Neri Oxman, a former star professor at MIT, has been caught in a plagiarism scandal, with evidence showing that she lifted passages from numerous sources without providing any attribution. Business Insider conducted an investigation and found 28 additional instances of plagiarism in Oxman’s dissertation and other academic papers. The sources include Wikipedia articles, scholars’ work, a textbook, and technical documents. This scandal has raised questions about Oxman’s credibility and academic integrity, prompting an apology from the renowned academic. The article delves into the specific instances of plagiarism, highlighting the lack of proper attribution and the disregard for scholarly standards displayed by Oxman.
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Neri Oxman directly copied from Wikipedia in her Ph.D. dissertation
Neri Oxman, a former star professor at MIT, has come under scrutiny after admitting to plagiarizing passages from other scholars’ work in her doctoral dissertation. Business Insider conducted an investigation and found 28 additional instances of plagiarism in Oxman’s dissertation and other papers. One significant example of plagiarism is the direct copying of a passage from Wikipedia without proper attribution.
On page 81 of her dissertation titled “Material-based Design Computation,” Oxman published two sentences that had previously appeared on Wikipedia, and she did not provide any references for these sentences. The passage discusses the visibility of warp and weft in the final product and the different textile appearances depending on the spacing of warp and weft. These sentences are presented as Oxman’s original writing, with no acknowledgement of the source. The corresponding Wikipedia article on “Weaving” featured almost identical sentences in April 2010, when Oxman submitted her dissertation. Similar language variations of these lines can be traced back to November 2004. Furthermore, Oxman also used an illustration from the same Wikipedia article without citing its source.
This example is just one of fifteen instances where Oxman lifted passages from Wikipedia articles without providing any citations or attributions. The topics covered in these plagiarized passages ranged from “Functionally graded material” to “Manifolds” and “Constitutive equation.” Shockingly, Oxman failed to credit Wikipedia in her doctoral dissertation, despite the website’s general accuracy concerns, as it is editable by anyone and therefore not considered a reliable source for academic citations.
Lifting copy from websites, a textbook, and academic papers
Neri Oxman’s area of expertise lies at the intersection of design and the natural sciences, often referred to as “material ecology.” Her innovative projects, such as growing iPhones from natural materials and creating sculptures using silkworms, have gained recognition in both academic and popular circles. However, her research papers and dissertation contain several instances of plagiarism beyond the Wikipedia examples.
Apart from directly copying from Wikipedia, Oxman also plagiarized content from various websites, a textbook, and academic papers without proper attribution. For example, in a footnote, she used 54 consecutive words from the website of design-software maker Rhino to explain the concept of a “Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline” without citation. Additionally, she borrowed technical language about tessellations from the website Wolfram MathWorld without proper credit.
Moreover, several of Oxman’s peer-reviewed papers also contain instances of plagiarism. In her 2011 paper titled “Variable Property Rapid Prototyping,” she included over 100 words from the book “Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age” without quotation marks, citations, or acknowledgment in her bibliography. Oxman also failed to cite the work of M.Y. Zhou in her bibliography while including material from Zhou’s paper “Path planning of functionally graded material objects for layered manufacturing.” Furthermore, she directly used two sentences from the book “Functionally Graded Materials: Design, Processing and Applications” without proper attribution.
Oxman’s plagiarism extends beyond her doctoral dissertation, raising concerns about the integrity of her academic research and publications.
Oxman’s response and future actions
In response to the accusations of plagiarism, Neri Oxman admitted her mistakes, apologized, and vowed to review the primary sources and request corrections as needed. She acknowledged that she had omitted quotation marks for certain works she used, similar to the cases found in Claudine Gay’s academic history. Oxman emphasized her dedication to advancing science and innovation while recognizing the importance of acknowledging the contributions of her peers and those who came before her.
Bill Ackman, Oxman’s husband and a billionaire investor, also responded to the allegations. In a statement posted on social media, he expressed regret over the attacks on his family and said the experience motivated him to conduct plagiarism reviews of MIT’s leadership. Ackman pledged to thoroughly review the actions of MIT President Sally Kornbluth, all MIT faculty, and members of the MIT Corporation for any evidence of plagiarism. He emphasized the importance of transparency and vowed to share the findings with the public.
MIT, the institution where Oxman conducted her research, has not issued a response to the allegations and did not provide a comment regarding the matter.
The plagiarism allegations have raised significant questions regarding academic integrity, especially on the part of a respected professor like Neri Oxman. It remains to be seen how she and MIT will address these issues and ensure that proper standards of citation and attribution are upheld in academic research and publications.
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