I remember being interviewed randomly on the street by local TV news for a "student's opinion" on Berkeley's Energy Biosciences Institute, which was funded by BP. This was during Deepwater Horizon, and they were despised as much here as anywhere. The research seemed pretty useful though, and it's great to get that kind of funding given how tight grants are these days. When the goal of the corporate funding is to build something, rather than to "impartially" assess policies on which the corporation has a well-defined self-interested position, then the process seems less prone to corruption.
Still pretty controversial though now that they are pulling funding:
Still pretty controversial though now that they are pulling funding:
http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-...