[1] He was an Associate Professor of behavioral ecology and Canada 150 Research Chair in Biological Dystopias at McMaster University.
[2][3] Pruitt's research focused primarily on animal personalities and the social behavior of spiders and other organisms.
[4] An investigation by McMaster found that he had "engaged in fabrication and falsification.”[5] In 2021 it was reported that Pruitt "had a dozen papers retracted following allegations of data fraud" and that his doctoral dissertation had also been withdrawn.
[12] Pruitt responded to the allegations by stating that the irregularities in his data were mistakes,[13] and he obtained legal counsel who cautioned journals and coauthors not to retract papers until institutional investigations were complete.
[1] Pruitt has been compared to Diederik Stapel and Jan Hendrik Schön, who were also considered rising stars in their fields before the discovery of their fraudulent publications.