University of Michigan professor: Grad student's firing wasn't retaliatory

Michael Hartman, an assistant professor with the U-M College of Engineering, said his student repeatedly missed deadlines on a lab project and was unresponsive to e-mails and phone calls that attempted to set goals and standards toward its completion. The troubling pattern of behavior was the primary reason the student was relieved of his duties as a graduate student research assistant early, he said.

Hartman teaches nuclear engineering and radiological science. McGee was a graduate student and pre-candidate for a PhD in the program who holds U-M bachelor's and master's degrees in aerospace engineering earned in the 80s.

Hartman had supervised McGee since 2007, though McGee had been with the program since 2004.

"The same behavioral pattern was repeating itself," Hartman testified. "I was very concerned work was not being completed in the timeline as promised."

Four days after McGee reported Hartman for two suspected violations to two regulatory agencies, Hartman e-mailed McGee Feb. 20, 2008 to say his services were no longer needed in the neutron lab he had worked in for four years. Hartman said McGee would, however, be paid through the April 30 end of his semester-long appointment, with salary, tuition reimbursement and health benefits.

McGee testified earlier in the week that his plans to continue PhD research on the neutron generator he had built in that lab "went up in smoke," and that other professors refused to work with him after Hartman terminated his assistantship.

But plans to end McGee's assistantship were in motion before the safety violations were alleged, according to testimony from Hartman Friday. Besides missed deadlines and a lack of response to e-mails and phone calls seeking more accountability on the project, funding for the position was running out, Hartman said. Conversations with department chair Bill Martin about ending McGee's assistantship occurred in Dec. 2007, before the safety violations were made, Hartman testified, though the student was re-appointed for another term after those conversations.

Contrary to McGee's testimony, Hartman denied he had spoken to his student about seeking a grant to fund the position further.

With e-mails and recollections of conversations, U-M's attorney David Masson sought to discredit not only the whistleblower allegations, but the alleged safety violations.

The alleged safety violations include that Hartman asked McGee to enter another professor's lab without her permission and without knowing whether or not a radioactive substance was active, and that Hartman poured suspected chemicals down a sink McGee feared was connected to a storm drain.

In testimony earlier this week, McGee said he feared for his safety when he entered this lab with Hartman, and that he left immediately when Hartman said he didn't know whether or not a highly radioactive Cesium 137 source was on.

Both testified that they entered the lab without a key by retrieving one from a cinder block where it was hidden, and that they were there to replace a door identified as a problem by a previous fire safety inspection.

Hartman admitted the other professor was not aware he and his student would be in her lab that day, but denied that the lab was unsafe. He said he had entered the lab alone the night prior with a safety meter to test for radiation and levels were safe. Both the other professor and regulatory group Radiation Safety Services were generally aware he needed to fix a door in the other lab, he said.

McGee reported Hartman to Radiation Safety Services for entering the lab.

McGee also reported Hartman to Occupational Safety and Environmental Health after he thought he saw his professor dumping chemicals down a sink. Hartman testified today that chemicals he worked with in the lab were always dealt with safely and under strict guidelines. He knew the recently installed sink was not connected to a storm drain, and that it was installed as part of a side project that would also include an eye-washing station and fume hood for working with chemicals.

McGee claimed that Hartman actively sought to find out who made the safety violations before firing him. But Hartman testified he was unaware that a report about his entering another lab was made until after McGee was let go. Regarding the report about dumping chemicals down the sink, Hartman admitted he asked an OSEH representative via e-mail why she was looking into the sink, but downplayed the question as simple curiosity.

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter