Corporate funding of Marcellus Shale studies at universities raises alarms
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Penn State has one of the most extensive collections of Marcellus shale cores. Each core costs about $20,000 to extract using specialized equipment. University researchers rely on industry money to pay for these rocks. -
Mike Arthur, geologist and co-director of Penn State's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. He says Penn State's relationship with the gas drilling industry doesn't influence what topics university researchers study. -
Dan Kohl, 23, a master's student in Penn State's Department of Geosciences, holds a shale core. He has a job lined up after he graduates working in Marcellus Shale for Chevron.
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As development of the Marcellus Shale spreads across Pennsylvania, Penn State University has taken a central role in doing research about the industry, from its economic impact to its geological properties.
Some of the research is paid for by companies extracting the gas, according to petroleum geologists who do the work. But the state-related university, which took in $214 million in taxpayer funding last year, declined to say how much individual companies spend or what the money pays for.
Universities welcome the money and say there's no impact on their research, but critics are concerned that the lack of transparency is dangerous to independence.
"The problem is that, increasingly, universities are very secretive about the terms under which they're signing these research contracts," says Jennifer Washburn, a journalist and author of the book "University, Inc.," which details industry's increasing ties to academia.
"I think there's a real danger right now that universities are accepting too much work that is not scientifically interesting separate from what, let's say, Exxon Mobil wants for its own commercial interests," Ms. Washburn said.
Graphic: Research dollars at Penn State UniversityGraphic: Research dollars at University of Pittsburgh
Allegheny Front: More on how Marcellus research is funded
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PG video: Universities counter that corporate-sponsored research is done under the same academic standards as any publicly funded study.
"Penn State would not jeopardize its vast research enterprise ... by doing less-than-rigorous research that is sponsored by industry," Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
Corporations paid for 6 percent of all research, or $3.2 billion at U.S. universities in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, according to a National Science Foundation study.
At Penn State, the percentage is even higher. The school ranks fourth in the country in corporate research support, behind Duke University, Ohio State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For decades, it has maintained research relationships with companies such as Bayer, Dow and ConocoPhillips.
First Published November 7, 2011 1:54 am
