Principal Investigator and Sponsor Principal Investigator

The Principal Investigator (PI) or Project Director (PD) is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of the research. This includes administrative and programmatic aspects of a project.

There is also a U-M Sponsor PI. If a non-faculty employee or student of the University of Michigan meets the eligibility requirements for the sponsor but not for the requirements of U-M, they are named on applications as U-M Sponsor PI (e.g., students or fellows),

Any U-M faculty member, staff or student meeting the definition of an investigator in that they are responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research must be listed in one of the investigator roles in the proposal approval form (PAF) in the eResearch Proposal Management System and are responsible for disclosing outside activities.