UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT;

You asked for an update on recent problems at the University of Connecticut’s Environmental Research Institute. You also asked about the cost of operating the laboratory, the revenue it receives, and prohibitions regarding state facilities competing with the private sector.

SUMMARY

The Environmental Research Institute (ERI), established in 1987 and located on UConn’s Mansfield Depot campus, is a center of basic and applied environmental sciences and engineering within the university. It conducts research in the environmental sciences and engineering for state and federal agencies, industry, and educational institutions.

In 2002, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) cited ERI for violating various hazardous waste regulations. ERI agreed to correct the violations and has paid a $ 64,250 civil penalty.

More recently, university police, the state attorney general, federal authorities, and a university faculty committee have been investigating allegations of scientific misconduct and fraud at ERI. The Hartford Courant reports that investigators are looking into the reliability and integrity of research that ERI has conducted in the past five to seven years. Prosecutors have so far charged two people in connection with the probe.

According to the university, ERI generated $ 5. 6 million in revenue in FY 2002 from work it conducted for the federal and state governments, corporations, non-profit organizations and the university. The university provided ERI with another $ 1. 6 million in operating support, and $ 300,000 was listed as miscellaneous revenue. ERI’s total revenue in 2002, therefore, was $ 7. 5 million (the $ 5. 9 million in revenue ERI generated plus the $ 1. 6 million UConn provided). We could not determine if $ 7. 5 million was the total cost of operating ERI in FY 2002, but will provide you with that information when we receive it. Because UConn states that it receives about 40% of its operating budget from the general fund, it can be assumed that approximately 40% of the $ 1. 6 million contributed to ERI by UConn, or $ 640,000, would have come from the general fund in FY 2002.

We could find no law prohibiting state facilities such as ERI from competing with private laboratories.

STATE AND FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS OF ERI

Scientific Misconduct and Theft

UConn police chief Robert Hudd states his office began investigating ERI in July 2002 after the university received an anonymous letter alleging, among other things, scientific misconduct, misuse of the federal visa process, and theft. Hudd says UConn police are conducting the probe in conjunction with the state attorney general, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the FBI, and the U. S. Defense Department. UConn also has notified the State Police and the Auditors of Public Accounts. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal confirms that his office is investigating whether “the interests of state agencies that have entered into contracts with and paid money to ERI for professional testing services have been properly protected. ” Neither the FBI nor the EPA Inspector General’s office would confirm or deny their part in the investigation.

The investigation led to the arrest in December 2002 of two ERI employees on charges they defrauded foreign students who worked at the ERI laboratory. University police charged laboratory director Shili Liu, 53, with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, and ERI director of operations Robert J. Carley, 41, with conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny in connection with a scheme to collect rent from visiting international students housed at a university facility provided and paid for by ERI. Police seized as evidence $ 62,772 in cash from a cabinet under Liu’s control. Police say this money is a portion of the illegally collected “rent. ” The Courant reports that Liu has denied the charges.

According to newspaper accounts, foreign students work at ERI and typically stay for several months in a cottage located near the institute. According to the Courant the students are not supposed to pay for their stay at the cottage, for which ERI pays UConn $ 50,000 a year.

Citing court documents, the Courant reported January 8, 2003 that Liu also is alleged to have diverted payments for ERI services made by private corporations into an improper account called “The China Agency Account” and listed them as donations.

In December, the university placed Liu and Carley on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. In addition, the institute’s executive director, George Hoag, has voluntarily resigned from that post. Peter W. McFadden, an emeritus engineering faculty member and former dean of engineering, has been named interim executive director.

On January 17, 2003, UConn chancellor John D. Petersen announced that a university faculty committee had determined that more investigation is needed to find out if ERI has engaged in unethical research practices. Petersen, saying he could not “overstate the seriousness of the matter,” said he would create a faculty committee to conduct the inquiry. The Courant reported January 18 that the first faculty committee had found grounds to further examine the work of Liu and ERI researcher Jianshi Kang and that Kang has been reassigned to another job.

Hazardous Waste Violations

DEP inspected ERI in May and June of 2001, citing it for a number of hazardous waste management violations, including improper storage and shipment of methylene chloride, failing to develop an inspection schedule for its hazardous waste container area, and failing to keep an inspection log. DEP issued a consent order in March 2002 in which ERI agreed to correct the violations. Among other things, ERI agreed to designate an environmental compliance expert, prepare a compliance assurance plan, and conduct semi-annual compliance audits through December 31, 2003. DEP assessed ERI a civil penalty of $ 64,250, which the institute paid in the form of a contribution to DEP’s mercury reduction account.

BACKGROUND ON ERI

ERI conducts multi-disciplinary research in the environmental sciences and engineering. It has 40 affiliated UConn faculty members from eight academic departments, and a research staff of 45 with expertise in environmental and chemical engineering, analytical chemistry, hydrology and other environmental fields. According to its web site, (http: //www. engr. uconn. edu/eri ) ERI’s primary mission is to conduct high quality research on existing and emerging environmental problems, to support the development of environmental remediation technologies, and to share information through collaboration with governmental, industrial and educational institutions.

The web site lists dozens of ERI projects. According to the web site, project sponsors, which pay ERI for its services, include governmental agencies, such as DEP, the U. S. Information Agency, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Army Research Department, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; educational institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Vermont, and Northeastern University; and private companies, such as Duracell, Fujitsu, and Hamilton Standard.

PF: ro