Office of Sponsored Research and Programs

Beginning October 1, 2025, faculty and staff who want to be a Principal Investigator (PI) for an external  grant or contract are required to complete the new OSRP Intent to Submit an External Grant or Contract Proposal form. The form is available as a Word document download.

All Principal Investigators (PIs) are required to complete this Financial Conflict of Interest Form (FCOI) and email it to OSRP Executive Director Laneika K. Musalini.

OSRP invites all MSU Denver faculty and staff to join us for open discussions on any sponsored research or program topic on the second Wednesday of every month at 10:00 AM.

The next session, “Internal Timelines and Process Flow,” will be held on January 14th. Join us on Microsoft Teams at:

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 235 038 657 023 7

Passcode: NY6CE3Mr

Dial in by phone

+1 720-577-5242,,465320750# United States, Denver

Please note, because our updated Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) has not been received from the US Department  of Health & Human Services (DHHS), we have reverted to the previously approved IDC rates of 33% on campus, and 21% off campus, for all grant budgets created after July 1, 2025.

The university supports proposals that uphold integrity and veracity, but we recognize that technology may now be used to screen grant proposals for unallowable DEI terminology dictated by Executive Orders. For OSRP guidance and for a list of allowable synonyms for use in your grant proposals please contact your OSRP Proposal Development Specialist.

Principal Investigator cash match applications for Spring 2026 closed on December 12, 2025. The application deadline for the next round will be announced soon.

OSRP Approved Budget Development Guidelines for Principal Investigators (PIs):

• Contact your OSRP Proposal Development Specialist to begin the budget development process.
• Your OSRP Proposal Development Specialist will schedule an introductory meeting to discuss budget needs and develop a preliminary list of budget lines and budget amounts.
• Your OSRP Proposal Development Specialist will enter the initial amounts into a standard OSRP budget spreadsheet and provide this initial spreadsheet to the Principal Investigator.
• Principal Investigators must use the spreadsheet format provided by the OSRP Proposal Development Specialist.
• The Principal Investigator and the OSRP Proposal Development Specialist will work together to gather feedback and revise the budget as necessary.
• Final budgets must be delivered to the OSRP Proposal Development Specialist for final review five days in advance of the proposal submission deadline.

Have you ever wondered how this entire grant process works? OSRP has created this workflow chart, with timelines, to illustrate the “cradle to grave” lifetime of your grant.

View the OSRP Workflow Chart PDF.

Please be advised that all federal, state, and local government grants and contracts must be reviewed, approved, and submitted by OSRP staff.

Please note that OSRP staff is currently working with hybrid or remote work arrangements. Laneika Musalini and Kimberly Welp both work remotely from South Carolina; Kristin Schneider Baldwin works remotely from Colorado; Lisa Jones works remotely from California; and Abnet Hurst works remotely from Texas. Michael Heathcote and Tim Hawkins are available both on site and virtually. We all continue to be available via email, phone, Teams and Zoom meetings. To schedule an in-person visit from Michael Heathcote or Tim Hawkins, please contact us for an appointment. For complete staff contact information, office hours, and responsibilities, please visit our staff page.

The Principal Investigator (PI) has primary responsibility for achieving the technical success of the project, while also complying with the financial and administrative policies and regulations associated with the award. Although Principal Investigators may have administrative staff to assist them with the management of project funds, the ultimate responsibility for the management of the sponsored project award rests with the Principal Investigator.

To serve as PI, one must be a full-time employee of MSU Denver. Several employment titles automatically confer PI/co-PI status due to the roles and responsibilities that come with that title. Titles of Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor and to library faculty holding the titles of Senior Librarian, Librarian, and Associate Librarian. Other administrative titles are also eligible for automatic PI status provided the individual is a full-time employee: Vice President, Associate Vice President, Assistant Vice President, Dean, Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and Director. However, Emeritus faculty do not automatically confer PI status. Emeritus faculty may serve as co-PI or senior key personnel but not as PI.

The PI must have an active appointment with MSU Denver and is responsible for executing and financially managing the grant or project. Since a proposal and subsequent award are a commitment for MSU Denver in many ways, it is important to establish the qualifications and ability of PI’s and Co-PI’s to carry out the work on externally funded grants and sponsored projects.

Our representatives at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Grant Resource Center (GRC) are available to conduct customized funding searches for MSU Denver faculty and staff, and can also create related future funding alerts for you. To access the Grant Resource Center first create your personal institutional account. After creating your account you will be able to access all of the GRC resources, as well as having the ability to request customized funding reports.

Upcoming grant program deadlines are updated regularly. The anticipated deadlines calendar for January-June 2026 will be available soon here.

Would you like to know more about finding grant funding and performing grant funding searches? OSRP worked with the Grants Resource Center (GRC) to host a virtual training on the most effective ways to perform funding searches for the MSU Denver faculty and staff. The virtual workshop was held on Tuesday, September 17^th, 2025. This workshop focused on streamlined identification of viable funding opportunities through GrantSearch©, AASCU’s proprietary higher education funding search engine. GRC talked about how their funding opportunity search works and walked through how faculty can establish their own profile to receive these opportunities in their email. RECORDING AVAILABLE HERE!