Nuclear engineer Rusi Taleyarkhan has been stripped of his named professorship at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, following the results of a misconduct inquiry into his bubble-fusion research.

Having lost an appeal against the university's misconduct ruling, Taleyarkhan is banned from having graduate students for three years, and loses the title 'Arden L. Bement Jr Professor of Nuclear Engineering', along with annual resources of $25,000 that come with it. He will, however, remain on the faculty and have his situation reviewed in three years.

According to an investigation report released on 18 July, Taleyarkhan's misconduct involved two falsifications of the research record. In a recent e-mail to Nature, Taleyarkhan denies both charges, calling the findings "grossly inappropriate" and adding, "the two allegations for which misconduct was concluded have nothing to do with the science of bubble nuclear fusion". He also questions the sanctions, given that "a duly constituted committee in 2006 looking at these same two issues" exonerated him.