Edward Wegman

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In 2006, Republican Congressman Joe Barton chose Wegman to assist the House Energy and Commerce Committee in its inquiry criticizing the multi-proxy paleoclimate reconstructions which had been dubbed the "hockey stick graph". Wegman produced a report and offered testimony supporting published papers disputing the methodology and data used by the climate scientists. [6] The legitimacy of this investigation was disputed, and Sherwood Boehlert as chairman of the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology arranged for an investigation by the National Research Council, the North Report which found that the Wegman committee's conclusions lacked substance. [7]

In October 2010, George Mason University announced they were conducting a formal investigation into charges of plagiarism and misconduct related to the Wegman Report. [8] In November 2010, USA Today reported that the "review of the 91-page report, by three experts... found repeated instances of passages lifted word for word and what appear to be thinly disguised paraphrases" of wording taken from the textbook Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary, as well as erroneous citations of data. [9] Wegman criticized the "speculation and conspiracy theory" in the original allegations, and said that "these attacks are unprecedented" in his long career. [9] A Nature editorial in May 2011 called the delays in GMU's inquiry "disheartening," as "long misconduct investigations do not serve anyone, except perhaps university public-relations departments that might hope everyone will have forgotten about a case by the time it wraps up," and urged resolution "as speedily as possible while allowing time for due process." [10]

In May 2011 the journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis retracted a 2008 social network analysis based on the Wegman Report by Yasmin Said, Wegman, and others, because the paper used portions of other authors' writings without sufficient attribution. [11] The lawyer for both authors said they stood by their work. [12] Subsequently, USA Today reported additional concerns about separate 2009 review article authored by Wegman and Said which contained material copied without attribution from Wikipedia. Wegman, his attorney, and George Mason University declined to comment on the allegations. [3]

Ultimately, an investigation by George Mason University was completed in February 2012. The investigation found that regarding the Congressional Wegman Report, "no misconduct was involved"; while "extensive paraphrasing of another work did occur, in a background section... the work was repeatedly referenced and the committee found that the paraphrasing did not constitute misconduct". A separate university committee examining Said & Wegman's 2008 publication, based on the Wegman report, found "that plagiarism occurred in contextual sections of the article, as a result of poor judgment for which Professor Wegman, as team leader, must bear responsibility." The university's reports were not made public, but it was announced that Wegman was to receive an "official letter of reprimand" as a consequence. [13] The decision was decried by Raymond S. Bradley, one of the scientists whose work had been copied without attribution by Said & Wegman; Bradley argued that the findings would encourage GMU students to think it acceptable to copy work without attribution. [13]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Symposium on Data Science and Statistics – Beyond Big Data: Leading the Way – Honoring Dr. Edward Wegman". George Mason University. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 Gelman, Andrew; Babsøll, Thomas. "To Throw Away Data: Plagiarism as a Statistical Crime". American Scientist . 101 (3): 168. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 Vergano, Dan (October 5, 2011). "More Wikipedia copying from climate critics". USA Today . Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "Alumni Association distinguished alumni awards". University of Iowa. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007.
  5. ↑ ASA Founders Award winners
  6. ↑ Wegman, Edward J.; Said, Yasmin H.; Scott, David W. (2006), "Ad Hoc Committee Report On The 'Hockey Stick' Global Climate Reconstruction" (PDF), Congressional Report, United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce (published 14 July 2006), archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2006
  7. ↑ Powell, James Lawrence (13 August 2013). The Inquisition of Climate Science. Columbia University Press. pp. 229–230. ISBN   978-0-231-52784-2.
  8. ↑ "University investigating prominent climate science critic". USA Today. October 8, 2010.
  9. 1 2 Vergano, Dan (November 22, 2010). "Experts claim 2006 climate report plagiarized". USA Today.
  10. ↑ "Copy and paste". Nature. 473 (7348): 419–420. 2011. Bibcode:2011Natur.473R.419.. doi: 10.1038/473419b . PMID   21614031.
  11. ↑ "Journal Retracts Disputed Network Analysis Paper on Climate". Science. June 2, 2011. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
  12. ↑ Vergano, Dan (May 15, 2011). "Climate study gets pulled after charges of plagiarism". USA Today.
  13. 1 2 Vergano, Dan (February 22, 2012). "University reprimands climate science critic for plagiarism". USA Today . Retrieved 23 February 2012.
Edward Wegman
Academic background
Education Saint Louis University (B.S. 1965)
University of Iowa (Ph.D. 1968)
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