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Purdue Gives Research to Congress
By Brian Wallheimer
The Journal & Courier [Lafayette-West Lafayette, Indiana]

Friday, April 6, 2007

Purdue University has been mum on details of its investigation into possible research misconduct by one of its professors, but Congress might not be so quiet.

A congressional committee in Washington D.C. has asked for all the documentation on a Purdue inquiry over alleged research misconduct by nuclear scientist and Purdue professor Rusi Taleyarkhan. Several people in the scientific community, and others at Purdue, have said the university's inquiry, which cleared Taleyarkhan of any wrongdoing, was not thorough and came to the wrong conclusion.

Purdue met Thursday's deadline for turning over the information, spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said. But the university has refused comment other than the finding that there was no misconduct. Officials cite a university policy that keeps these matters private to protect researchers' reputations.

But LuAnn Canipe, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep Brad Miller, D-N.C., said Congress usually makes materials from these investigations public. Miller is chairman of the U.S. House Science and Technology's Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.

"That's the point. It's been kept secret," Canipe said. "The subcommittee wants to make sure the process is in place at Purdue to make sure there is no wrongdoing."

It will likely take a week or more for committee members to review the data. From there, witnesses could be called.

Taleyarkhan claims he achieved tabletop bubble fusion, a process that could produce massive amounts of energy with little environmental impact. The process involves bombarding a liquid with sonar waves, which causes bubbles to expand and collapse rapidly, producing fusion and energy.

But no one has been able to duplicate the process, leading to fraud allegations from within Purdue and outside scientific entities. Congress is involved because the federal government has spent millions trying to duplicate Taleyarkhan's findings.

Purdue nuclear engineering professor Lefteri Tsoukalas made allegations against Taleyarkhan and said he's interested in Congress finding the truth, whatever it might be.

"The whole thing is secret. If the process is secret, that undermines the proceedings," Tsoukalas said of Purdue's inquiry. "The preponderance of evidence points to fraud."

Tsoukalas said Purdue's reputation is on the line, but equally important, funding hangs in the balance. He said a finding that Purdue swept the issue under the rug could lead many funding groups to back away from the university.

"The U.S. government especially doesn't want to give funding," Tsoukalas said, "if the safeguards are not working properly."

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