Officer of Research Titles
Professional officers of research must hold a doctoral degree or its professional equivalent and perform independent research in the area of their training. Depending on their seniority and grade of office, they may be principal investigators. Professional officers of research have substantial independence in carrying out their research programs, and may participate in the development of proposals and the associated research. Researchers in the natural, basic and clinical sciences, and in social work are given the title scientists; those in the humanities and social sciences are appointed as scholars.
There are three principal grades of professional officers of research:
- Senior research scientists/scholars are officers whose qualifications and contributions to their fields of research are equivalent to those of a full professor.
- Research scientists/scholars are officers whose qualifications and contributions to their fields of research are equivalent to those of an associate professor.
- Associate research scientists/scholars are junior officers whose qualifications and contributions to their fields of research are equivalent to those of an assistant professor.
Lamont Research Professors: Independent scientists, holding the doctorate or its professional equivalent at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who serve as principal investigators and support their own research groups, can be appointed as Lamont research professors. The three grades; Lamont research professor, Lamont associate research professor, and Lamont assistant research professor; are equivalent to senior research scientist, research scientist, and associate research scientist, respectively, as described above. The specific qualifications necessary to hold appointments in these three ranks are described in the Lamont Research Professor Handbook.
Visiting Officers of Research: Visiting officers of research have affiliations with other institutions from which they are temporarily on leave while working at the University on projects of common interest with members of the faculty or research staff.
Appointments may be made as visiting senior research scientist/scholar, visiting research scientist/scholar, and visiting associate research scientist/scholar, in accordance with the defined qualifications of those grades. Normally, visiting officers are given titles that correspond to the ranks they hold at their home institution. Exceptions to this rule are rare and require the prior approval of the Provost.
Adjunct Officers of Research: Experts in special fields can be appointed as adjunct senior research scientist/scholar, adjunct research scientist/scholar, and adjunct associate research scientist/scholar, in accordance with the defined qualifications of those grades given above, for part-time service. Normally, they are engaged in research at the University while working simultaneously at the institution of their primary affiliation. They may hold either compensated or non-salaried positions, depending on the circumstances of their appointment.
Individuals without any other institutional affiliation may also be appointed as adjunct officers of research if they are participating part time in ongoing projects sponsored by members of the faculty or the regular research staff. They are expected to be compensated and should not hold non-salaried positions.
Special Research Scientists/Scholars: With the prior approval of the Provost or designee, retired officers of instruction and research who continue to participate in programs of research may be appointed special research scientists/scholars. Such appointments are for part-time service, and are usually funded.
Postdoctoral appointments provide additional training after a doctoral degree, or its professional equivalent, and postdoctoral officers are normally appointed within one year of receiving their degree unless they have documented evidence of circumstances such as leaves or substantial career change. Postdoctoral officers work under the guidance of a principal investigator who may be a faculty member or an officer of research. They may be appointed for full- or part-time service.
There are four grades of appointment as postdoctoral officers of research:
- Postdoctoral research scientists/scholars: Postdoctoral research scientists hold appointments in the natural, basic, and clinical sciences and in social work; postdoctoral research scholars hold appointments in the humanities and social sciences. Officers appointed in this rank are paid a salary by the University which must at all times be at or above the minimum salary set by the Provost as part of the University’s annual salary guidelines for officers of research.
- Postdoctoral research fellows: Postdoctoral research fellows are individuals who have received awards to continue their training at the University or are individuals of greater experience who have won awards permitting them to retrain themselves in a new discipline or specialty. Postdoctoral research fellows receive a fellowship or training grant stipend, either through the University’s Office of the Controller or directly from an external funding agency. If the amount of the stipend is less than the minimum set by the Provost as part of the University’s annual salary guidelines for officers of research, the officer receives a supplementary stipend to bring the total amount they receive up to that minimum. The individual’s principal investigator, department, institute, or center is responsible for providing the supplement. No postdoctoral research fellow may be appointed without receiving the minimum set by the Provost. Individuals holding an appointment as a postdoctoral research fellow at another institution and who are simultaneously working with a University faculty member or officer of research are given part-time appointments as postdoctoral research scientists/scholars.
- Postdoctoral clinical fellows come to the University to gain additional clinical training after completing their residency or are individuals of greater experience who wish to change clinical specialties. In some departments in the Irving Medical Center, postdoctoral clinical fellows may simultaneously hold appointments as officers of instruction in the rank of assistant in clinical if they are working in an affiliated hospital that is not accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and are therefore paid by the University. Depending upon the source of funding, one of these appointments will be full-time and the other, part-time. When the fellow receives a stipend, the appointment as a postdoctoral clinical fellow is full-time and the assistant in clinical appointment is part-time. The reverse is true when the individual is paid a salary.
- Postdoctoral residency fellows hold the doctorate of medicine, dental medicine, or dental surgery and are enrolled in programs at affiliated hospitals and institutes for obtaining additional clinical training before embarking on independent careers as physicians and dentists. They may be appointed for part-time service. Their appointment is renewable as long as they continue in a training program.
Staff officers assist members of the faculty or professional officers of research in the conduct of research or clinical programs. They carry out assigned duties and may also be responsible for collecting data in a clinical program and providing services to its clients. In contrast to professional officers of research, staff officers are not involved in setting research directions, methods, and goals. They are distinguished from technicians, who are members of the supporting staff, in that they work under limited supervision on complex assignments that require them to exercise a high degree of initiative and independent judgment. Predoctoral students from other universities whose faculty advisors want them to work with University faculty or officers of research for a period of not more than one year are also appointed as staff officers.
There are two grades of staff officers of research: senior staff associate and staff associate. Each grade consists of three levels: senior staff associate I, senior staff associate II, senior staff associate III; staff associate I, staff associate II, and staff associate III. Each level is specifically defined according to the amount of functional knowledge, problem solving, decision making/autonomy, leadership, technical expertise, communications skills, and minimum qualifications the incumbent is expected to possess. Promotion from one level to another and from one grade to another does not occur automatically upon completion of a certain number of years in a position. Rather, promotion to a higher level or to a higher grade is contingent on the individual’s increased responsibilities or change in duties. Find more details in the Framework for Classification of Staff Officers of Research, which lists the specific attributes of each level of staff officer of research.
Staff associates are appointed for full- or part-time service. Predoctoral students from other universities whose faculty advisors want them to work with University faculty or officers of research for a period of not more than one year are appointed as part-time staff associates II.
The Provost may grant an exception to the years of experience required under certain circumstances, if proper justification is provided before the offer is made to the individual.
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