Whistleblowers sue UI

A husband and wife who work at the University of Idaho’s research park have sued the university, alleging they were punished for speaking up about conflicts of interest between researchers and two private companies.

Kenneth and Margaret Hass say they’ve been defamed and retaliated against for reporting their concerns over the relationship between the Center for Advanced Microelectronics and Biomolecular Research in the UI’s Post Falls research park and two private companies with ties to researchers there.

Auditors found numerous “deliberate” conflicts of interest between CAMBR and two companies that led to misuse of university resources. One of the companies was located at CAMBR and had a profit-sharing arrangement with CAMBR employees.

In the months after the audit was completed, according to the Hasses’ lawsuit, the director of CAMBR, Gary Maki, and the UI’s vice president for research, Charles Hatch, recommended that Kenneth Hass be fired.

Maki also told officials with NASA, which works closely with CAMBR on numerous projects, that in providing documents for the audit, Kenneth Hass had engaged in “industrial espionage” and divulged trade secrets, according to the suit and the Hasses’ attorney, Christine Weaver.

“You’re taking a man’s reputation for decades and trashing him,” Weaver said Thursday. “It’s in direct retaliation for the internal audit.”

The suit also alleges that Martha Hass was reprimanded for an unspecified alleged violation of university policy after the audit.

The UI had not yet been served with the complaint Thursday and had no comment on the suit, in keeping with its policy on pending litigation, said spokeswoman Tania Thompson. Messages left for Maki were not immediately returned.

The suit was filed a week ago in Kootenai County District Court. It seeks unspecified damages and attorneys fees for defamation and retaliation.

CAMBR develops microprocessors and computer chips, and its recent development of low-energy computer chips could help make research satellites more efficient and powerful. It attracts millions in grants from NASA and other federal agencies each year.

The Hasses still work for the UI – Kenneth as a senior research engineer at CAMBR, and Margaret as an assistant lab manager elsewhere within the research park.

In February of 2005, the Hasses contacted the UI’s internal auditor to report their concerns about the relationship between CAMBR and two companies.

One of the companies, ICs LLC, is owned by Maki and former CAMBR researcher Jody Gambles. The company sells microchips developed by CAMBR. It was located within the CAMBR offices and had a profit-sharing agreement with CAMBR employees.

Maki and other CAMBR employees also have an “ownership interest” in Concise Logic Inc., a business operating at the University of New Mexico, where Maki previously worked, according to the audit.

The UI’s audit of the relationships found numerous problems, including that a UI employee was being simultaneously paid an additional $2,000 a year by ICS; that CAMBR employees had a profit-sharing deal with ICS; and that there were “serious” deficiencies in internal controls.

The audit concluded that the arrangements were a violation of state and university policy, “which contributed to misuse of University facilities, equipment and personnel to further private business interests.”

The audit report was finished in December 2005. It was released publicly, along with a letter to the UI community from President Tim White outlining steps taken to correct the problems, last September, several days after The Spokesman-Review filed a public records request seeking the report.

In earlier interviews, Gambles defended the relationship between the companies and the UI’s researchers, noting that the university is encouraging researchers more and more to engage in “tech transfer” – the movement of academic research into the private sector through patents, startup companies and other methods.

Gambles, who left CAMBR in part over the fallout from the audit, said the relationships between the parties had been disclosed, and there was nothing improper in them. Maki did not comment on the situation, at the direction of the university.