University Responsibility for the Adjudication of Research Misconduct

Stefan Franzen is a full professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University who has pursued research on the structure and spectroscopy of enzymes as well as mid-infrared plasmonic materials since his hire as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1997. In 2006 he discovered a significant falsification of data in a collaborative project. For the following decade, because of his status as an academic whistleblower, the author was forced to study the ethical, legal and administrative framework of research misconduct regulation as implemented by universities and federal agencies. At the conclusion of a 10-year-long investigation the National Science Foundation confirmed the allegation. This serious case was the longest running investigation in the history of the NSF and according to Science magazine it "broke new ground" in the adjudication of research misconduct. During the intervening years, the administrative and personnel actions created a hostile work environment that constituted retaliation against the whistleblower. Based on allegations made in retaliation, the author was investigated twice by federal agencies and was the target of repeated informal administrative review, which was never formally declared as an investigation, but impacted his reputation. As a reaction to harassment and retaliation, starting in 2006 the author began a research and teaching career as a visiting professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China and at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. Despite the disruption of these events, the author maintained active funding from U.S. governmental agencies and has been research active up to the present.