The Ohio State University has agreed to a $2.1 million federal settlement over allegations that foreign affiliations and funding connected to researchers were not fully disclosed in NASA and National Science Foundation grant applications, making it the latest U.S. university to resolve similar claims involving foreign research support.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Ohio State University has agreed to pay $2.1 million to resolve federal allegations that it failed to disclose researchers’ affiliations and financial connections with Chinese institutions while seeking taxpayer-funded research grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation.
The settlement, announced Monday by the Justice Department, covers federal research funding awarded between November 2012 and August 2023.
Federal investigators alleged that Ohio State possessed information showing affiliations between university personnel and Chinese universities or research organizations but did not fully disclose those relationships when applying for certain federal grants.
“American universities that benefit from the federal government’s support for scientific research and advancement must fully disclose all foreign funding in their grant applications,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said. “We will continue to hold accountable any university that fails to comply with disclosure requirements designed to protect research security and federally funded scientific achievements.”
The settlement does not constitute a finding that Ohio State violated the law.
According to the eight-page agreement signed by the university and the federal government, “the settlement agreement is neither an admission of liability by OSU nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded.”
Ohio State said it agreed to resolve the dispute to “avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of protracted litigation of claims.”
The federal allegations center on disclosure requirements attached to research funding.
Universities receiving federal research grants are generally required to provide complete information about other sources of support, foreign affiliations and outside research relationships involving principal investigators and other personnel.
NASA-funded researchers also face restrictions on using federal grant money in collaboration with China, Chinese government-operated universities or Chinese government-owned companies.
The government alleged that beginning in 2014, Ohio State’s internal Faculty Activity Reports contained information about affiliations involving Chinese universities and research organizations.
According to the federal government, those relationships were not correspondingly disclosed in certain applications submitted to NASA and the National Science Foundation.
The dispute specifically involved former Ohio State professor C.K. Shum and other personnel working in his laboratory.
The settlement agreement states that Ohio State denies allegations that it failed to disclose that Shum and other members of the lab were affiliated with Chinese entities, appeared on applications seeking research funding from the People’s Republic of China, received Chinese funding or maintained other relationships that should have been reported while working on NASA- and NSF-funded research.
One of the most significant events cited by investigators occurred in 2019.
Ohio State learned that one of the principal investigators involved in a federal research grant had participated in China’s Thousand Talents Program, a government-backed recruitment initiative designed to attract scientists and researchers with access to advanced technology, expertise and intellectual property.
The university did not inform NASA or the NSF about that information until 2023, according to the allegations resolved by the settlement.
The amount Ohio State will pay is substantial but represents only a small portion of the federal research funding flowing to the university.
A senior official in NASA’s Office of Inspector General described the resolution as a “major financial recovery on behalf of the American public.”
Ohio State nevertheless received more than $81 million from the NSF alone in 2024.
Not all of that funding involved researchers with Chinese affiliations, and the settlement addresses specific allegations rather than Ohio State’s overall federal research portfolio.
The case is the latest in a series of settlements involving allegations that American universities failed to disclose foreign support or affiliations when applying for federally funded research.
Stanford University agreed in October 2023 to pay $1.9 million to settle allegations involving undisclosed foreign research support, although the foreign country involved was not clearly identified as China.
The University of Maryland followed in July 2024, agreeing to pay $500,000 over allegations that three researchers failed to disclose current and pending funding from Chinese entities on federal grant applications.
Two months later, the Research Foundation of the State University of New York at Albany agreed to pay $313,000 to resolve allegations that a university researcher’s Chinese affiliations and research support were omitted from three grant applications.
The Ohio State case adds renewed attention to the Thousand Talents Program and other Chinese research recruitment initiatives that have been scrutinized by U.S. officials over concerns about technology transfer and national security.
Earlier this year, the American Accountability Foundation reported finding nearly two dozen Chinese academics working at prominent American colleges and universities who it said presented concerns because of the “dual-use threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in China, and/or clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
The nonprofit recommended that the academics be removed from their positions.
Just the News reported on those findings as scrutiny intensified over the continuing presence of researchers linked to Chinese state talent programs at U.S. institutions.
China no longer maintains a public website for the Thousand Talents Program, but the initiative has been identified as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader United Front system.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has referred to the United Front Work Department as “an important magic weapon for the party to defeat the enemy.”
The Justice Department has previously described the Thousand Talents Program as “one of the most prominent Chinese talent recruitment plans that are designed to attract, recruit, and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security.”
The American Accountability Foundation identified Chinese academics working at institutions including Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Brown University, Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, Penn State University, Michigan State University, Indiana University and the University of Southern California.
The broader issue has extended beyond civilian research agencies.
In August, the Pentagon ordered 30 universities to examine their financial and research relationships with foreign entities, including China, and warned that institutions failing to satisfy the requirements could risk federal research funding.
Universities receiving the audit demands included Harvard, New York University, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Berkeley, Oklahoma State University, Penn State and others, according to Fox News.
Federal concerns have also grown over Chinese students, researchers and scholars with alleged ties to Chinese Communist Party organizations, military research institutions or technology-transfer efforts.
Previous reporting has examined those concerns across U.S. campuses, particularly as Washington has placed greater emphasis on protecting research funded by American taxpayers.
The Ohio State settlement does not establish that the university intentionally transferred research to China or that the allegations in the federal case were proven at trial.
Instead, it resolves the government’s claims that required information concerning foreign affiliations and support was not properly disclosed in connection with certain NASA and NSF grants.
The agreement also leaves intact Ohio State’s denial of liability.
But the case adds another major research institution to a growing list of universities that have paid the federal government to resolve disputes over foreign-funding transparency.
For the Justice Department, the central issue is increasingly straightforward: universities seeking federal research dollars are expected to provide the government with a complete picture of who else is funding, supporting or affiliated with the researchers conducting taxpayer-financed work.
With federal agencies, inspectors general and the Pentagon intensifying scrutiny of foreign research relationships, the $2.1 million Ohio State settlement signals that undisclosed connections with Chinese institutions can now carry significant financial consequences even years after the underlying grants were awarded.
Original article
Comments