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A conflict-of-interest case demonstrates that she lacks the power to enforce guidelines on post-employment contact WASHINGTON - Last year the National Science Foundation broke its own rule that bars former employees from discussing a potential grant or contract with foundation officials for at least one year. But when NSF's new inspector general blew the whistle on the infringement, agency officials in effect shrugged their shoulders and promised to do better the next time around. The case of

Third Time's A Charm On Misconduct The scientific community learns from its mistakes in investigating allegations of misconduct - but not very quickly, says former NIH director James Wyngaarden. Wyngaarden, speaking last month at a luncheon sponsored by a National Academy of Sciences panel examining responsible conduct in research, says that he's developed a rule of thumb that predicts how institutions are likely to handle scientific misconduct by their faculty. "They blow it the first time," h

U.S., USSR to Share Plant Collections U.S. and Soviet agriculture officials plan to link the world's two largest collections of plant germplasm (genetic material contained in seeds and cuttings) via a computerized database accessible to both nations. The U.S. Agricultural Research Service's Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) has for the past six years allowed North American scientists to access the U.S. collection via personal computer. This fall two ARS scientists will travel to L

Reviewers will have to think twice, now that tenure evaluation letters can be used as evidence in bias cases Academic scientists who are denied tenure and then sue universities on the basis of discrimination will find little, if any, information to support their case in written evaluations submitted by their peers. In fact, tenure candidates and the universities considering them will now have difficulty even recruiting researchers to honestly evaluate colleagues' work. These, scientists and s

Applied Biosystems finds that as a start-up's glamour fades, it must stress a return to basics FOSTER CITY, CALIF. - The engineer who cofounded Applied Biosystems and made it into a superstar of the biotech instruments industry, only to step back and see it stumble, is back at the helm. And Andre Marion believes that what once worked for the company is also the surest route to its future success. "Success lies in the ability to take chances," says Marion, who returned to hands-on management o

After spending $200,000 in assistance for each Ph.D., the government offers long odds to researchers setting up on their own WASHINGTON - In her youth, Patricia McGraw studied music and as a teenager was a concert pianist. These past nine years, though, she has studied science and now is an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County Campus. As a pianist she worried about improving her musical prowess. As a scientist, she sometimes wonders whether

With the new decade well under way, the United States Environmental Protection Agency is beginning to implement its plan for the 1990s. One goal outlined is the establishment of four new academic environmental centers to carry out fundamental research into burgeoning environmental problems. Eight university centers have already been established since the program's inception in 1979, when the Office of Exploratory Research was also put in force to administer research grants and centers. Applic

Awards Honor Epilepsy Research Now in its second year, the American Epilepsy Society Awards Program recognizes young and senior investigators who are trying to understand and prevent childhood-onset epilepsy. The society seeks nominations for five awards to be made during its annual meeting in November. Two awards of $150,000 apiece go to senior investigators - one to a clinical researcher and the other to a basic scientist -whose research into the pediatric aspects of epilepsy has a long track

Henry I. Smith, a professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of electrical engineering and computer science, has been named MIT's Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor in Electrical Engineering. The chair is named after the founder and chairman of the Cleveland-based Keithley Instruments Inc., a company that produces very-high-input impedance electronic instruments and semiconductor fabrication test equipment, and his wife. Smith is known as the originator of X-ray

Petition intended to stop attendance at meetings until Fang is released; but some say the tactic is wrong or worthless WASHINGTON - The firm, clear voice belies his frail appearance at the podium. But that shouldn't have surprised anyone at last month's press conference. Former Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is talking about a subject that he knows all-too-painfully well: a boycott by scientists of meetings sponsored by a Communist government until that government relinquishes its control over a

A Stealth Technology Policy? Critics of the Bush administration's approach to what is nowadays called technology policy - that is, government actions meant to strengthen certain industries deemed essential for the health of the U.S. economy - had a field day during a hearing last month on the subject before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The chairman, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), wondered whether a range of such key technologies "will receive government backing or

BOSTON - An unpublished study that examines the cost of bringing a new drug to market has revived debate over whether data should be released to the public prior to peer review. The study, which cites a figure that is nearly twice as high as previous estimates, is already being used in ongoing discussions over federal policies on drug pricing and the investment in research by the pharmaceutical industry. The just-completed analysis by the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Developme