A professor from N.C. State University used grant funds to go on family vacations at top-dollar beach resorts, according to a report by the Office of the State Auditor.
The report accuses Stacy Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, of taking two personal trips under the guise of doing research in 2011.
For a couple decades, the department has counted restoration of ecosystems among its responsibilities. In 2009, as a part of that effort, Nelson submitted a grant proposal to the state Department of Transportation to examine whether submerged aquatic vegetation in the Currituck Sound could be monitored using remote sensors.
Nelson allegedly used $3,359 from the grant funds to take his family on trips to the Outer Banks in July and August 2011. ...
No documentation of conducting plant or water samples – the stated purpose of the trip – was provided to investigators. Nelson claims to have not kept records, which is a violation of policy. ...
The audit cost the state $35,136 and took 488 man hours to conduct.
Dennis Patterson, a spokesman for the auditor’s office, said that even though the process overturned less than it cost that it’s part of the process.
It seems like every time I conduct an activity that involves money the UNC system paperwork takes 488 hours to conduct.
This also made it into the Chronicle.
