OT: tOSU cited for misappropriation of research funds
Not saying this does or doesn't involve Sweatervest and tattoo parlors but the NSF (National Science Foundation) is questioning the allocation of $17.5 million of research grants received by tOSU researchers. Source: http://www.nsf.gov/oig/11-1-009-OSU.pdf
For the record, UM received ~$78 million in NSF grant money in 2010 compared to $34 million for tOSU. TomVH's reports mention academics a lot and this is a major part of our reputation. Source: http://dellweb.bfa.nsf.gov/Top50Inst2/default.asp
My professor was just talking about the misappropriation of research funds. How ironic.
tOSU just cannot catch a break right now. I LOVE IT.
Not ironic, just a coincidence :)
April 15th, 2011 at 10:24 AM ^
... but I like the image of a small, angry, black child (your avatar) as the Irony Nazi. I mean, he really looks passionate about his role.
Frodo must have dropped the ring into Mount Doom sometime in February. That's the only explanation.
This is huge. As someone who works in research at a university, It's an unfortunate thing to see. Regardless of the rivalry with sports, there is a lot of information sharing that goes on between universities. A lot of that money goes through many hands and will effect people down the line. Hopefully this is something that they can resolve without it having a negative impact on the research being conducted at the school.
I agree that this is huge, and I disagree that this is unfortunate. If they truly are misappropriating funds, that money needs to go to other researchers that are actually going to use it for its intended purpose.
Oh, I agree. I'm not saying that punishment isn't due, if in fact, something did go wrong. I'm just saying that the whole situation is bad for a lot of people who had nothing to do with the misappropriation.
Completely agree. I feel bad for the post docs and graduate students who depend on these funds. It is not their fault.
exactly my point. Not to mention the administrative staff that are paid through grant funded positions. A lot of people will suffer because of the mistakes of a small few.
Agree. Any rumors of research funds misuse will put your lab and your department in jeopardy for future funding.
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<br>There is also a rumor going around the academic circle about auburn having very similar issues. The difference is that the FBI is investigating Auburn's board of trustees for money laundering.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:18 AM ^
It's interesting that their athletic departments are also under investigation for different possible violations as well. Obviously, there's a difference between the two realms, but IIRC most university athletic departments are still connected to their universities. I don't know how widespread this type of oversight is, but I wonder whether this is evidence of something systemic about the universities or just a weird coincidence.
Also, money laundering is clearly very different than not overseeing sub-awardees' fund usage properly, so it seems to me unfair to quite equate the two.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^
I think ( I am just conjecturing here) it is a problem with the top administration of the university including the University President, Chancellor, and board of trustees or regents. President Gee doesn't come off as the most up standing character.
The problem at Auburn has to do with a few trustees that were taking research funds and general state funds and laundering it through a individual that owns a greyhound race track. It seems like the university president is not complicit in this activity but has lost control of a strong willed board.
Is there anyway the World Congress of People Don't Live in the Worst State Ever can pad lock that entire university? Just askin.
I'm wondering how much that dude spent on the Lego Horseshoe...??? Coincidence... or something more...?
But you have to admit, the Lego Horseshoe was pretty cool....
but at U-M the grant application and subsequent cost control process, tough as it is, relies to a fairly heavy extent on the integrity of individual researchers. And in a large research university you can really never rule out the possibility of a few bad apples.
People do get fired every so often for misuse of research funds. I'm not going to go off and Google it but I'm sure you'd find examples at U-M in the past few years if you looked hard enough.
That being said, from an overall academic point of view we clearly kick the behind of OSU, so that's good.
Wasn't there a nuclear engineering graduate student fired for this reason. I seem to remember his pi caught him misusing grant funds? The grad student then went to the university and lied about his pi and said he was fired for being a whistle blower for safety violations in his lab. I think the entire situation ended up in litigation that was eventually thrown out of court once the truth came out.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:18 AM ^
I work in research administration too, and this seems pretty minor. I mean, the recommendations are standard and OSU will comply and this will amount to nothing more than OSU clicking the "findings" box next to most recent audit, and then attaching the audit and the counteractive measures. I mean, the subaward monitoring issue is one popping up all over the country right now and a focus of NCURA.
This is a non-story.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:23 AM ^
I wouldn't go so far as to call this a "non-story". You can bet every level of tOSU's administration will be keeping tabs on the audit response. Plus, the audit only hit 3 funded proposals but still turned up substantial "noncompliance and internal control weaknesses." [Sound familiar?]
I see your point though, this is largely a reason to point and laugh at tOSU. The truth is, UM would suffer if OSU was punished because there are a lot of great collaborations between our researchers. Science differs from athletics in that sense.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^
Yeah, audit findings suck, and central administration is going to be POed, but this isn't like the Yale or Richmond findings. Their OSP will put in some new policies and will have to be a bit more diligent in the future, but that's it. The recommendations make it clear that they are not going to take money back from OSU.
On the other hand, yes, point and laugh. I did.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
Like you said, this is more about subaward monitoring (by other universities). It just means OSU will put more people on watching over the subaward recipiant's expenses. I don't think there is anything nefarious going on.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
... wasn't kidding when he said he hoped Tressel wouldn't fire him. This seems ugly.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:38 AM ^
He knows more about research than 99% of the board.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
Did someone mention research?
Research is the most used resource to finding out something you need from school papers to things you want to buy. Research is also used to find cheaper shopping supplies. For instance one store may have had a pricey type of material one was looking for and the other store you researched was a couple dollars cheaper. Coming out of high school I was thinking to my self what I wanted to do for a living and what I wanted to major in to start the quest for my job. Research is also used to find shopping cheaper shopping supplies.
I used the research process to find out what type of job specific major I wanted to major in and what type of job I wanted to do when I graduated from college. I researched different types of jobs, Criminal justice, business, communications, and education. I came up with criminal justice but couldn’t decide between business and criminal justice. I did research on business and did their pros and cons. Then, I did the pros and cons of criminal justice. I came up with in the business world you can either have a good chance at the type of business you want to start or a bad business that won’t sell or bring in money.
Another part of my research I did was the most important factors in the business, was what they want for what they can afford and is there a profit that can help me out to make some extra money.The availability of the job openings, the job entails, the pay hours. I looked up also whether I would have to be in school for along time or not to get a job. Also my personal enjoyment in the job would I love to do every day I woke up to go to work.
With out research I would not have been able to get these types of information for the job that I want to do for the rest of my life. If one would just go and do something with out researching first they could’ve missed something that could have later benefited later on or benefited one more then the other.
Am I wrong or did it just get stupider in here?
only a million and change out of the $17.5 mil went toward the research in that paper.
right off the bat. In this case the MGoPolicy on plagiarizing seems designed to protect the plagiarizer more than the plagiarized. I was wondering, WTF is up with this innane comment?
April 15th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
an Ohio tatoo parlor chain?
April 15th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
I mean exhuastive research into whether or not a hooker with a tramp tat is more likely to sleep with a booster for cash and/or coke is not cheap. Those dollar bills go fast and have you heard the street price for Blow nowadays?
Just sayin.
By the way can someone tell me how stringent are the admission requirements at Ohio Tech? 63,000 students????? Seems like a paper mill to me.