What are you calling "failure"? Is this a single roller or a nest of them?
Lack of lubrication may cause the roller to seize up and thus cause other problems in the connecting structure or are you actually deforming the roller?
Your career wouldn't end. It hasn't started yet. It is unlikely that anyone (other than the Prof. Eng. who negligently didn't check your work) would know who designed the failure as your seal (and name) aren't on it. If a future employer does know, their reaction would depend upon what kind...
