William And Patricia Stacy Endowed Lecture on Ethics
UK Student Center Theater
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
3:30-4:30 pm
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ken Foster
Professor, Department of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania
Is Scientific Misconduct Getting Worse Or Just More
Apparent? And Why Should Engineers Care About the
Problem?
Abstract: Science and engineering have long been among the most esteemed and trusted professions in America.
However, the perceived integrity of our research establishment is being challenged by a number of troubling
developments. These include many well publicized incidents of research misconduct and retractions of research papers
by journals on grounds of authors' misconduct, by the appearance of hundreds of "predatory" online journals, and by
publication of papers by prominent scientists alleging that "most published research findings are false". This talk will
review recent research on the prevalence of scientific misconduct. Distinguishing a real increase in the incidence of
misconduct from an increased awareness of the problem is difficult, but in any event the issue is becoming more visible
to the public and to the scientific community itself. This can potentially erode public trust in science and engineering.
Students beginning their careers in science and engineering need to be aware that they will be under closer scrutiny in
their work than their predecessors might have been, and that work practices that that might have gotten by in former
years might now be subject to career-damaging sanctions. There are also new opportunities for the research community
to work together to improve the reliability and integrity of science.
Biosketch: Kenneth R. Foster (IEEE M’77–SM’81–F’88, LF’13) received the Ph.D. degree in physics from Indiana
University in 1971. He served from 1971 to 1976 with the U.S. Navy at the Naval Medical Research Institute. Since 1976
he has been with the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he is
presently Professor of Bioengineering. His technical work involves the interaction of nonionizing
radiation and biological systems, including studies on mechanisms of interaction and health issues
related to radiofrequency and microwave energy. Major additional interests are the impact of
technology on society and ethics in engineering and science. He has published more than 100 technical
papers in peer reviewed journals, numerous other articles, and is the author of two books related to
technological risk and the law. He is former president of IEEE Society on Social Implications of
Technology and is co-editor in chief of BioMedical Engineering Online, an open-access journal
published by Springer.