Caltech engineer defends expertise in wrongful termination trial

LOS ANGELES -- On the third day of testimony in a wrongful termination case, the chair of the California Institute of Technology's engineering and applied sciences division said the investigations into allegations of professional misconduct made by a former researcher were handled thoroughly and professionally.

Guruswami "Ravi" Ravichandran testified Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court he looked into complaints levied by Farshid Roumi regarding the misappropriation of funds from a U.S. Department of Energy grant in May and June of 2015 specifically slated for a project to develop more efficient lithium-ion batteries.

Roumi claimed two members of his research team were paid with funds from the energy department grant during that two-month period but did not complete any work on the battery project.

Ravichandran testified he reviewed two papers completed at the time by researchers Laleh Kasmaee and Zarui Chikneyan. One paper focused on a self-healing battery while another examined the effects of fluoride in suppressing the growth of dendrite crystals in lithium, a common cause of short-outs, failures and fire ignition in lithium-ion batteries.

After reviewing the research, Ravichandran, the John E. Goode, Jr. Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Caltech, testified the papers were germane to the project.

The complaints are at the heart of the wrongful termination suit brought by Roumi against Caltech. In the suit, Roumi alleges he was harassed, banned from his lab and later terminated in 2016 after reporting misappropriation of funds and research misrepresentation to school administrators and the energy department. Farshid Roumi v. California Institute of Technology, BC654132 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Mar. 14 2017).

Christian Nickerson, an attorney with Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP representing Roumi, tried to undermine Ravichandran's expertise in battery technology, but Ravichandran cited his research in phase transformations, which play a crucial role in how chemical energy is converted into electrical energy in lithium-ion batteries.

"I am a subject matter expert in this field," Ravichandran said. "I've been evaluating such reports for 30 years. I should be able to evaluate this report."

Later, Nickerson questioned whether Ravichandran should have sought an outside, independent party to review the report or spoken with Roumi to get his opinion on the complaint.

"I don't have to talk to Dr. Roumi," Ravichandran testified. "You are implying that I'm not qualified [to evaluate the report]. We do our own investigations. Our procedures are very thorough. We follow those procedures to a 'T.'"

Later, Nickerson brought up delays by Caltech in purchasing two pieces of equipment for Roumi in 2016, alluding to the harassment Roumi alleges he faced as a whistleblower, according to the suit. On cross-examination by John Hueston of Hueston Hennigan LLP, Ravichandran testified he looked into the complaint and found one of the pieces had been purchased but took six weeks to deliver.

The second piece had not been ordered because Roumi had yet to sign a justification form that the school's financial services division requires for any purchase of more than $10,000.

"We have to follow procedure," Ravichandran testified.