In a cautionary tale for any college and university using federal research dollars, Duke University (N.C.) will pay $112 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit after being accused by federal prosecutors of knowingly using faked data to land millions of dollars in federal grants from 2006 to 2018. According to the Washington Post, former research technician Erin Potts-Kant, who was supervised by pulmonary medicine researcher William Michael Foster, faked research that was then used as a basis to obtain 30 grants from federal agencies. The Post reports that, though warning signs were there, the university didn’t act until discovering, in 2013, that Potts-Kant had siphoned off money for personal expenses.

The case emphasizes the importance for colleges and universities of making sure researchers are conducting their research ethically and following all appropriate federal and internal guidelines. Failure to do so not only betrays the taxpayers who ultimately fund federal research , but can also lead to professional setbacks and public shame for the researcher (see the Federal Register’s  Findings of Research Misconduct announcements) as well as massive penalties and loss of prestige for their institutions.