
Scientist who faked data in his thesis will keep his Ph.D. - denzil_correa
http://retractionwatch.com/2013/11/13/scientist-who-faked-data-in-his-thesis-will-keep-his-phd/
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bdg
Situations like this reminds me of my favorite part of Brave New World:

> Not so much like drops of water, though water, it is true, can wear holes in
> the hardest granite; rather, drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere,
> incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the
> rock is all one scarlet blob.

This doesn't wear a hole into what a PhD is and erode away the foundation. It
smothers it in something else, and slowly but surely we're not left with a
rock, but one soft blob of wax -- totally different from what a PhD is, but
slowly enough that we still pretend we're dealing with what it was.

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cup
Of all the experiments Ive ever performed western blots are probably my most
hated and for that I empathise with the doctor. Theres something particularly
painful about performing an experiment that consistently fails and has a
significant number of variables which forces you to repeat the experiment
under various conditions to determine whether you genuinly have noo result or
the experiment failed.

Ive spent 6 months doing western blots trying to workout whether the protein i
was interested in was actually not expressed or whether something was wrong.
It turned out that the commercial antibodies I was using had failed.

Theres enough pressure in research to destroy ones confidencce and self esteem
and I genuinly understand that urge to sometimes just turn a blind eye or
pretend I saw something I didnt.

At the end of the day though you have to be honest with yourself and decide
which road you will travel. Im glad they didn't strip him of his PhD. The
public humiliation will warrant enough misfortune for the scientist and
hopefully he will learn from his mistakes.

~~~
AmVess
He faked data in his graduate thesis, in applications for National Institutes
of Health and American Heart Association grant, and in two published papers,
so his behavior is part of a rather inexcusable pattern.

Doctorate work is supposed to be difficult, and that's part of why it is the
pinnacle of academic achievement.

The only responsible course of action they could have taken was to strip him
of his credentials. They didn't do that, so one must naturally question every
single doctorate they hand out.

Perhaps it doesn't matter to some that they hand out PhD's in the bottom of
Cracker Jack boxes, but this is a serious issue that shouldn't be taken
lightly.

~~~
Leszek
> and that's part of why it is the pinnacle of academic achievement.

Absolutely not. A doctorate is an apprenticeship in research, and the thesis
produced is your "final test" as an apprentice. It's supposed to be the start
of your academic career, not its pinnacle.

~~~
jballanc
Forgive me for being pedantic...but the "German" degree system (Bachelors,
Masters, Ph.D.) inherits its tradition from the guild system. In this sense, a
doctoral dissertation is the modern-day equivalent of a "masterpiece", the
item you produce to prove to your peers that your are deserving of the title
"Master". So you are wrong in that doctoral studies should be regarded as
journeyman training, not an apprenticeship, but you are right in that a
dissertation is only the start of ones career as a master.

That said, I think it's an unfortunate course of modern research that the
prestige of a doctorate has eroded over time...

~~~
timtadh
While you are right from a certain very point of view, a doctorate is really
not the pinnacle in any sense of your life or your career. Nor is it meant to
be. It is as the parent said the beginning of your career. The gateway into
research. Really, there is only so much you can accomplish in a few years.
However, hopefully it will provide you a solid foundation for many years of
fruitful investigation. All to often however the research conducted can turn
out to be a dead end after the PhD is completed. It is a start not the goal.

~~~
spikels
Perhaps more correctly a doctorate can be considered the pinnacle of your
educational achievement.

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Fuxy
This is what happens when your PHD is dependent on how important you graduate
thesis is.

I understand the urge to make it difficult but when PHD's are dependent on
papers people will do whatever it takes and we get a lot of fake scientific
papers because people want the degree.

You should be doing research because you are genuinely interested in the
results not to get a piece of paper you can show your family and friends to
show them how smart you are.

Worst of all the fake research dilutes the value of research papers in general
making you question all your assumptions and the papers they come from.

