The City Square: Penn State and the Michael Mann whitewash

Monday, July 05, 2010

Penn State and the Michael Mann whitewash

Global warming advocate Michael Mann was cleared by the Penn State committee charged with investigating his conduct. In light of all the revelations in the ClimateGate e-mails, this raises the question of what kind of investigation was conducted. Penn State's official report reveals it to have been a very shallow one. The report even admits to ignoring a respected scientist when he told them their conclusions were wrong. Consider the documents that the Penn State committee's report (PDF) says were used:

Documents available to the Investigatory Committee:
· 376 files containing emails stolen from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia and originally reviewed by the Inquiry Committee
· Documents collected by the Inquiry Committee
· Documents provided by Dr. Mann at both the Inquiry and Investigation phases
· Penn State University's RA-IO Inquiry Report
· House of Commons Report HC387-I, March 31,2010
· National Academy of Science letter titled, "Climate Change and the Integrity of Science" that was published in Science magazine on May 7, 2010 Information on the peer review process for the National Science Foundation (NSF)
· Department of Energy's Guide to Financial Assistance
· Information on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's peer review process
· Information regarding the percentage of NSF proposals funded
· Dr. Michael Mann's curriculum vitae

While Mann's famous hockey stick curve was exposed as false by both the National Academy of Sciences report and the Wegman committee report (PDF), the Penn State committee consulted neither. How could Penn State investigate whether the errors in Mann's work were honest mistakes or misconduct if they don't even know what those mistakes were? They can't.

Here is the schedule of interviews as listed in the committee's report:

April 12, 2010: Dr. William Easterling, Dean, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University

April 14, 2010: Dr. Michael Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University

April 20, 2010: Dr. William Curry, Senior Scientist, Geology and Geophysics Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

April 20, 2010: Dr. Jerry McManus, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University

May 5, 2010: Dr. Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Observe what is missing: Penn State did not interview either McIntyre or McKitrick who are the two people most familiar with Mann's faulty science and with Mann's efforts to hide and disguise his mistakes.

During their "investigation" of Michael Mann, a Penn State committee interviewed M.I.T. Professor Richard Lindzen who holds the Alfred P. Sloan char in M.I.T.'s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts. The committee's report (PDF) summarizes Prof. Lindzen's astonishment at how they were "investigating":

When told that the first three allegations against Dr. Mann were dismissed at the inquiry stage of the RA-lO process, Dr. Lindzen's response was: "It's thoroughly amazing. I mean these are issues that he explicitly stated in the emails. I'm wondering what's going on?" . . . .

The Investigatory Committee members did not respond to Dr. Lindzen's statement. Instead, Dr. Lindzen's attention was directed to the fourth allegation, and it was explained to him that this is the allegation which the Investigatory Committee is charged to address. [Emph. added]