This_sucks

Thanks for the link to the blog. It is a depressing conclusion. My hope, however, is that most people in science care more about discovery and truth than being a star. Yes, I think you are right and I'm already in the process of disassociating myself from her - or ask I like to put it "extricating" (implying delicately removing myself from her lab without setting off the alarm bells in her head).

Hmmm, I was thinking more along the lines of removing myself from the projects without giving her the impression that something is wrong. I really don't see how this will be possible.

Sadly, I think the chairman is part of the problem, not the solution. That person is neglectful to the extreme, and I think this may have contributed to the feeling that no one is watching (because, in fact, no one is!) Seriously, there is something wrong when all the responsibility for making sure people are doing things by the books is on the shoulders of those who have the most to lose, and who most likely would lose everything - the lowly students and RAs. If the scientific community really wants to weed out the fraudsters, they need to make academic departments less hospitable to unethical practices. I have no desire or intention to stay in this person's lab. The extrication process has already begun. Now I'm left thinking something that most grad students never have to worry about: How do I get my name OFF a paper that will eventually be written based on research we conceptualized together? And when I say eventually, I mean within the next year or so. There is another project that is my own "first year" project, that I can stall on indefinitely, I suppose. Another concern is that this may make me look like a slacker to her, but my plan is to build other relationships so that I don't have to rely on her for a reference in future. Of course, she will still know me and could be asked about me, and I will do my best not to give her much reason to say bad things.

Thanks for your ideas. They are along the same lines as what I have been thinking. I think that I will have to be very careful about how I transition out of my current lab, because I don't want to raise suspicion and then have to deal with preemptive strikes against my reputation. That said, I don't see myself leaving this school, in part because I don't think going elsewhere will help me. I have a couple of other people I could work with here. I do have someone in the department that I think I can trust, but he is a bit of an outsider....once a big name in his field, no longer publishing. It would be nice if I could confide in one of the more powerful faculty members and they could blow the whistle. They would have much less to lose, if anything. They could also possibly ask for information and uncover the fraud themselves, but this might be difficult. Also, I would need to build a relationship with a certain powerful faculty member before I could trust that this person would do things in a way that wouldn't implicate me. Or, I could anonymously tip off people in the field that they might want to try to replicate such-and-such finding. These are just ideas. I really don't think this would make for a sensational news story, given the low status of the person involved. Marc Hauser is extremely well known, and at Harvard. My program is decent, but Harvard it ain't. I wouldn't expect my dept to screw me over in terms of funding, etc., but my concern is more about stigma and people not wanting to work with me. I certainly don't want the reputation of a troublemaker. Unfortunately, I don't actually know how prevalent such transgressions are and how others might react to such whistleblowing. Some researchers might do things that are unethical but less damning, yet they may still feel defensive. Also, I think it is possible that some faculty might have a little bit of that ingroup/outgroup mentality, where the grad student can be regarded, by default, with some degree suspicion and contempt. I have seen this attitude towards undergrads and I don't doubt grad students could be viewed the same way. Here's another thought I've had: This person's work, in my opinion, will not stand the test of time. It's trendy research that in the long run will not be part of the canon of important findings in the field (I think). So, assuming for a moment that my thoughts are true (I know I might be wrong), then how important is it to expose this person? What would be the point then? Let me say that I am personally disgusted by what this person has done and I think they don't deserve their job and that they are a poor excuse for a scientist. But perhaps (and this is a big "perhaps") this is not a good enough reason to file a report, given the assumption that this person will have no impact on science in the long run. This is a variation on the "science as self-correcting" argument. I am not saying I endorse this argument, but that I have considered it and am not sure what I think. Do you have the title of the Nature article you mentioned? I'd love to read it. As you can imagine, I've been doing a lot of googling on this topic over the past few days.

Thanks for your response. Yes, I'm aware of "Hausergate". From what I understand, the whistleblowers are former RAs and grad students who have left academia. It seems likely that Hauser had been doing this sort of thing for many, many years and no one reported him. (I personally think it is unlikely that people didn't know what was going on earlier, and I suspect some people opted not to tell.) I agree with you that not saying anything is not really an option. So I'm coming to grips with the fact that I will likely have to drop the research I've been doing with this person and maybe pursue it with someone else instead. That aside, I'm looking for some kind of way of doing this where I won't be marked. Sure, it's nice in theory to do the right thing and expect not to have any negative consequences, but I'm wise enough to know that life, including academia, is not always fair...I'm not naive enough to think that I will emerge unscathed and I have no desire to sacrifice myself - nor should I have to, nor should anyone expect me to! So I'm looking for other, more discrete options... No one else knows and I have no way of doing this anonymously, since even under cover of anonymity it would be obvious who made the report.

Hi all, Suppose you have discovered that your adviser has been dishonest in his/her research. The dishonesty is serious and could lead the advisor to lose his/her job if discovered. What do you do? Is there any way that you can tip people off to examine this person's work more carefully without implicating yourself? I have consulted several sources and it seems pretty clear that the whistle blower faces serious negative consequences, including loss of career. I'm not prepared to give up my career, but I'm also not prepared to stand by and let this person get away with this and contaminate the field. This person is an assistant professor. I could hold off on reporting this incident until it is safer to do so (right now, it would be difficult to do this anonymously because the lab is so small). But a related issue arises: I don't want to work with this person anymore! Yet I don't want to give up the projects that I started. Now I feel very foolish for sharing my ideas, because I worry that if I walk away, then said advisor will continue the line of work. I also don't want to publish with this person because a) it sickens me to be associated with such a liar, and also there could be fall out for me when the truth is discovered, despite my work being completely honest. I don't want to make my name with someone like this, and I already have some alternatives that I can make work (i.e., collaborating with other people), but I'm torn about what to do with the existing work... Do I drop it? Continue the work and hope that my association with this person doesn't ruin me? I will do my dissertation with someone else, so it is not like all my work will be with this person. The option of just keeping the secret and hoping my advisor is never caught is not an attractive option for me, but I'm curious about what others think. This all started because I had suspicions and wanted to uncover the truth for my peace of mind, so that I would know who I am dealing with. I don't regret this, but certainly things are infinitely more complicated now. This person is extremely well liked in my department and seems to have a well developed network of colleagues, especially for someone of such junior status. Furthermore, this person is the only junior faculty in my department - all energy is being invested in grooming this person for success, and the pressure is, of course, on. I don't know why my advisor decided to lie, and part of me doesn't care, but there certainly could be departmental dynamics, as well as personality flaws. I will be most grateful to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation or has been in graduate school long enough to know what the stakes are.