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The University of Central Florida is moving to fire three faculty members and strip a student’s doctoral degree after an investigation found the faculty members helped the student obtain the degree in exchange for grant funding.
UCF is terminating the director of its Institute for Simulation and Training, along with two other faculty members in the institute, the university announced Monday. The university started investigating the matter in response to a whistle-blower’s complaint, finding the Ph.D. student had the power to influence grant funding allocations and used that power to leverage professors into helping to fabricate a degree, WESH reported. UCF also pointed to “inappropriate assistance” from faculty advisers.
“To be clear, this disturbing incident involves a small number of people who intentionally violated our policies and breached our trust,” said a UCF statement. The university named a retired U.S. Navy captain to serve as interim director of the institute, which was founded in 1982, reporting to the university’s vice president for research and commercialization.
The institute conducts research into modeling, simulation and training, partnering “with public and private stakeholders to apply and develop simulations for diverse applications,” according to promotional materials.
In 2018, the UCF School of Modeling, Simulation, and Training was created to “to formally recognize of [sic] the exceptional growth and success of the Institute for Simulation & Training (IST) and its Modeling, Simulation, and Training (MS&T) Graduate Program,” the materials say. They boast of over $320 million in research funding secured over nearly 40 years.
