fixed-Term EPA Administrators | • | • | • | • | ||
| Part-Time/Temp/Hourly EPA Administrators | • | |||||
| Part-Time/Time-Limited/Intermittent SPA Staff | • | |||||
| Non-Compensated Individuals | ||||||
| Emeritus Faculty | • | • | • | • | ||
| Emeritus Administrators | • | • | • | • | ||
| Adjunct Faculty Courtesy Appointment | • | • | • | • | ||
| BSOM Affiliate Faculty Courtesy Appointment | • | • | • | • | ||
| Trainees and Students (Trainee/Student Submitted Proposal) | ||||||
| Postdoctoral Trainees | • | • | ||||
| Graduate Students | • | • | See Table Notes below. | |||
| Undergraduate Students | • | • | ||||
Table Notes
* Assignment to any role listed is subject to review and approval by cognizant unit administrators.
** A faculty or EPA staff mentor is required for trainee and student initiated sponsored projects. The mentor need not be listed as the Principal Investigator when the sponsoring agency requires the student serve as Principal Investigator. On proposals submitted to sponsors using eTRACS, listing the student as Principal Investigator may be a technical requirement.
In addition to cognizant unit administrator approval, approval of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Economic Development and Engagement is required for designation of any individual not included in the list above, including any person with a joint appointment with an external entity, as a sponsor recognized and/or ECU internal lead PI/PD. Such requests should be communicated to the ORA prior to proposal submission.