[Vision2020] UI Settles With Ex-Workers

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (October 30, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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UI settles with ex-workers
Husband, wife claimed they were punished for reporting on researcher

The University of Idaho has settled a lawsuit with two former employees
who claimed they were punished for reporting concerns that a high-profile
researcher was using university resources to benefit private companies.

Although the university is publicly funded, the terms of the settlement
were being kept confidential.

The UI released a statement saying Kenneth Hass and his wife, Martha Hass,
“adhered to and followed” the proper procedures in reporting their
concerns. The statement also said allegations that Kenneth Hass attempted
to sabotage sensitive research projects were “unfounded.”

The couple worked at the UI’s Center for Advanced Microelectronics and
Biomolecular Research in Post Falls, a research operation formerly led by
Gary Maki. The center designed and developed microchips used on NASA
missions, among other projects, and Maki had a history of high-profile
breakthroughs.

In 2005, the Hasses told a university auditor that Maki and others at
CAMBR were improperly using UI resources to benefit two private spinoff
companies owned by Maki and research colleagues. A UI audit concluded that
Maki and others deliberately directed public resources to benefit the
companies – using university equipment, personnel and office space to
support one firm, and doing company business on university time, among
other issues.

As a result, the UI toughened its policies managing conflicts of interest
between researchers and the for-profit enterprises that arise from their
discoveries.

Kenneth Hass worked as a professor at the center, and Martha Hass was in
administrative support before moving to another department and eventually
leaving the UI. They said they faced retaliation from supervisors and
administrators for reporting their concerns.

Kenneth Hass was also the subject of a letter to UI officials – apparently
authored by Maki, but signed by a NASA official – questioning whether he
provided sensitive information to unauthorized sources, including “foreign
agents.”

The UI said that allegation, as well as others from Maki that Kenneth Hass
had tried to sabotage CAMBR projects, were unfounded.

Maki was demoted in 2007 from director of CAMBR to professor there, and he
retired this month. The Hasses now live in Lewisburg, Pa., where Kenneth
is a professor at Bucknell University.

Neither the UI nor the Hasses’ attorney would comment further on the case,
under the conditions of the agreement.

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Seeya at homecoming, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown