The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/wansink/)
Food researcher Brian Wansink had two more papers retracted, putting his total for the year at 15. Following his previous retractions, Wansink resigned as professor from the University.
In a stunning reversal of Cornell’s own internal investigation conducted just last year, a faculty committee has found Prof. Brian Wansink guilty of “academic misconduct.” The professor, who has had 13 papers retracted over the past two years (six of them yesterday), will resign at the end of this school year. While we are glad that Cornell has finally taking the appropriate steps to reprimand Wansink and insulate the University and its students from the growing fallout, the brief statement on matter issued by Provost Michael Kotlikoff is entirely insufficient given the gravity of the situation. There are several questions the University must answer if they are to regain the trust of Cornellians and the broader academic community. Firstly, what is the cause of the discrepancy between yesterday’s finding, and the finding of the April 2017 internal investigation that determined Wansink had not committed “scientific misconduct”? If this result is emblematic of a flaw in Cornell’s initial review process, the University owes it to its students and faculty to address and correct such flaws.
“There was no fraud, no intentional misreporting, no plagiarism, or no misappropriation,” he said, writing from Iowa.
“Professor Wansink committed academic misconduct in his research and scholarship, including misreporting of research data, problematic statistical techniques, failure to properly document and preserve research results, and inappropriate authorship,” the investigation concluded.
Prof. Brian Wansink had six of his studies added to the list of his retracted publications on Wednesday. Wansink has had 13 publications retracted in the past 18 months, a turn of events he calls “unjust.”
Six former members of the Food and Brand Lab previously told The Sun that Wansink urged his undergraduate students — some of whom had little or no experience — to use unethical research methods to produce findings that would bring publicity to the lab.
Correction appended. They call it p-hacking. Imagine one day inspiration strikes and you set out to prove that sushi can improve academic performance. You assemble the lucky volunteers and month after month make sure the rolls are delivered to their doorsteps. Come winter, all giddy with anticipation, you inquire about the performance of your subjects during the finals.
Following the retraction of six of his studies, Prof. Brian Wansink, founder of Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab, has now been exposed for not following through on a project that raised over $10,000 in an online fundraiser.
Prof. Brian Wansink, founder and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, has retracted five studies in the last year, staining the reputations of the University and his students, those who worked with him say.