Principal Investigator Status

Principal Investigator Eligibility

The Board of Trustees, consistent with most institutions of higher education from around the country, has established a Policy that states, in part...

"4.4 All tenure-track faculty members may submit proposals for support of research and scholarly projects. All proposals must be approved by a faculty member's unit or department head and Dean before submission to the Vice Chancellor for Research for final campus approval. Non-tenure-track faculty members and employees with termed appointments may submit proposals with prior approval of their Dean and the Vice Chancellor for Research."

Furthermore, a Principal Investigator is...

The individual (or in the case of some NIH projects, the individuals) designated by [NC State University], and approved by [the sponsor], who will be responsible for the scientific or technical direction of the [entire] project.

Co-Principal Invesigators or Co-Project Directors (co-PI/co-PD) are individuals designated by NC State University, and approved by our sponsors, who have substantively complimentary responsibility for the scientific or technical direction of all or a portion of a project.

An individual can only be a Principal Investigator or a Co-Principal Investigator pursuant to the guidance articulated in the policy of the Board of Trustees defined above or as authorized under an approved exception as described below.

Principal Investigatorship/Co-Principal Investigatorship carries enormous responsibilities. Some, but not all, of these responsibilities are articulated in the Faculty Toolbox by clicking [here].

This webpage endeavors to clarify in what circumstances exceptions will be granted and to clarify the logic behind such exceptions and the underlying policy. All exceptions should be addressed to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Administration via e-mail.

Certain Exceptions are considered as follows:

Postdoctoral Associates on a paid appointment or similarly situated paid employees are considered to be trainees or apprentices and are not eligible for an exception unless the program to which the institution is applying specifically requires that such an individual serve as the Principal Investigator such as Postdoctoral fellowship programs.
Students, including those on assistantship are not eligible for an exception unless the program to which the institution is applying specifically requires that the student serve as the Principal Investigator such as on certain graduate student fellowship applications.
Visiting Scholars who are concurrently paid employees of the institution and have an established scholarly career meritorious of consideration by an academic department for appointment at the Visiting Associate Professor rank or above may be considered for Principal Investigator status.
Adjunct faculty on termed appointment with an established career meritorious of consideration by an academic department for appointment at the Adjunct Associate Professor rank or above may be considered for Principal Investigator status provided there is a co-Investigator from the tenured or tenure-track faculty rank of the institution.
Certain NCARS and NCCES employees can serve as co-Investigator including Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, Extension Assistant Professor and Extension Associate Professor. NCARS and NCCES Researcher and Senior Researcher can also serve as sole PI on grants and contracts. This eligibility does not imply tenure.
SPA employees are generally ineligible for Principal Investigator status.
Certain other scenarios will naturally occur. All requests are entertained by the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Administration on a case-by-case basis.

Reference Materials:

NC State BOT Policy (referenced above)

Special Faculty Rank PRR (Adjunct, Visting, etc.)

UNC CH Administrative Policy as a Comparison

Duke Administrative Policy as a Comparison

Ohio State Administrative Policy as a Comparison

NSF Definition