Human Research Protections
Definition: 

Investigator is any WCM personnel, regardless of title or position, who is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research.

Investigator includes, but is not limited to, the Principal Investigator(PI), Project Director (PD), Co-principal investigator (CO-PI), and may also include key personnel, a postdoctoral fellow, graduate student, trainee, staff member, collaborator, or consultant, depending on the person’s role in the research.

NOTE: For specific research projects funded by the U.S.  Department of Energy (DOE), the relevant DOE program office may expand the definition of an investigator for Conflict of Interest disclosure purposes to include any person who participates in the purpose, design, conduct, or reporting of a project funded by DOE or proposed for funding by DOE.  This expansion will be noted in the applicable Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and/or the terms and conditions of the awarding contract. The primary factor to be used in determining who is an investigator is based on the significance of the tasks assigned to the individual with regard to the design, conduct, and reporting of the Research and the degree of independence that individual may have in performing such Research-related tasks.