The notorious scientific fraud of former Columbia University chemist Bengü Sezen harmed a lot more than scientific knowledge, reports William G. Schulz in Chemical & Engineering News on July 7. The graduate work and Ph.D. prospects of three other young would-be scientists working along with Sezen in the lab of their mutual mentor became collateral damage in Sezen’s spectacular deceit.
But even worse than the harm Sezen did to science itself are the irreparable losses suffered by three innocent graduate students, who bore “the onus of not being able to reproduce [Sezen’s] work,” the report states. As a result, they suffered “severe negative impacts on [their] graduate careers.” Two of these unfortunate aspiring chemists “were asked to leave” and the third “decided to leave after her second year.” Anonymous sources told C&EN that Sezen’s mentor considered her a “golden child” and “brilliant student,” Schulz writes.