University of Washington settles DOJ claims of grant fraud

SEATTLE (AP) — The University of Washington has agreed to pay more than $800,000 to settle Justice Department allegations that a professor submitted false documentation relating to a highly competitive grant. The grant documents were submitted to the National Science Foundation by Mehmet Sarikaya, a professor in the university’s Materials Science and Engineering Department, according to NSF records and the settlement agreement, which was made public by the Seattle U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday. The university said the documents misrepresented the involvement of two researchers who in reality were not involved in the work. That could have made the grant application more attractive.