
Tufts Ph.D. ‘Punished’ for Reporting Adviser’s Fabricated Research: Lawsuit - MyHypatia
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kristy-meadows-tufts-university-graduate-punished-for-reporting-advisers-fabricated-research-lawsuit
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ChuckMcM
This sort of situation is something I suggest people think about ahead of
time. If you decompose it into the basic

"I just discovered that some one, or my company/institution, on which my
livelihood currently depends, is engaged in
fraudulent/immoral/illegal/unethical activies."

The next question is "Now what do I do?" It ranges from report it and leave
immediately, to let the leadership know you are there to help. When I was at
Intel I discovered that someone within Intel was selling memory chips that had
'binned out' (failed one of the edge cases tested post production) on the grey
market. I took the path of reporting it, which ended up in this employee's
dismissal. My manager at the time talked with me and said that while he
admired my integrity he wondered if I understood the risk I had taken. We
talked about it, and the number of people that had to be working together in
order for this little scheme to work, and they only fired one guy. The
implication was that there were still an unknown number of people at the
company who knew (or suspected) that I had interrupted their gravy train. At
least one of them had to be reasonably high up the management chain. So now I
likely had 'enemies' where before I was just an unknown.

You might think, "Wow, are people really thinking like that?" and my
experience suggests that yes, they really do.

So think about the consequences of being the "good guy" can be just as painful
for you in a different way than they are for the "bad guy." It isn't an easy
choice.

~~~
HarryHirsch
In academia it's slightly different: "I just discovered that _the brand_ on
which my livelihood currently depends, is engaged in
fraudulent/immoral/illegal/unethical activities."

If it transpires that your advisor has fabricated data your own achievements
immediately become suspect and funding agencies, journal reviewers and future
employers may treat you as collateral damage.

~~~
mirimir
There's also the fact that new PhDs typically rely on recommendations from
their advisors and dissertation committees. She's obviously not getting one
from her advisor. And that in itself might be fatal.

I mean, what might another dissertation committee member say to counter lack
of support from her advisor? And how likely is it that any of them would say
it?

Also, it's not obvious why Tufts is at fault.

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aphextim
>When she approached Byrnes with this discovery, her adviser told her that “it
was fine to publish this data, because if they had done the experiment, this
data reflected the result they would have gotten,” the lawsuit claims.

This seems pretty alarming.

~~~
spathi_fwiffo
No, you are wrong; it is not alarming, because according to my theory, this is
not at all alarming.

~~~
erisinger
I hear Tufts is looking for researchers like you.

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anon44
Not surprising in the slightest. I work in machine learning and no longer
trust most papers I read. A lot of papers have fabricated or dishonest
results, and the people who publish these results are often the ones who get
recognition, jobs at FB etc. It happens in all fields of so-called "science".

~~~
mkl
What are some signs an ML paper is untrustworthy?

~~~
rscho
Being advertised in mainstream media seems like a good initial assessment for
shit science :-)

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lisper
When I was a graduate student I discovered some fabricated results and was
told in no uncertain terms that if I pressed the matter that my career would
be over before it began. So I kept my mouth shut.

~~~
behringer
And now you're the dean.

~~~
monksy
Sounds like management material! PROMOTE!

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tssva
Having read the article I fail to see how she was "Punished" by Tufts. She
made an accusation of alleged wrongdoing. Tufts investigated and while the
investigation was ongoing they briefly delayed awarding her Ph.D. Seems
appropriate under the circumstances and they did ultimately award her two
Ph.D.'s. An accusation was leveled against her of wrongdoing. Tufts
investigated and she was cleared by Tufts of the allegation.

The professor still works there but we have no idea if the professor was
censored in some means other than firing or if the investigation failed to
produce the hard proof the university felt was needed to fire the professor
without facing a wrongful termination suit or other legal ramifications. If
the university continued to employee the professor with proof that they had
falsified data this would speak poorly of Tufts but isn't something the
complainant should somehow be financial compensated for.

The article reveals no evidence that the complainant not getting a position
following has been the result of any defamation or effort by either Tufts or
the accused professor. Whether right or wrong knowing that you have previously
filed such a complaint will make most employers avoid hiring you. Why take on
the slightest risk when there other candidates which don't present such risk.

Maybe there is more that has not been revealed but what is int the article
doesn't seem to support a financial payout to the complainant.

