Graduate School

Significant Financial Interest (SFI) means one or more of the following interests of the investigator and those of his/her immediate family that reasonably appears to be related to the investigator's institutional responsibilities. Remuneration includes salary and any payment for services not otherwise identified as salary as well as equity interest including stock, stock option, and ownership interest.

1. A SFI exists in relation to a publicly traded entity if the value of any remuneration received in the 12 months preceding the disclosure and the value of any equity interest in the entity totals to exceed $5,000.
2. A SFI exists in relation to non-publicly traded entities when the value of remuneration exceeds $5,000 or when the investigator and his/her family hold anyequity interest or any intellectual property rights and interests. Note that there is no minimum value for equity interest in non-publicly traded entities.
3. A SFI includes any reimbursed or sponsored investigator travel related to his or her institutional responsibilities. Reimbursed or sponsored travel includes travel that is paid on behalf of the investigator but not reimbursed directly to the investigator.

The following are excluded from the definition of significant financial interest:

1. salary, royalties or other remuneration paid by SIUE to the investigator for appropriate grant and contract activity;
2. intellectual property rights assigned to SIUE and agreements to share royalties related to those rights;
3. income from investment vehicles such as mutual funds and retirement accounts as long as the investigator does not directly control the investment decisions made in these vehicles;
4. income from seminars, lectures or teaching engagements sponsored by SIUE; a federal, state, or local agency or institution of higher education; or an academic hospital, medical center or research institute affiliated with a university;
5. income from service to advisory committees or review panels associated with the same agencies identified in item d above.