Purpose

To establish who is eligible to serve as Principal Investigator on sponsored projects.

Policy

The Principal Investigator (PI) has primary institutional responsibility for providing scientific leadership and administrative/financial management of sponsored projects, and as such, must be an employee of WSU. For the purposes of this policy statement, the term PI shall encompass other sponsor-specific titles such as Project Director and Program Director that are commonly used for non-research sponsored projects.

All full-time WSU faculty, regardless of rank or tenure status, are eligible to serve as the PI on a sponsored project provided they meet sponsor qualifications. WSU staff and adjunct faculty may serve as the PI on a sponsored project with approval from their Chair and academic college Dean or Center Director provided they meet sponsor qualifications. Typical examples of full-time faculty positions that are eligible to be a PI include:

• Research Associate
• Postdoctoral Research Associate or Research Fellow
• Research Scientist
• Center Director
• Academic Professionals

Exceptions must be approved in writing by the Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer.