Confidentiality of Proprietary Information

The university recognizes that the primary purpose of research and scholarship is to train future scholars and disseminate new knowledge for the benefit of humankind. However, commercially valuable inventions and discoveries also may result. Graduate students, during the course of their studies and work at the university, may receive access to confidential or proprietary information from the university, its faculty and employees and/or private companies. Students, both while a student and thereafter, are expected to respect and maintain the confidentiality of such information. In certain unusual cases, students may be asked to sign an additional confidentiality agreement. Unauthorized use or dissemination of another’s confidential or proprietary information is subject to appropriate legal recourse and/or academic discipline, including termination from the program.