Both the CAS Research Office and the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) need to review and approve grant paperwork prior to submission.  There could also be compliance issues that require additional review for some proposals.  Please follow these steps:

  • Determine your eligibility for extramural funding (i.e. Principal Investigator status).
  • Contact your department’s OSP Research Administrator when deciding to pursue a funding opportunity.  Be sure to do this at least ten business days before sponsor deadline.
  • Complete proposal documents and internal grants forms.
    • Be sure to review the information in the “Additional Consideration” section to see whether it applies to your project.
    • Submit a proposal package to the CAS Research Office for review and approval at least seven business days before sponsor deadline or at least ten business days if needing approvals beyond Associate Dean level.
    • Finalize submission of all proposal documents with OSP at least five business days before deadline for all materials except for science/technical documents (due three business days before deadline.)

For additional information, please contact Faculty Actions at 617-353-2404 or the appropriate Associate Dean of the Faculty.

For more information and answers to questions related to research grants, please see Grant FAQs.

Determine Your Eligibility to Submit A Grant Proposal for Extramural Funding (Principle Investigator status)

The first step before working on a grant proposal is to determine whether you are eligible to submit a grant. This requires that you have Principal Investigator (PI) status.

The Boston University Policy on Principal Investigator (PI) Status is available here. It defines the obligations of a PI and identifies categories of members of the BU community who have full privileges to serve as a PI automatically, those who have no PI privileges, and in the circumstances in which individuals may have PI privileges if the appropriate Provost, Dean, Chair, or (in the case of postdoctoral associates) direct supervisor approves.

As stated in those documents, faculty who serve more than 50% time in unmodified standard faculty positions (except Instructors) defined in Section A of Classification of Ranks and Titles in the CAS Faculty and Staff Handbook plus those in the clinical and research tracks of the standard faculty positions have automatic PI rights.

Individuals who are not in the “automatic PI rights” positions should consult the BU and CAS policies about whether they might request PI status and how to do so.

The Dean of CAS will generally approve PI status for the following categories if the chair/director of the home academic unit approves PI status and certifies that the necessary commitments of space, facilities, and other resources can be made:

  • Faculty who serve less than 50% time in positions with “automatic PI-rights” as defined in (a) provided that he/she is not a permanent employee (> 50% time) of and/or benefits from full PI rights at another academic institution, company, or organization
  • Lecturers who hold the rank of Senior Lecturer or Senior Lecturer /Master level
  • Individuals appointed as Research Scientist/Engineer/Researcher (or Senior rank in these categories) throughout the proposed grant period
  • Senior Postdoctoral Associates, provided the work is closely associated with the research program of a faculty mentor. Postdoctoral Associates will generally not be eligible to serve as PI except for proposals to programs that specifically target that applicant pool.
  • Adjunct faculty who hold appointments that cover the entire period of the proposed grant
  • Emeritus faculty

PI status is not automatically granted for these categories of individuals. It is essential to begin the process of requesting approval for PI status at the department and then College level before investing significant effort in proposal development.  The PI Status Request form can be found here.  The form must be signed by the Department Chair and sent to CAS 115 for approval.  Once signed, the form will be sent to the Provost’s office for review and approval.  Please be aware that the process of requesting PI status will add time to the proposal review process and should be sent to CAS 115 at least ten business days before sponsor deadline.

Contact Office of Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), located at 25 Buick Street, reviews grant proposals on behalf of Boston University for completeness and conformity to BU and sponsor policies and guidelines.

You should contact OSP a minimum of two times during the proposal preparation process:

1) When you decide to pursue a grant opportunity, please contact your OSP Research Administrator (RA) as soon as possible to let him/her know that you plan to submit an application for an upcoming deadline.  A minimum of ten business days advance notice is required, but even more would be appreciated.  Please provide the name of the sponsor to which you plan to apply, the program solicitation number (if applicable) and the deadline date.  Your RA will be able to explain their review process and schedule.  For a listing of OSP RAs by Department, please visit the OSP website.

2) Send all completed and signed proposal materials to OSP for review at least five business days before the deadline. OSP provides final review and approval of all grants submitted through BU.  In many cases, OSP also submits the application to the sponsor.

For additional information on the proposal review and submission process, please visit OSP’s website. Please note that failure to meet an OSP deadline could impact the level of proposal review.

 Submit Your Proposal to the CAS Research Office for Approval

The CAS Research Office provides CAS approval which OSP needs in order to complete their review. CAS approval is mandatory for all proposals. (Please see below for proposal package contents and submission information.) Once obtained, the CAS Research Office will forward the CAS Associate Dean’s signed approval to OSP. The PI is responsible for submitting all proposal documents directly to OSP for final review and approval.

It is essential that completed grant packages be submitted to the CAS Research Office seven business days before sponsor deadline. For proposals needing approvals beyond the Associate Dean level, such as from the Provost, proposal materials should be sent ten business days before sponsor deadline.

The purpose of the proposal review process is to ensure that your proposal is error-free and contains no elements that would cause the university to be unable to submit the proposal or to experience significant post-award complications.  Common errors include: budget miscalculations or mis-specifications, problems with space availability, and complications regarding institutional “matches.”

Moreover, it is important to remember that a research grant is a contract between the granting agency and Boston University.  In accepting the grant, BU incurs the obligations of the contract and compliance, although the Principal Investigator is held individually responsible for carrying out the terms of the contract and relevant regulations.  The College and University carry out their reviews with these obligations in mind.

In some circumstances, it is appropriate to work with the CAS Research Office and/or CAS divisional Associate Dean before the proposal deadline to ensure challenges are dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner.  This is certainly the case if the sponsoring agency requires an institutional match, if the PI believes that necessary facilities or other needs are not in place, or if there are any other unusual circumstances associated with the proposal that require management.  In cases where the PI is not experienced at developing a proposal budget and the home department has no specialist to assist, the CAS Proposal Development Specialist can assist, but once again, this requires adding additional lead time.

The proposal package must include the following components and BU forms:

Proposal Components:

  • Proposal Abstract (or similar information to provide a project overview)
  • Proposal Budget
  • Proposal Budget Justification
  • Agency budget forms
  • ­BU Forms:
    • Proposal Summary Form (PSF).  NOTE: This form must be signed by the PI’s Department Chair as well as the PI.  Be sure to leave time for obtaining the Chair’s signature.  Please also be aware that Co-PI’s must also sign the PSF, as well as their Chairs, if needed.
    • Financial Conflict of Interest (COI) Form (online or e-mail submission only)

Forms can be found here.  The PSF is in the “Forms” section, along with a link to the COI page.

Please note that the COI form should be filled out electronically or, alternatively, can be downloaded, filled out and e-mailed to coi@bu.edu.  Please note that paper COI forms should not be submitted with the materials sent to CAS 115, but the date of COI submission should be indicated on the PSF (above the signature lines.)  Co-PI’s are also required to submit a separate completed COI.

Once all information has been compiled and the forms have been completed and signed, please send them as one PDF file to casgrant@bu.edu.