Chapter 17

The news broke on Monday morning. The research institute internally sent out a disciplinary announcement. "Researcher Kendra Leavitt from the main branch has been fired for academic misconduct. Chief researcher Niall Shepherd has been issued an internal warning for poor team supervision." As soon as the announcement was released, it caused ripples at the institute's Northwestern branch. While having breakfast in the mess hall, Jasmine overheard several young researchers who were talking in low voices next to her. "I heard that the data was plagiarized from that leading journal thesis. The culprit's got guts, I'll give them that!" "Mr. Shepherd was actually penalized… A warning like that is a blemish on his record. Damn, that sucks." "Whose data was plagiarized? No names were mentioned." "Who else could it be? It's probably the person who was working with Mr. Shepherd on the program before. Wasn't she also transferred to our branch? You know, her, right over there…" The speaker