Initial Response

To: ​Dr. Stemwedel

From: ​Dominic Casas
Case: ​Carmen Choi
Date: ​04-11-2019

Carmen should not intentionally place an intentional error into her grant proposal because
although it will prevent her idea from being stolen, it is highly unethical. Carmen should seek
funding to have her process patented if she truly feels that others may try to steal her idea.

Interested Parties
● Carmen Choi
○ Carmen is an interested party in this case because not only does she want to
secure her funding from the NSF, but she also wants to protect her intellectual
ideas and property, however, she would like to do this while establishing a good
reputation and performing and publishing good data; this is where her conflict
arises.
● Professor Cheryl Gruen
○ Professor Gruen has multiple interests in this case. In the case of Carmen’s trap
being exposed, she would be on bad terms with the NSF since she had co-signed
the grant. It is in her best interest to maintain her reputation and bring more
money into the lab, therefore it is in Professor Gruen’s best interest for Carmen to
publish an honest and accurate paper.
● Western Institue of Technology
○ West Tech is an interested party in this case because Carmen receiving a grant
would provide overhead funding for their labs, however, should Carmen be found
out about her trap, it would look as if West Tech is hosting unethical researchers.
● Other Researchers at West Tech
○ Other researchers at West Tech are an interested party in this case because should
Carmen’s grant be found to be fraudulent, it would reflect on the entire
University, resulting in other researchers at West Tech having the name of the
university they work to be less reputable.
● National Science Foundation
○ The NSF has two interests in this case. Firstly, they would like for all scientists to
abide by the same rules when submitting grant proposals. Secondly, since they are
operating with a limited amount of funds, they would like to make sure that their
money is going to not only good research projects but also ethical scientists.
 ● Larger Scientific Community
○ The Larger Scientific community is an interested party in every ethical dilemma
that concerns researchers because any unethical decisions made by a scientist
reflect on the larger scientific community as a whole. In addition, when scientists
lie to the NSF, they run the risk of the NSF putting an end to public funding
altogether.
● Grant Reviewers
○ The Grant Reviewers are an interested party in this case because they want to
succeed in their own research, it is notable that ethically they would only like to
succeed in their research ​without​ pushing Carmen back.
● The public
○ The public is an interested party in this case because it is their money that is being
distributed by the NSF, in addition the objective knowledge that is to be built
based on this research is affecting those whose lives are affected by oil spills.

Consequences
This section will list the consequences should Carmen decide to follow through with her plan to
set the trap and being found out.

● Carmen Choi
○ The consequences to Carmen’s trap being found out as they pertain to Carmen
would be that she would face any kind of ramifications the NSF may impose on
her for submitting a grant containing an inaccurate proposal. This could also
result in disciplinary actions from Professor Cheryl Gruen or the Western Institute
of Technology.
● Professor Cheryl Gruen
○ The consequences to Carmen’s trap being found out as they pertain to Professor
Cheryl Gruen would be that as a co-signer of Carmen’s grant, she is signing that
the information within the grant is known to be accurate, therefore it would
appear that Professor Gruen was also a part in laying the trap that Carmen had set
● Western Institue of Technology
○ The consequences to Carmen’s trap being found out as they pertain to the
Western Institue of Technology would be that the institution's name would be
devalued as it would appear that they are hosting unethical researchers.
● Other Researchers at West Tech
○ The consequences to Carmen’s trap being found out as they pertain to Other
Researchers at West Tech would be that the university they are being hosted at
 may be viewed as hosting unethical researchers, which would reflect poorly on
them.
● National Science Foundation
○ There are not many consequences for the NSF assuming that they were able to
find Carmen's trap, however, if they were unable to find the trap and Carmen
shared that with peers, it would make the NSF look like they were not thorough in
completing grant reviews.
● Larger Scientific Community
○ The consequences to Carmen’s trap being found out as they pertain to the Larger
Scientific Community would be that the larger scientific community would seem
unethical to the public should it come to light that researchers are submitting false
proposals in order to get funding.

Carmen’s Obligations
● To others
○ Carmen is obligated to be honest and demonstrate integrity.
○ She has an obligation to build knowledge, which includes interacting with other
members of the scientific community in a way that is honest in fair
○ To take the public's money seriously
● To herself
○ She is obligated to protect her intellectual property and succeed as a scientist
○ Not to do something that will destroy her scientific reputation
○ To not do something that leaves her with guilt
● To Professor Gruen
○ Honesty and integrity, since Gruen is also signing this form
● To other scientisits
○ To follow the rules, if it is found out by the public that she is lying, they would
vote to cancel funding the NSF
○ To address the peer review stealing issue in its entirety
● To peer reviewers
○ To give an honest description of what she is going to do, so that they may make
their decision appropriately