Local NewsAugust 16, 1993

Associated Press

MOSCOW University of Idaho researchers generated nearly $50 million in grants and contracts this year, a record amount despite increased competition and a lagging economy.

The majority of their research more than $27 million was paid for by taxpayers, according to figures recently released. Corporations paid for $4.4 million.

With the increase in research dollars comes more tempting opportunities to misuse the money. Three years ago, the UI created a scientific misconduct committee to hear cases of plagiarism and research fudging. Officials knock on wood when they say there have been no hearings.

And does the public always benefit from the billions of dollars in research they are paying for? Jean'ne Shreeve, UI vice provost for research, believes the academic world's answer would be ''a weak no.''

In theory, copies of all UI research findings are supposed to be catalogued in the library. Shreeve doubts that always happens. And often there is little communication between professors in different fields, so the opportunity to collaborate is also lost.

All grant awards require researchers to turn in reports on their findings. Shreeve believes federal agencies who pay for the research often toss aside the reports, never to be read.

Since the federal agencies don't always monitor the use of taxpayers' dollars, colleges tend to police themselves. Everyone's reputation is on the line when one is caught monkeying around with grant money, said Jerry Roschwalb, spokesman for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

Self-monitoring occurs when other scientists try to duplicate another's findings and discover numbers were made up.

''There are some people, because of ambition or fear of losing a position or grant . . (who) will break the rules,'' Roschwalb said. ''I'm not going to apologize for any of that.''

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The bigger problem, he believes, is sharing the wealth of information that is generated.

The need to make the academic world accountable for their research, to take advantage of the depth of new information discovered each year, has been debated on Capitol Hill.

Some have called for tighter controls on spending in order to let society digest all the information. Others have argued for the need to create information super highways so the knowledge can be shared at lightening speeds.

But even as national leaders debate the use of federal dollars, many colleges are looking for more support. The UI is one of them.

Shreeve wants to even the scales between public and private dollars, which is about $27 million to $4 million, respectively.

''We'll just have to work harder,'' Shreeve said. ''Many corporations have 'chosen' institutions'' and work only with them.

The amount of research dollars the UI brings in has steadily increased since at least 1989. And with the rise comes an increased dependency on those dollars.

''Research . . . helps shore ourselves up against these (state budget) cuts,'' she said.

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