Shukla’s Gold
Steve McIntyre, posted on Sep 28, 2015 at 11:24 AM
Roger Pielke Jr recently
made the remarkable discovery that, in addition to his university
salary from George Mason University (reported by Pielke as $250,000),
Jagadish Shukla, the leader of the #RICO20, together with his wife, had
received a further $500,000 more in 2014 alone from federal climate
grants funnelled through a Shukla-controlled “non-profit” (I
nstitute for Global Environment and Security, Inc.), yielding total income in 2014 of approximately $750,000.
Actually, the numbers are even worse than Pielke thought.
- Pielke had quoted Shukla’s 2013 university salary, but his
university salary had increased more than 25% between 2013 and 2014:
from $250,816 in 2013 to $314,000 in 2014.
- In addition, the “non-profit” organization had also employed one of Shukla’s children (not reported, but say $90,000); and,
- IGES transferred $100,000 from its climate grants to a second
corporation controlled by the Shukla family (the Institute for Global
Education Equality of Opportunity and Prosperity, Inc.), which in turn
transferred $100,000 to an educational charity in Shukla’s home town in
India, doubtless a worthy charity, but one that Shukla could have
supported from his own already generous stipend.
Over a million dollars in total in 2014 alone.
In addition, Shukla’s long-time associate, James Kinter, participated
in the same double dip, though on a less grandiose scale. Kinter, also a
Professor at George Mason, doubled his 2014 university salary of
$180,038 with $171,320 from IGES, for a total 2014 income of $351,358.
In today’s post, I’ll make an attempt to follow the money. This
analysis is not an audit as I obviously do not have access to original
documents – only public information and, for the purposes of this note,
only online research. In addition, the history is quite complicated,as
the institutions reach back over 30 years and have changed relationships
over time. I’ve examined NSF, NOAA and NASA online grant information,
which covers only part of the period (NOAA to 2001; NASA to 2006) and
placed a summary spreadsheet online
here.
Because “warmists” regularly re-assure skeptics that income from
research is strictly regulated under federal policies (e,g. Andrew
Dessler
here),
the parties who ought to have the most interest in the structure are
warmists, rather than skeptics, though the opposite seems to be the case
thus far.
NSF Policy
Before discussing Shukla’s structure, I’ll first quickly comment on
institutional policies, as both the federal agencies (NSF, NOAA, NASA)
and the university (George Mason) purport to have policies that prevent
double-dipping.
NSF policies purportedly regulate research compensation for members
of university faculties by limiting their compensation in the academic
year to their university salary, while permitting them to top up their
university salary in summer months, but set their compensation at the
monthly rate of their university salary (the “two-ninths rule”, as
follows:
611.1 Salaries and Wages
- All Grantees. All remuneration paid currently or accrued by the
organization for employees working on the NSF-supported project during
the grant period is allowable to the extent that:
- total compensation to individual employees is reasonable for the
work performed and conforms to the established policy of the
organization consistently applied to both government and non-government
activities; and
- the charges for work performed directly under NSF grants and for
other work allocable as indirect costs are determined and documented as
provided in the applicable Federal cost principles.
- Colleges and Universities. Section J.10 of OMB Circular A-21
establishes criteria for compensation work performed on government
projects by faculty members during and outside the academic year.
NSF’s policy is:
- Academic Year Salaries. To be based on the individual faculty
member’s regular compensation for the continuous period which, under the
policy of the institution concerned, constitutes the basis of his/her
salary. Except as provided in GPM 616.2, “Intra-University Consulting,”
charges to Federal grants, irrespective of the basis of computation,
will not exceed the proportionate share of the base salary for that
period.
- Periods Outside the Academic Year. During the summer months or other
periods not included in the period for which the base salary is paid,
salary is to be paid at a monthly rate not in excess of the base salary
divided by the number of months in the period for which the base salary
is paid. NSF policy on funding of summer salaries (known as NSF’s
two-ninths rule) remains unchanged: proposal budgets submitted should
not request, and NSF-approved budgets will not include, funding for an
individual investigator which exceeds two-ninths of the academic year
salary. This limit includes summer salary received from all NSF-funded
grants.
Andrew Dessler, who, like most climate academics, has consistently denied that research funding has any impact on alarmism,
summarized the above policy as follows:
Texas A&M pays 10 months of my salary to teach. The
other two months of my salary are paid out of grants for doing research,
but the University sets the amount I receive during those two months
equal to the m$158.06onthly rate that the University pays me the other
10 months. Thus, the vast majority of my salary is completely
disconnected with research.
