Key Persons

Key Personnel are the program director/principal investigator (PD/PI) and other individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. Review the sponsor's funding opportunity and policies for more specific guidance.

A consultant is not usually considered "Key," but may be included if their proposed project work meets the above definition. Generally speaking, technicians, postdoctoral fellows, nurses, graduate students, and other related individuals, while still serving an important role in the project, would not be typically included as “Key.”

Information about the Employee and Non-Employee look-ups (including new faculty, UMB students, and UMMC residents)

KR Proposal Roles

PI/Contact: UMB’s Principal Investigator for the project; the contact PI for a multiple PI proposal

PI/Multiple: Use only for UMB investigators. This is used for the other Principal Investigators from UMB for an NIH multiple PI proposal.

Co-Investigator - labeled "Co-I (UMB Routing Req'd)": Use of this role is not recommended. DO NOT use this role for non-UMB persons.  

  • Approval routing maps are generated based on units of the PI, Multiple PI, and Co-Investigators for the proposal. For example, if a PI is in Physiology and a colleague with the role Co-Investigator is in Anesthesiology, both departments will have to approve the proposal. We suggest that users select the role of Key Person, and enter the appropriate proposal role in the Key Person's Role field.

Key Person: Once selected, you will add a brief description for this person’s role as follows:

  • Non-UMB multiple PI: PD/PI
  • UMB or Non-UMB Co-Investigator: Co-Investigator
  • UMB or Non-UMB other roles: enter the person’s role on the project, such as investigator, OSC, or Other Significant Contributor, biostatistician, etc.

UMCP collaborators:  Add UMCP and other proposals persons from the Address Book (non-employee look-up). If the UMCP proposal person is not in the non-employee look-up, submit an Address Request to add.

Employee look-up:  Add UMB employees (and affiliates registered in UMB's Community System) from the Employee look-up. In the Employee look-up, limit your search to UMB employees by entering 02 in the Campus Code field (toward the bottom of the search window just above the “Continue” button). Check the email address and unit to verify that you have selected the right person.

Person Details

Click on the triangle to the left of the person’s name to open the details for that person. Several tabs are available across the page

Key Person Details tab:

  • For NIH proposals, the eRA Commons User Name is required for PIs and multi-PIs.
  • ALWAYS UNCHECK “Include in Credit Allocation” – UMB does not use this.

eRA Commons Username. NIH requires eRA Commons IDs in the Credential field of the Sr/Key Person Profile form for all individuals listed on that form (NOT-OD-21-109). Request an eRA Commons username for UMB persons. More NIH information

Key Person Organization tab: 

  • Add Total Effort for each key person
  • For proposals submitted system-to-system, a phone number and email address are required for each key person
  • For proposals submitted system-to-system, the Directory Title populates the Key Person form. This may be updated manually for the proposal. The Directory Title for UMB employees comes from the campus directory. To update the title, in the Employee Self-Serve, select the Preferred Title and add or update the title in that field.

Extended Details tab:

  • Citizenship information may be required for fellowship or career development proposals. Correct/update as needed.
  • Education section:  If not autocompleted on the Degree tab, add the person's highest degree (such as MD or PhD) and year graduated. This information will print to the Degree Type and Degree Year fields on the R&R Senior/Key Person form for system-to-system proposals.
  • For non-employees, enter the person’s department, institute, or center at their home institution in the Directory Department field. This information will print to the Department field on the R&R Senior/Key Person form for system-to-system proposals.

Degrees tab: Nothing needs to be entered here if completed on the Extended Details tab

Unit details tab: For the UMB PI(s), the proposal Lead Unit will appear. If different, the PI's unit of academic appointment will also appear. For other UMB Key Personnel, the person's unit of appointment will appear.  This tab will be blank for non-employees.

  • For the PI, when the Lead Unit for the proposal is a Center or Institute, ADD the PI's unit of academic (primary) appointment if it is missing.

All UMB personnel listed on this section of the proposal are required to certify the proposal.  Certification information