~~~
jonlucc
I agree completely, and there is also a profit motive. PhD candidates
typically make paltry pay, but have often racked up a good amount of debt that
was delayed during their PhD work. In order to get a job that can actually
make those years of study and work economically viable, they have to have
first authorship on huge papers. At least that's the case in biology right
now.

~~~
hluska
That's a tragic (bad word, but it's early) amount of pressure to put on
someone in their mid twenties...

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hkmurakami
_> Aggarwal is now working at Bristol-Myers Squibb._

I wonder what action, if any, his employer will take.

~~~
cincinnatus
He's fast-tracked for management no doubt.

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droid_w
IMO, The question whether the scientist gets to keep his PhD is secondary. The
more important question is how do we make sure that we base our research on
sound results.

~~~
skj
By punishing those who would fake them. For instance, retracting degrees based
on falsified work.

This university has substantially lowered the reputation conferred by their
degree by allowing this person to keep his.

~~~
checker659
You must be a wife beater too. You know, spank your spouse if she/he does
something wrong.

~~~
gaiaseyes
I think, by your comment, you are not a scientist. As a scientist, there is
absolutely nothing more despicable than intentionally and continuously
publishing fraudulent data. This is the highest ethical standard in our field.
Falsifying data is like an MD intentionally killing a patient because they
couldn't handle the stress/demands of treating them any longer (yes, this is a
drastic analogy, but I want you to understand the severity of what this man
did). It is exceptionally unfortunately that this is perpetrated by scientists
who are established in their fields but when this occurs as a graduate
student, when the university is still accountable for the research and when
you are still training to become an independent scientist the degree should
never be granted and should be revoked.

A PhD is awarded for the contributions made to scientific discovery, whether
the data is negative or positive (to the hypothesis). Doctoral training in the
US has requirements for ethics training. This student demonstrated either a
lack of understanding or a blatant disregard for scientific ethics. He also
falsified his data, so he made no real contribution to scientific discovery.
He has failed to meet two of the most basic requirements for a doctoral
degree.

As someone who recently finished her own PhD, this is utterly disgusting.
There is enough incorrect information in scientific literature as is from well
conducted, controlled research because of the human error of data analysis and
the fact that we simply don't know everything yet. We don't need it to be
intentionally polluted by individuals who cannot or will not bear the rigors
of research.

~~~
Xdes
I think his dishonestly will end up helping him. Companies these days are
looking for employees that will go the extra mile especially if they can
produce fraudulent results and keep them covered up.

~~~
checker659
I was just talking about empathy. I thought stripping one of his degree for
made up data is a bit too harsh. I'm not for dishonesty, just for some
empathy.

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auctiontheory
"Nitin Aggarwal" is a very common name - 332 hits on LinkedIn. With his ill-
gotten PhD in hand, he will very likely be able to continue his research
career while "hiding in plain view."

~~~
pavel_lishin
Conversely, if any of those other Aggarwals have a Ph.D., they might have a
rather hard time doing research or becoming employed.

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clintonc
So, what are the criteria of "scientifically valid" theses these days?

I would have preferred a statement like, "After discarding all parts which
relied upon the fabricated data, the resulting thesis is still acceptable to
the committee as a doctoral thesis." However, I feel bad about all the Ph.D.'s
out there who may feel they have to defend the integrity of their work. (Mine
is in pure math; fabricated data is not a big worry for us :D )

~~~
jonlucc
I was very surprised by the response from the institution. I wonder what the
backlash will be with regard to those grants (NIH and AHA). Should this
invalidate those grants?

~~~
mbreese
In a world where grant funding is extremely limited, yes. Funding agencies are
looking for any reason to reject a grant. I think the only reason to not
retract the grant(s) would be the difficulty / practicality of doing so.

Nonetheless, this guy's PhD is practically worthless in this country. He will
be unemployable and unfundable.

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smoyer
So if I claim to have a degree from MCW, who would ever find out I'm lying?
I'm also wondering if Bristol-Myers Squibb considers the ability to fake data
a plus or a minus ... I guess it's a plus before you're caught and a minus
afterwards?

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imahboob
Working on a journal of negative results for two years, this does not surprise
me...

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bayesianhorse
Faking data is a very bayesian thing to do...

~~~
bayesianhorse
I should have put some "irony" markers around that... Mathmatical humor is
difficult...

