Posting the replies I got on- and off-list (names removed):
***
I was in a similar situation and didn't think twice about listing
myself as a Co-Investigator on my CV in cases where my advisor and I
did the grant writing. In cases where I did the grant writing, I
listed myself as PI.
Regardless of what title the University or the granting agency thinks
you deserve, the purpose of the CV is to convey your abilities and
achievements to prospective employers; if you use the terminology that
best serves that purpose, you are not being deceitful, you are being
open.
That's my opinion.
***
I don't know if it's the right thing to do but I put the title of the
grant and funding agency and then put "with my coauthors". I too was not
technically on the grant but wrote 90-95% of it including all original
ideas and research. My take is I don't care if it's right or not. Grad
students should be on the grant. It's ridiculous that they are not
included. If someone wants to call me on it I'll just tell them the score.
***
I think this is an ethical issue.
At the very beginning, her professor SOULD put her name somewhere in the
proposal.
To solve the problem, the professor should write a letter to declare
that she served as PI.
***
I think it's too bad. I was almost in that same situation, but didn't get
the grant! The issue can be completely resolved, I believe, in the
mentor's letter, which would likely be part of a job app. If, however, the
mentor is not a letter writer then the effort may be lost.
***
This is a tricky situation that I was also in. I spoke with our nsf
panel chair and he said that I could, with my advisor's consent, change
my status with nsf to pi even though the university didn't allow that
in their internal workings (supposedly this was something to do with
intellectual property rights). however, he said that would be kind of
a hassle, and advised me that what he would do is just list it on my cv
without the official change (which is what I do). However, this can be
a problem in applying to some postdoc fellwships, particularly nsf
ones, which often require that you have not been a pi on a major
grant. So I have taken it off my cv for those.
good luck to your friend,
***
Your post to Ecolog caught my eye because I've been struggling with the
same thing. If you don't mind sharing, I'd like to hear what folks have
to say to you about the subject.
I find myself in the same position; I'm a grad student at UCSB... one
way I've tried to get around it on a CV is by providing a brief summary
of my activities on the grant, including crafting it, submitting it,
managing $, filing reports, etc. It goes like this:
Year. Grant title. Award $. My activities list. (PI: enter name).
Another way (in addition to the above method) is to insert an * before
Year on all grants where the grad student is the unofficial PI, then
provide a footnote within the "Grants & Fellowships" section that says
although grads can't technically be a PI or Co-I, this grad actually did
the lion's share of the work (something more professional though).
Please let me know what you come up with!
***
What I did in grad school was list the grant, PIs, money, etc., and
under list where I contributed (writing, developing hypotheses,
original idea creation, etc). It may be a bit lengthy but when it comes
to getting a job, who cares? On one interview they brought up an NSF
grant I had worked on (and written parts of the renewal) and didn't
seem to care what my role on the project was, only that I was involved
and therefore garnered the experience. JMO.
***
I had the same problem while completing my doctorate. My institute
allowed me to be Co-PI towards the end of my time, but not at the
begining (I ended up bringing in ~750K while a student). On my CV, I
separate "Awards and Honors" from a "Funded Research" section. At the
begining of the "Funded Research" section I used to have a short
sentence in bold that stated something along the lines that the
following all represent successful grants written/prepared and managed
by me. I then listed the grants with the official PI's name. I think
that for one application that had a "please list your funding"
section, I added a sentence at the beginning stating clearly my
institute's policies and noting that the PI on most grants was my
major advisor. I also made sure that I mentioned in cover letters (or
application essays) for various jobs or fellowships that as a graduate
student I wrote, subnitted and managed all of my research grants.
I've never had any potential employer or award committee question my
funding record (it's made me more marketable). It also helps that my
old advisor would mention this in letters of recommendation. I've had
to toot my horn a bit more (which isn't always a comfortable thing to
do) since it isn't otherwise obvious that I was the unofficial PI/Co-
PI, but it certainly hasn't hurt me.
I hope this helps! Cheers,
***
My answer comes from my own limited experience, so I'll give you my
answer off list.
If the grant is student centered (like a dissertation improvement
grant), then it should be included in the CV even though the grant is
technically in the advisors name. Search committees understand that
student generally write and manage these types of grants.
If the grant was a full NSF- or NIH-type grant, then it should probably
*not* go on the student's CV because they were not a PI or Co-I. The
student *should*
describe her role in "helping" to prepare and manage the grant in her
cover letter. Just be careful, with the wording, to avoid sounding like
"hey I did everything and the PI did nothing (even if that was true)"
because it will sound bad to the committee. I have known people in this
situation, and they got alot of credit with the SC event though the
grant was not on their CV. If the advisor is worth his or her salt,
then s/he will also include this in her glowing letter of
recommendation.
***
Usually, your friend should have a 'Grants and Fellowships Received'
section in her CV.
Your friend should highlight her grant writing and management skills in
her cover lettter. Her major prof. should be ethical enough to highlight
that part too in his reference letter.
***
Jonathan -- I have seen it three ways:
listed as PI, Co-PI, and with professor's name. I prefer the
latter because it does not deal with the official status. mas tarde,
***
When my students have done this, I have encouraged them to record the
funded grant on their CV as though it was their own. Although they have
to show my name as PI, they indicate either with an asterisk or
parenthetically that they were in fact the lead author on the proposal.
I think search committees are sensitive to this reality. What potential
employers or search committees may then look for is an indication that
the student played the lead role in the proposal writing (and grant
management if this is the case) in the reference letter the major
professor writes for the statement. When I have a student who is
successful in generating his/her own funding in this way, I try to
emphasize this strongly in my letter.
--
Jonathan A. Greenberg, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS)
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
The Barn, Room 250N
Davis, CA 95616
Cell: 415-794-5043
AIM: jgrn307, MSN: [email protected], Gchat: jgrn307
