The Principal Investigator (PI) is the individual responsible for the preparation, execution, and management of a grant award. The potential PI or co-PI must be a:
- Full-time faculty member (regardless of rank);
- Part-time faculty member;
- Visiting faculty member; or
- Staff member.
Principal Investigator Responsibilities
Principal Investigators are ultimately responsible for the oversight of grant projects and compliance with all federal, state, funding agency, and institutional policies. Co-PIs are also accountable for the management of grant projects and the observance of funding guidelines.
PIs are responsible for pre- and post-grant functions, including but not limited to:
- Preparing proposals in conjunction with the Office of Sponsored Programs or the Office of Institutional Advancement
- Complying with all funding agency guidelines, federal regulations, and College policies and procedures, during both proposal preparation and grant management
- Obtaining administration and Business Office approval prior to proposal submission
- Frequently updating the Sponsored Programs Officer on the status of grant proposals
- Providing copies of proposals, budgets, reports, and correspondence to the Sponsored Programs Officer
- Ensuring that all grant personnel complete required training and forms (e.g. conflict of interest training, responsible conduct of research training, financial disclosure forms, and effort reporting forms)
- Documenting and managing grant expenses in accordance with applicable policies
- Ensuring the accurate tracking of grant expenses
- Following Randolph College human resources policies and procedures for grant personnel, including paid employees and volunteers
- Immediately notifying the Sponsored Programs Officer of any programmatic and/or budgetary concerns
- Reporting program income to the Director of Finance and Budget
- Providing reports for review, prior to submission, to the Director of Finance and Budget and the Sponsored Programs Officer
- Submitting timely interim and final reports to funding agencies
- Complying with the conditions of the grant award and using grant funds solely for the purposes and conditions of the award
- Reporting to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs when a grant member makes, conceives, develops, or reduces to practice any College-owned intellectual property in the nature of an invention, as described in the Intellectual Property Policy