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Córdova reviews misconduct standards amid debate
By Andrea Thomas
The Purdue Exponent

Friday, August 17, 2007

Despite facing two accounts of research misconduct allegations this year and pressing skepticism from the scientific community, Purdue professor Rusi Taleyarkhan still holds that he created bubble, or sonofusion - a tabletop experiment that could lead to an alternative to fossil fuels.

The controversy, said Steven Krivit, editor of The New Energy Times, is far from over.

In July, The New Energy Times published a 110-page report on the bubble fusion controversy, which outlined the history, investigation and assessment of Taleyarkhan's research. The report was intended as a reference work for program managers, policy makers, scientists, scholars, historians and journalists, containing "the bare minimum of synthesis and interpretation, and is anything but brief and succinct," Krivit wrote.

"This story is far from over, and the enclosed text provides no final outcome," Krivit wrote in the report. "The final chapter in this saga has yet to occur."

But now that the University has a new leader, Purdue president France Córdova, the next chapter may be fast approaching.

Córdova, who served as chairwoman of the federal committee that revised the definition of research misconduct for the government in the mid-'90s, said she is looking into the controversy.

"It's clearly very important," she said, "and I take that very seriously. I've had a lot of experience in that whole research integrity landscape."

Córdova said she is in the process of discussing the details of the controversy with other Purdue administrators and is trying to revise the University's definition of research misconduct so it will be the same as the federal government's.

"It's something that I understand very well and what the necessity is of having good policies and implementing them," she said.

Krivit is unsure what impact the new leadership will have on the bubble fusion discussion, but he anticipates much more conversation before the case rests.

"It might be the fact that we have someone like Rusi Taleyarkhan who has presented to the scientific community a claim that is, well, unique to say the least, and extremely controversial because it challenges a lot of existing understandings of nuclear physics. So this is one of the major underlying factors that comprises that essence of the larger picture," he said.

"The second major factor is that Taleyarkhan, along with his novel controversial claim, is largely and unfortunately very alone, and this doesn't make it easy for him.

"And it doesn't make it easy for outsiders when one person has a claim, particularly when it's an extremely surprising claim. It requires the utmost caution and prudence for observers to make their assessments."

Related stories in the Purdue Exponent:

Bubble fusion criticism continues (05/18/2007)

Bubble fusion criticism continues despite replication (05/19/2007)

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