Student and Post-Doctoral Researchers

Undergraduate Students
As research staff:
Undergraduate students are usually appointed as research assistants on sponsored projects. Responsibilities for this position are listed in Human Resource's classification description.

As investigators:
Undergraduate students cannot serve as principal investigators or co-investigators on sponsored projects.

Graduate Students
As research staff:
Graduate students can be appointed to a number of research staff positions on sponsored projects. Responsibilities for these positions are listed in Human Resource's classification description.

As investigators:
Some sponsors accept proposals submitted by faculty members on behalf of graduate students. In these cases, the faculty member serves as a mentor for the student and the student acts as a co-investigator on the project. As a co-investigator, the graduate student must fulfill the responsibilities listed in the section on Co-Investigators.

Individuals holding "graduate student/professional training" academic appointments are eligible to serve as principal investigators on sponsored projects that the funding agency has specified as programs for which students are eligible. See the Regents' Policy on Principal Investigator's Eligibility on Sponsored Projects. In these cases, these individuals must fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the section on Principal Investigators.

Post-Doctoral Fellows or Associates
As research staff:
Post-Doctoral fellows or associates may be appointed a number of research staff positions on sponsored projects. Responsibilities for these positions are also listed in Human Resource's classification description.

As investigators:
Individuals holding "graduate student/professional training" academic appointments are eligible to serve as principal investigators on sponsored projects that the funding agency has specified as programs for which students are eligible. Post-doctoral fellows or associates may also serve as principal investigators. See the Regents' Policy on Principal Investigator's Eligibility on Sponsored Projects.

This document was updated on 7/18/00.
Direct comments or suggestions to sewel005@tc.umn.edu.

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