Yet another engineering professor seems to have set up a private business in order to steal university/grant funds. So routine is the phenomenon of engineering professors accused of setting up private businesses through which to steal money that UD has proposed stationing armed guards in front of engineering offices to save time.
No point in covering all of these stories – there are too many of them. But this Norfolk State professor is a chatty lad whose broadly dispersed outrage inspires UD to make an exception.
In this case the missus set up a business selling lab supplies at an insane markup to her man, with the university footing the bill. Auditors had the nerve to discover that the address for Missus Lab Supplies is the professor’s home.
April 15th, 2017 at 8:19PM
Well Dr Pradhan may have a point about the procurement process not being his responsibility. But I hardly think that line of argument is going to be as exculpatory as he seems to believe.
Nor do I think the argument “that’s capitalism” advanced in the Virginian-Pilot interview will do much to allay those concerns.
I have a feeling a good auditor is going to be turning over rocks on this for some time to come. Who else signed off on these purchases? How are they handled elsewhere in the college of engineering?
Should we dig into the $25 million in past grants landed by Dr Pradhan? His webpage shows most were funded by the National Science Foundation and Dept of Defense. So when can we expect their auditors to show up on campus?
And what about these Indian grad students who seem overly dependent on the lovely Pradhans? Hopefully no one being exploited. I mean, beyond of course the usual slave labor that is engineering grad school.
But we have also heard of desperate foreign students forced to sign off on questionable lab data, maybe even sign invoices and receiving tickets against their better judgment. My spidey sense is tingling.
Happy Easter all!