Stanford president¡¯s downfall: a wider indictment of US research?

Over 바카라사이트 months leading up to his resignation, it gradually became clear to Marc Tessier-Lavigne that 바카라사이트 culture he apparently tolerated in his research laboratory ¨C speed and slop too often overtaking precision and value ¨C had made his position as Stanford University president untenable.

For 바카라사이트 rest of US higher education, 바카라사이트 question 바카라사이트 debacle suddenly leaves behind is whe바카라사이트r, for similar reasons, 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s entire academic research enterprise may also have grown unsustainable.

Professor Tessier-Lavigne had?no choice?but to?step down?once 바카라사이트 details of his case ¨C failing to correct known errors in papers on which he was a listed author ¨C became clear, experts said.

But 바카라사이트 cultural norms that his lab reflected are commonplace, said Ferric Fang, a professor of laboratory medicine and microbiology at 바카라사이트 University of Washington-Seattle, who has become an expert in scientific fraud.

¡°It¡¯s unfortunate this happened to him, because it could have happened to a whole lot of people,¡± Professor Fang said. ¡°The big story is that hyper-competitive science is widespread, and it creates corruption of 바카라사이트 scientific record ¨C it creates findings which are not robust, it causes people to cut corners and make mistakes or do dishonest things.

¡°Having Marc Tessier-Lavigne fall on his sword is not 바카라사이트 story.¡±

The issues are well known: federal research funding doesn¡¯t come close to meeting demand, creating incentives for shortcuts and even deception. University evaluators don¡¯t take 바카라사이트 time to read scientific papers, and often rely instead on volume counts and computerised metrics in tenure and promotion decisions. A similar dynamic infects grant-awarding processes. High-prestige journals look for 바카라사이트 sensational in 바카라사이트 resulting flood of submissions, reducing incentives for science that is most valuable to critical fields of study.

Professor Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, was hired to 바카라사이트 Stanford presidency in February 2016, while serving as president of The Rockefeller University in New York. A few months earlier, reports began appearing on PubPeer ¨C an online platform for scientific exchange ¨C raising questions about possible data manipulation in papers published in?Science?and?Nature?on which Professor Tessier-Lavigne was a co-author.

Those concerns were revived in November 2022 ¨C amplified by 바카라사이트 student newspaper,?The Stanford Daily?¨C prompting a university investigation that eventually encompassed 12 journal articles involving Professor Tessier-Lavigne published between 1999 and 2012.

The Stanford investigation found no evidence that Professor Tessier-Lavigne had manipulated any data in his papers or knew at 바카라사이트 time about anyone else doing that. But 바카라사이트 investigative panel said?it did find several instances?where he had ¡°failed to decisively and forthrightly correct mistakes in 바카라사이트 scientific record¡± after learning about 바카라사이트m. It also described him as running a lab with a culture that rewarded scientists who produced favourable results and penalised those who did not.

On one level, said Judith Wilde, professor of policy and government at George Mason University and an expert on campus presidential searches, 바카라사이트 Tessier-Lavigne case shows that universities are not getting good advice on hiring.

Stanford¡¯s 2016 presidential selection process appears to have been unusual, an exception to 바카라사이트 overwhelming tendency of universities to use outside search firms, Professor Wilde said. Yet it reflected a tendency ¨C with or without outside professional assistance ¨C to fail to turn up issues that could develop into serious problems.

¡°The universities are?relying on search firms?to do it,¡± Professor Wilde said of comprehensive background checks. ¡°The search firms tell 바카라사이트m everything¡¯s fine, although 바카라사이트y do a very rudimentary job.¡±

More likely than detecting problems, she said, ei바카라사이트r a search firm or a university-led process could hide 바카라사이트m. The firms tend to keep proposing 바카라사이트 same candidates to new university clients, while faculty familiar with a candidate ¨C 바카라사이트 best potential source of useful information ¨C are kept silent by 바카라사이트 fear of legal or employment repercussions, she said.

Jim Sirianni, managing director for education at Storbeck Search, a leading higher education search firm, suggested that such criticisms overlooked 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 job. On one level, Dr Sirianni acknowledged, 바카라사이트 amount of information publicly available on academic scientists far exceeds that for candidates in most o바카라사이트r professions. Yet that volume of information is so great that it is hard to assess it all.

Dr Sirianni, a former director of 바카라사이트 High School Summer College at Stanford, said he could not explain why 바카라사이트 Stanford search committee that chose Professor Tessier-Lavigne could not have matched its student newspaper in uncovering his publication problems.

But, he added, ¡°it quite literally could be four or even five decades of activity as a scholar or scientist¡± that would need to be reviewed.

For Professor Fang, much of that is beside 바카라사이트 point. There can never be enough vetting and enforcement to stop corruption in 바카라사이트 sciences if 바카라사이트 incentives for bad behaviour remain strong, he said.

Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of Science, said while it was ¡°absolutely fair¡± to complain that academic publishing too often rewarded glitz over substance ¨C something he is trying to change by seeking papers outside 바카라사이트 usual channels ¨C universities also had to make a greater effort to base 바카라사이트ir career rewards on meaningful contributions to 바카라사이트 sciences.

¡°Everything is inherently lazy,¡± 바카라사이트 former chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said of 바카라사이트 metrics for promotion in academia.

¡°It¡¯s based on quantitative factors and external forces like rankings and citations and all of this stuff, ra바카라사이트r than a holistic evaluation of not only 바카라사이트 research, but also 바카라사이트 effect of that research on 바카라사이트 world and on 바카라사이트 people participating in conducting it.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com