Reports that a former University professor misused National Science Foundation grant money were recently chalked up to "accounting mistakes" made while working under pressure.

Robert A. Wood, former associate professor of finance, said the intense pressure of working on the Brady Commission -- a task force formed by former President Reagan to study the stock market crash in 1987 -- led to the mistakes.

"This intense effort put great pressure on me and my staff. . . . In this high-pressure environment, some accounting mistakes were made in allocating charges between the NSF grants and the Treasury Department grants which resulted in a reimbursement to the NSF by PSU," according to a statement released yesterday by Wood through his lawyer, R. Bruce Manchester.

The Treasury Department provided Wood with a grant when he joined the commission, according to the statement.

Manchester confirmed that Wood and University officials reached a civil contractual agreement in which the professor would return $11,842 to the NSF grant, but refused to comment further. The Centre Daily Times reported Sunday that the agreement had been carried out without informing the NSF. The University audit originally recommended that Wood repay more than $32,000 to the NSF grant, according to the article.

Wood, who is now working at Memphis State University, did not inform the NSF that money was returned to the grant because Wood negotiated with University auditors, Manchester said.

Bill Mahon, University director of public information, said that at the time there was no policy requiring the University to notify the NSF, but added that the University has since added its own policy.

Both Wood and Manchester disagree with aspects of Penn State's audit, according to the statement.

"One aspect of these differences concerned the application of certain Penn State regulations. Since I was leaving to accept an offer from Memphis State, in order to settle the differences I agreed to make a single payment of $11,842," Wood wrote in the statement.

Mahon refused to comment on specific details of the matter, due to a confidentiality agreement between Wood and the University.

Mahon added that he was unsure whether the University would release a statement.

Wood heads a non-profit foundation called the Institute for the Study of Security Markets, according to the article. It acts as a database project, according to the statement.

That group decided the executive director, Wood, should receive adequate compensation, according to the statement.

Paul Rigby, associate dean for research and graduate programs, referred questions to Mahon to avoid any confusion or miscommunication regarding the information.

Wood also questioned whether the final report and later actions of the NSF substantiate serious charges, according to the statement. An example of this is the difference in meaning between the word "misuse," used in the first report, to the word "misapplication," used in the second report, according to the statement.

Wood denies the NSF funded any activities at Memphis State since his arrival in 1990, as reported in Sunday's Centre Daily Times.