December 13, 2002

Professor Punished for Consulting

By MARTIN VAN DER WERF

North Carolina State University has reprimanded a professor and barred him from consulting for the next three years for failing to disclose his personal business dealings with companies that stood to benefit from his research.

Edward B. Poling, a professor of horticultural sciences, had been under investigation since April, after two strawberry growers he had worked with said he had taken plants from a university research center and sold them.

Mr. Poling said in a telephone