A former top researcher at Iowa State University is guilty of brazen scientific fraud-actions which a criminal complaint says have cost taxpayers nearly $15 million. Fedral prosecutors accuse Dr. Dong Pyou-Han of deliberately falsifying key blood research into a possible vaccine for HIV.
Hans says he falsely showed that rabbits infected with the virus had shown remarkable improvement. That improvement was so advanced that the governments National Institutes of Health awarded Iowa State and Han nearly $15 million in federal research grants.
Prosecutors say the false results actually cleared a first level of back-up testing but fell apart after Han's boss at Iowa state began to get suspicious.
A spokesman for Iowa state university told CNN that the school's reaction was "disbelief, surprise, shock, and disappointment."
How would you feel about this if you were a student at Iowa State?
Do you think the punishment is reasonable?
Replies
Interesting topic but you don't discuss the punishment the professor received in your summary which you then ask a question about.
I wouldn't really have that big of a reaction as a student because it doesn't affect me. Although I believe that his punishment should be what he deserves because what he did wasn't right.
It's nothing really bad against the students. The school hired a bad person and he should be facing jail time because what he did was wrong.
I would be mad at him for providing false hope that there would be a cure for HIV. People would go to him giving him support when in reality all he was doing was nothing. I feel like it is reasonable because people were thinking we were close to a breakthrough when actually all Han was doing was nothing.
Yes, I honestly don't think that the professor or any of the students that go there would be very happy. I agree with you guys that it is really wrong if what he did.
I would be very disappointed if I were students. Professors are supposed to be reliable and teach the kids, but in this case, he was just in it for the fame and the money. I am sure it has raised lots of discussion.
I think he should go to jail for stealing, he pretty much took 15 million dollars from the government.
He should be fired from his job with possible government fines. That is unacceptable considering he accepted 15 million dollars worth of grant money.
Yeah, he totally ruined his reputation by accepting the 15 million dollars and having fake research.