There are many other obligations on recipients of federal research
grants, many of which are summarized in the NSF Grants Manual.
George Mason University Policy
Shukla has been on the faculty of George Mason University since 1993
(1984-1992 University of Maryland) and, during that time, has obtained
federal grants both in the name of George Mason University and the
Institute for Global Environment and Security Inc. discussed below).
George Mason, like most universities, has a
policy on conflict of interest, including a detailed policy on
conflict of interest in federally funded research.
Under such policies, “non-profits” are classified as “business”, a
protocol that seems very apt when large salaries are withdrawn by
insiders from a closely-held “non-profit”:
“Business” means a corporation, partnership, sole
proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, trust or
foundation, or any other individual or entity carrying on a business or
profession, whether or not for profit.
The University conflict of interest policies require comprehensive
and formal disclosure of personal and family financial interests to the
Office of Sponsored Programs.
This policy applies to any person who is
responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of any research funded
by a Federal agency. The responsible parties listed in this policy act
as institutional officials for purposes of policy implementation,
enforcement, and reporting.
Financial Conflict of interest” (FCOI) means a
significant financial interest (SFI) directly and significantly
affecting the design, conduct, or reporting of the federally funded
research.
“Significant financial interest” means a
financial interest consisting of one or more of the following interests
of the investigator (and/or those of the investigator’s spouse and
dependent children) that reasonably appears to be related to the
investigator’s institutional responsibilities:
Investigators who apply for any federally funded research must
disclose certain financial interests related to that research.
Specifically, each investigator must provide a list of his or her known
SFIs (and those of his or her spouse and/or dependent children) related
to the investigator’s institutional responsibilities.
As a part of the university’s application for federal funds, each
investigator must certify (1) that he or she has no such interests or
(2) that he or she has such interests and has disclosed them through the
institution’s disclosure process. The Office of Sponsored Programs
maintains custody of the investigator’s certification.
I have not attempted to make a comprehensive summary of obligations under George Mason University policy.
University of Maryland
Shukla worked at the University of Maryland from 1984-1992 as
Professor, Department of Meteorology. While at the University of
Maryland, Shukla established the “Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere
Interactions” (University of Maryland, Dept. of Meteorology).
Nearly all of Shukla’s key associates at George Mason date back to
the University of Maryland in the 1980s. Edwin Schneider was a Research
Scientist at the “Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions,
University of Maryland, Dept. of Meteorology” from 1984-1993, James
Kinter was Assistant Professor, Department of Meteorology, University of
Maryland from 1984-87, subsequently becoming Research Scientist with
“COLA, Univ. MD, College Park, MD” from 1987-1993. Daniel Straus was a
Research Scientist at the “Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere
Interactions, University of Maryland, Dept. of Meteorology” from
1988-1993. Paul Dirmeyer was a Graduate Fellow and Graduate Research
Assistant at University of Maryland from 1986-92 before becoming a
Research Scientist at “Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions,
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland at College Park” in
1993.
NOAA and NASA online grant information does not go back that far (NOAA only to 2001; NASA only to 2007), but
NSF grant data shows two
almost simultaneous grants to the University of Maryland entitled
“Predictability of Monthly and Seasonal Average Circulation of the
Atmosphere”, totalling $2.9 million. Shukla is PI for both grants, but
there are different NSF officers for some reason.
Shukla and associates (with Schneider also appearing as PI) received a
new round of NSF grants in 1991, again in the name of the University of
Maryland.
Institute for Global Environment and Security, Inc. (IGES)
In 1992, Shukla, Kinter and Schneider, while still presumably
employees of the University of Maryland, appear to have submitted a
proposal to NSF for funding via a private Maryland non-profit
corporation, then recently incorporated by Shukla (the Institute for
Global Environment and Security, Inc.), as, on January 6, 1993, NSF
awarded three grants to IGES totalling $1.7 million, with Shukla, Kinter
and Schneider all acting as PIs or co-PIs. Shukla named himself
President. The present outside directors are an artist (Nora Rosenbaum)
and a photographic artist (Patricia Peck) – both of whom were related
to Jule Charney – and long-time friend of Shukla’s from Brazil (Antonio
Moura).
With the funding, Shukla established the “Center of
Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies” as a unit of the Institute for Global
Environment and Security, Inc. Kinter, Schneider, Straus and Dirmeyer
all moved from the University of Maryland in 1993 to join the new
enterprise.
