Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Taleyarkhan sanctioned

Steven Krivit/New Energy Times report that Purdue has sanctioned Rusi Taleyarkhan concerning the bubble fusion matter :

Among the sanctions, Taleyarkhan will no longer be designated the Arden L. Bement, Jr. Professor of Nuclear Engineering. He loses all associated rights and privileges, including the allocation of discretionary resources.

An interesting read on the downside of life in academia is the affidavit of Darla Mize. It also gets into the reporting of Nature on bubble fusion [that of Eugenie Samuel Reich, a free lance reporter who presents stories in Nature.]

See also
Purdue report on Taleyarkhan finds misconduct on the smaller issues


***
The New York Times wrote:

In July, an investigatory committee at Purdue, though coming to no conclusions about that finding itself, determined that Dr. Taleyarkhan had later falsely claimed independent confirmation of the work. Actually, the committee said, he had been involved in supervising the follow-up experiment, which was conducted by a postdoctoral researcher in his laboratory, and in writing the resulting scientific papers.

The committee also found that a graduate student in his laboratory whom Dr. Taleyarkhan added as an author to those follow-up papers had made no substantial contributions. [ie, gratuitous co-authorship]

Dr. Taleyarkhan appealed the decision. The rejection of that appeal, by a three-member panel appointed by Dr. Woodson, the provost, was unanimous.


The Indianapolis Star reported:

"This was a witch hunt. This was a foregone conclusion," Taleyarkhan said after opening a package containing documents reflecting the appeals committee's decision. He received the papers in the office of Vincent Bralts, interim head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, who delivered them for Purdue Provost Randy Woodson.

1 Comments:

Blogger Randy said...

My goodness. It sounds like Purdue has read through Dr. Taleyarkhan's appeal to their earlier decision of his being guilty of the pettiest of 2 out of 12 counts of misconduct, and is now running scared.

I can't believe how obvious it is that Purdue has found itself in a dangerously tight spot, feels threatened, and is consequently trying to make Dr. Taleyarkhan look like the one who is guilty.

Why does Purdue insist on digging a deeper hole for itself?

7:39 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home