Members of Congress from Wisconsin and California have sent a letter to the National Science Foundation (NSF), requesting the federal organization investigate the alleged academic misconduct by Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State.
Last June, Dr. Mann received a $541,184 grant from the NSF as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - otherwise known as the federal stimulus bill. He has since been investigated by Penn State for alleged academic misconduct with regard to his research into global climate change.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), 
requested the NSF to open an investigation of Dr. Mann, citing integrity questions surrounding his research.
"Research that doesn't earn confidence in the scientific community shouldn't then earn stimulus grant money from beleaguered taxpayers. This scandal is dramatically undercutting the reliability of climate science. The government should freeze these types of grants until there is a full-scale investigation that resolves these serious concerns," said Mr. Sensenbrenner in a statement.
In November, a series of emails leaked from the East Anglia University Climate Research Unit implicated a number of climate researchers - Dr. Mann among them - in participating in agenda-driven research that attempted to deliberately manipulate and exaggerate data on global warming.
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"The emails demonstrate a pattern of collusion among climatologists who appear to have quashed contrary views on climate change by manipulating data, and by pressuring journals to not publish materials from scientists they deemed ‘skeptics'", reads a potion of the representatives' letter.
According to the letter, the congressmen had conversations with NSF staff on February 4 that revealed the federal body responsible for Dr. Mann's stimulus grant had taken no steps to freeze or withdraw his funding in light of the "climate-gate" controversy.
The NSF regularly investigates allegations of academic misconduct by NSF-funded researchers, but a spokesperson refused to comment on the letter from Mr. Sensenbrenner and Mr. Issa.
Any investigation by the NSF would begin with a confidential inquiry between an investigator and the accused researcher. If the NSF determines that further investigation is necessary, the matter is referred to the researcher's institution, and the NSF can conduct an additional investigation on their own. Cora Marrett, Deputy Director of the NSF, would make the final determination of guilt and would impose punishments.
Dr. Mann is the director of Penn State's Earth Systems Science Center, and has been a member of the university's faculty since 1996. His work on climate research helped to produce the "hockey-stick graph", famously used by Al Gore in the 2004 documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Penn State launched an internal investigation that concluded earlier this month and cleared Dr. Mann of academic misconduct on three of four charges. The university will continue its investigation on whether Dr. Mann engaged in "actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research".
In 2006, Dr. Mann's academic practices were investigated and exonerated by the National Science Foundation.
Eric Boehm is a reporter for the Pennsylvania Independent. He can be reached at Eric@PAIndependent.