In 1994, Shukla was
appointed
as Professor of Earth Sciences and Global Change at George Mason
University. Most of his COLA associates would subsequently obtain
appointments, but, in the mid-1990s, Shukla appears to have been the
only one. In 1994, IGES obtained its first five-year block grant ( a
joint grant from NSF, NOAA and NASA) in the amount of $2.25 million/year
for 1994-1998. Over the years, IGES obtained increasingly
larger five-year block grants in 1999, 2004 and 2009. IGES appears to
have obtained additional special grants from time to time.
Concurrent with awards to IGES, Shukla also obtained NSF grants in
the name of George Mason, sometimes with identical titles. The first
such award to George Mason came in 1995 with an award from NSF (Jay Fein
once again, PI – Shukla) of $1.1 million entitled “Predictability of
Short Term Climate Variations” – a very similar title to the IGES grant.
In the 1999 funding cycle, NSF awarded funds under the title
“Predictability and Variability of the Present Climate” to both IGES and
George Mason ($4.7 million and $1.25 million, respectively). It is
unclear from this limited record what the respective responsibilities of
each institution were: whether the funds were all used for the ongoing
research at the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (IGES) or
whether there was a separate program at George Mason at the time.
Over time, the base block funding increased: from $2.25 million/year
in 1994-98 to $2.75 million/year in 1999-2004, $3.25 million in
2004-2009 and $3,6 million/year in 2009-2014. In addition to block
funds, IGES also received special funds. Total funding to IGES appears
to be at least $75 million: online grant archives at NSF and NOAA show a
total of over $28 million and $22 million respectively, but NOAA
information is unavailable prior to 2001 and NASA does not provide
information on amounts (or at least I have not located it).
Concurrently, George Mason University received at least $17.5 million (the total shown in the online NSF and NOAA archives).
IGES has filed 990 forms over the years, as first brought to light by Roger Pielke Jr. and is online here as follows:
2014,
2013,
2012,
2011,
2001-2010.
Migration to George Mason
Over the years, functions and personnel of COLA (IGES) have migrated
to George Mason, intensifying in recent years. The most recent grants to
IGES Inc. appear to have been made in 2009-2010, though funding under
these grants seems to have continued until 2014-2015. In recent years,
George Mason University has made a number of announcements on the
transiation of COLA (IGES) to George Mason, but the precise terms of
each agreement are hard to figure out from the public record available
thus far.
In 2002 (eight years after Shukla), Kinter, Schneider and Straus were all appointed to the staff of the
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences
department, George Mason University in 2002, coinciding with expansion
of their climate program. All three continued their employment with IGES
(COLA), where Kinter became Director in 2004.
George Mason’s webpage includes a lengthy list of university centers
and institutions and, by January 2012 (the earliest web archived
version), the Center for Land-Ocean-Atmosphere Studies was included in
the list (
January 2012).
On May 10, 2013, George Mason University
announced that
IGES and COLA(IGES), organizations with “long-standing partnerships”
with the University, were “joining” the University and would be “located
within” the College of Science:
The Institute of Global Environment and Society
(IGES) and the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA),
independent nonprofit research entities established in Maryland with
long-standing partnerships with George Mason University, are joining
Mason’s College of Science. An event celebrating these new groups will
take place at 2 p.m. Monday, May 13, in Mason Hall, Rooms D3A and B.
IGES was established in Maryland in 1993 as a nonprofit to improve
understanding and prediction of the variations of the Earth’s climate
through scientific research on climate variability and climate
predictability, and to share both the results of this research and the
tools necessary to carry out this research with society as a whole.
As part of IGES, the world-renowned Center for
Ocean-Land-Atmosphere-Studies (COLA) will also be at Mason. COLA is
dedicated to understanding climate fluctuations on short- and long-term
scales, with special emphasis on the interactions between Earth’s
atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces.
The institute and center will be initially located within the College
of Science. All IGES and COLA staff supported by research grants will
move from Maryland to Mason, and the staff will teach and conduct their
ongoing research projects at Mason.
For the past 20 years, the National Science Foundation, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and
Space Administration have supported IGES and COLA research with an
annual funding of about $4 million.
Once again, the university’s
list of its centers in July 2013 includes the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies.