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rdtwo
My understanding is that fabricated results are so common that less than half
of papers can be replicated. Nobody wants to go after the cheaters because it
would embarrass the institution and the university would loose grant money.

~~~
gbrown
That's not generally about outright fabrication, but instead due to invalid
statistical procedures.

Many students are still taught, in 2019, that the appropriate way to conduct a
multiple linear regression analysis is to:

1\. Fit univariate comparisons to all your explanatory variables of interest

2\. Take the significant variables and put them in a multiple regression
analysis

3\. Report the p-values from the regression analysis as valid and meaningful.

This is incorrect for several reasons (type 1 error rate inflation, confusion
about marginal and conditional effects etc.), but people still do it. That's
before we even account for publication bias, in which null results are often
"shelved" or not accepted for publication.

~~~
rscho
Indeed, I'm finishing a MSc degree in epidemiology and I was pretty surprised
that they presented that as "the only correct way" (program rated 2nd
worldwide for epidemiology).

However, I do not agree that this is the most common problem. Ten years as a
professional have shown me that the real issue is that 95% of people using
statistics don't have a _single clue_ about how the techniques they use daily
really work.

It's especially alarming given the booming machine learning fad.

~~~
gbrown
Yes, I was just picking out one example I've seen where even if people do what
they're taught, they'll end up doing bad statistics. As you say the problems
don't end there.

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BLanen
> she reported her adviser, Dr. Elizabeth Byrnes, for allegedly fabricating
> data

Is way too cautious of a wording.

She reported her advisor for fabricating data, not for allegedly fabricating
data. You can't report someone for allegedly doing something.

~~~
carapace
She alleged her adviser fabricated data.

~~~
BLanen
She reported that her adviser fabricated data.

Thereby she's alleging her adviser fabricated data.

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mlb_hn
For anyone having trouble with the paywall, adding a '.' after the .com and
before the '/' lets you close the popup. Otherwise, disabling javascript also
works.

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rscho
Behold, the marvelous results of capitalist science!

The more you convert academic science to just another industry (i.e constrain
PIs by way of funding), the more people you'll have who will behave just as in
other industries.

Hardly surprising.

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sleepysysadmin
[https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/13/inside-tufts-
universitys-g...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/13/inside-tufts-universitys-
grade-hacking-case/)

Tufts University seems to have some problems. Sounds like a pretty shitty
university.

~~~
holy_city
idk about the rest of the school, but the Fletcher School of International Law
and Diplomacy alumni list is a who's-who of global politics and international
trade. [1]

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fletcher_School_of_Law...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fletcher_School_of_Law_and_Diplomacy_alumni)

~~~
tastygreenapple
I'd be more impressed with the folks on that list if they managed global trade
in such a way that it didn't give us Trump, Brexit, and resurgent nationalism.

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labster
Suing the university that gave her a PhD and publicly shaming her adviser: I
guess she never wants an academic job ever. I’m actually surprised she got the
degree after filing all of those complaints, usually they can figure out a way
to make you go away.

~~~
bonoboTP
You mean most potential academic employers would rather have their employees
cover up scientific fraud? That's quite a low opinion on academia.

~~~
labster
No I mean most large corporations would rather have employees that don't have
a history of suing similar large corporations for damages incurred after
whistleblowing. It's only a little worse in universities compared to other
faceless corporations because the fields are so small and so much of an
academic career is built on reputation.

You're starting from the assumption that the allegations are true. But if
you're inside the field, you know the professor, go to conferences with him...
At some point, the department has to decide if you want to hire a
troublemaker, and then actually go to bat for them with the administration who
will look at the hire as a business risk.

~~~
m00x
Hiring someone with a reputation of standing up for proper academic conduct
would signal to the outside world that you have nothing to hide and that you
also stand for those values.

This isn't a troublemaker, this is a proper academic who knows the importance
of protocol and scientific process.

~~~
CrendKing
The choice between 1) maintaining status quo, and 2) losing one or more
professors who are bringing money in, if we push through the charges, for
potential reputation gain. I think most business administrator would choose
former.

~~~
bonoboTP
I see that can be so in the US where hiring decisions seem to be more business
oriented. Not sure if it works like that in every country. In Germany,
professors have great freedom in choosing who to hire. For example phd student
applicants directly contact and interview with the prof. Probably there is
some form of veto from above though, but rarely exercised.

