Article (Archive)
“As we look to sleep and neuroscience for answers we can study flies specifically the Drosophila melanogaster we highlight in our research.”
1. The story
Someone writes:
2. The published paper
OK, here it is, in its entirety (except for references). You absolutely have to see it to believe it:
Compared to this, the Why We Sleep guy is a goddamn titan of science.
3. The Dean of Engineering
From the webpage of the Dean of Engineering at the University of Reno:
According to wikipedia, UNR is the state’s flagship public university.
I was curious to see what else Jones had published so I searched him on Google scholar and took a look at his three most-cited publications. The second of these appeared to be a textbook, and the third was basically 8 straight pages of empty jargon—ironic that a journal called Total Quality Management would publish something that has no positive qualities! The most-cited paper on the list was pretty bad too, an empty bit of make-work, the scientific equivalent of the reports that white-collar workers need to fill out and give to their bosses who can then pass these along to their bosses to demonstrate how productive they are. In short, this guy seems to be a well-connected time server in the Ed Wegman mode, minus the plagiarism.
He was a Program Director at the National Science Foundation! Your tax dollars at work.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to be a student in the engineering school at the flagship university of the state of Nevada, and it turns out the school is being run by the author of this:
P.S. The thing I still can’t figure out is, why did Jones publish this paper at all? He’d already landed the juicy Dean of Engineering job, months before submitting it to his own journal. To then put his name on something so ludicrously bad . . . it can’t help his career at all, could only hurt. And obviously it’s not going to do anything to reduce train accidents. What was he possibly thinking?
P.P.S. I guess this happens all the time; it’s what Galbraith called the “bezzle.” We’re just more likely to hear about when it happens at some big-name place like Stanford, Harvard, Ohio State, or Cornell. It still makes me mad, though. I’m sure there are lots of engineers who are doing good work and could be wonderful teachers, and instead UNR spends $372,127 on this guy.
I’ll leave the last word to another UNR employee, from the above-linked press release:
My challenge for Jeff Thompson: Show up at an engineering class at your institution, read aloud the entire contents (i.e., the two paragraphs) of “Using Science to Minimize Sleep Deprivation that may reduce Train Accidents,” then engage the students in a discussion of what this says about “the current landscape for what it means to be a Carnegie R1 ‘Very High Research’ institution.”
Should be fun, no? Just remember, the best way to keep the students’ attention is to remind them that, yes, this will be covered on the final exam.
“As we look to sleep and neuroscience for answers we can study flies specifically the Drosophila melanogaster we highlight in our research.”
1. The story
Someone writes:
I have no comment on the hiring, tenure, and evaluation process at UNR, or on any conflicts of interest. I know nothing about what is going on at UNR. It’s a horrifying story, though.
2. The published paper
OK, here it is, in its entirety (except for references). You absolutely have to see it to believe it:
Compared to this, the Why We Sleep guy is a goddamn titan of science.
3. The Dean of Engineering
From the webpage of the Dean of Engineering at the University of Reno:
From the press release announcing his appointment, dated July 01, 2022:
According to this source, his salary in 2022 was $372,127.
According to wikipedia, UNR is the state’s flagship public university.
I was curious to see what else Jones had published so I searched him on Google scholar and took a look at his three most-cited publications. The second of these appeared to be a textbook, and the third was basically 8 straight pages of empty jargon—ironic that a journal called Total Quality Management would publish something that has no positive qualities! The most-cited paper on the list was pretty bad too, an empty bit of make-work, the scientific equivalent of the reports that white-collar workers need to fill out and give to their bosses who can then pass these along to their bosses to demonstrate how productive they are. In short, this guy seems to be a well-connected time server in the Ed Wegman mode, minus the plagiarism.
He was a Program Director at the National Science Foundation! Your tax dollars at work.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to be a student in the engineering school at the flagship university of the state of Nevada, and it turns out the school is being run by the author of this:
I can’t even.
P.S. The thing I still can’t figure out is, why did Jones publish this paper at all? He’d already landed the juicy Dean of Engineering job, months before submitting it to his own journal. To then put his name on something so ludicrously bad . . . it can’t help his career at all, could only hurt. And obviously it’s not going to do anything to reduce train accidents. What was he possibly thinking?
P.P.S. I guess this happens all the time; it’s what Galbraith called the “bezzle.” We’re just more likely to hear about when it happens at some big-name place like Stanford, Harvard, Ohio State, or Cornell. It still makes me mad, though. I’m sure there are lots of engineers who are doing good work and could be wonderful teachers, and instead UNR spends $372,127 on this guy.
I’ll leave the last word to another UNR employee, from the above-linked press release:
They’re transcending something, that’s for sure.
My challenge for Jeff Thompson: Show up at an engineering class at your institution, read aloud the entire contents (i.e., the two paragraphs) of “Using Science to Minimize Sleep Deprivation that may reduce Train Accidents,” then engage the students in a discussion of what this says about “the current landscape for what it means to be a Carnegie R1 ‘Very High Research’ institution.”
Should be fun, no? Just remember, the best way to keep the students’ attention is to remind them that, yes, this will be covered on the final exam.