A year later (May 3, 2014), the University
announced that
Kinter and associates had been awarded $10.5 million from the
NSF-NOAA-NASA group for continuation of the COLA work, now
titled “Predictability and Prediction of Climate from Days to Decades.”:
Kinter and his team were awarded $4.5 million by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, $2.5 million by NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, and $3.5 million by the National Science
Foundation to work on a five-year project called “Predictability and
Prediction of Climate from Days to Decades.”
Kinter leads the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies based at George Mason University.
The NSF grants archive shows a grant (1338427) bearing this title in
the amount of $4.2 million with start date of Jan 1, 2014 in the name of
George Mason University, while the NOAA grant archive shows a grant
(NA04OAR4310160) of $1.8 million with start date of January 2014 also
in the name of George Mason, while I have been unable thus far to locate
the corresponding grant in the NASA archive.
Shukla Compensation
Despite the various changes in grant structure, one constant (or
rather steadily increasing amount) has been the several sources of
compensation to Shukla and his wife.
In 2001, the earliest year thus far publicly available, in 2001, in
addition to his university salary (not yet available, but presumably
about $125,000), Shukla and his wife received a further $214,496 in
compensation from IGES (Shukla -$128,796; Anne Shukla – $85,700). Their
combined compensation from IGES doubled over the next two years to
approximately $400,000 (additional to Shukla’s university salary of say
$130,000), for combined compensation of about $530,000 by 2004.
Shukla’s university salary increased dramatically over the decade
reaching $250,866 by 2013 and $314,000 by 2014. (In this latter year,
Shukla was paid much more than Ed Wegman, a George Mason professor of
similar seniority). Meanwhile, despite the apparent transition of IGES
to George Mason, the income of the Shuklas from IGES continued to
increase, reaching $547,000 by 2013. Combined with Shukla’s university
salary, the total compensation of Shukla and his wife exceeded $800,000
in both 2013 and 2014. In addition, as noted above, Shukla’s daughter
continued to be employed by IGES in 2014; IGES also distributed $100,000
from its climate grant revenue to support an educational charity in
India which Shukla had founded.
Discussion
There is a surprising link between the George Mason department and
one of my earliest adversaries at NSF, David Verardo, Mann’s handler at
NSF, who told him in 2003 that he didn’t have to provide data to me –
that Mann was entitled to his view of climate and I was entitled to
mine. Verardo’s wife,
Stacey Verardo,
is a colleague of Shukla, Kinter, Klinger and the others in the AOES
department at George Mason, while Verardo himself is a member of the
Adjunct Faculty
at George Mason. (Update: David Verardo has commented below that his
“wife is a geologist who has worked in the department long before
climate dynamics was a part of the department” and “has no professional
relationship with the climate dynamics group beyond serving in the same
department and working on instructional issues that arise at the
university” and that he himself “do not handle proposals from GMU
because of obvious conflicts of interest but even more practical, the
awards to climate dynamic research are not in my NSF program.”)
Shukla attracted attention as the lead author of the RICO20 letter, which was originally
posted at the
website
of the Institute of Global Environment and Society Inc, though the
professors all listed George Mason University as their affiliation.
Pielke Jr became curious about the institution that had chosen to
initiate this offensive letter and had the bright idea of looking up
their
990 filings, thus discovering Shukla’s double dip.
Five other George Mason employees were RICO20 signatories, four of
whom are long-time Shukla associates: Dirmeyer, Straus, Paul Schopf and
Barry Klinger. (It’s interesting that James Kinter didn’t sign it.) The
other George Mason RICO 20 signatory, Edward Maibach, is in some sort
of climate communications and, together with Heidi Cullen, holds a
$2,998,178 grant from NSF. Many of the other RICO20 signatories had
previous associations with IGES. Kevin Trenberth and Mike Wallace had
both been on its “Science Advisory Committee” in the past. Nearly all
of the RICO20 signatories, including Trenbeth andWallace, attended a
large symposium in April 2015 to honor Shukla – see picture at link.
IGES’
webpage says that its
corporate objective was to share “the fruits” of its research “with
society as a whole”, though, in practice, an equally important objective
seems to have been to share the fruits of its research funding with
Shukla (and Kinter). The sheer lucrativeness of Shukla’s deal raised
some eyebrows in
skeptic blogs, but none so far at warmist blogs, not even at Michael Tobis’ aptly named
Only In It for the Gold or among
Barry Klinger and the RICO20.
You know the President is telling a lie when he says something like this.
"I hope we can build on the progress we made at last year's G20 summits by coordinating our global financial reform efforts to make sure a crisis like the one
from which we are still recovering never happens again," he said on June 25th 2010.
