Sames/Sezen investigative reports released

18Jul11

A little late to the party on this one, but: FOIA requests have resulted in the release of investigative reports on the infamous case of Columbia chemist Dalibor Sames and onetime star student Bengu Sezen, now confirmed to have committed large-scale misconduct during her time in the lab.

The C&EN article links the complete reports. What’s really mind-boggling about this case isn’t the fraud, but the carelessness. If Sezen’s notebooks were garbage, how did she come off in day-to-day interactions as an active and productive researcher, much less one deserving of distinction? Even before suspecting fraud, why did no one speculate about possible error or contamination when multiple people reported difficulty reproducing the reactions? I can see being reluctant to speculate that someone is being dishonest, but questioning their competence is par for the course in grad school, isn’t it?