Ohio State pays $2.1M for China ties

Ohio State University has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it failed to disclose its researchers' ties to Chinese institutions when applying for federal grants. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the civil settlement on Monday.

According to a Justice Department press release, the public university did not reveal affiliations its employees held with Chinese universities and state-run research organizations. These disclosures were required by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for grant applications. Both agencies mandate that applicants report any foreign government support received by principal or co-principal investigators.

The Alleged Violations

The settlement resolves claims that the university submitted annual faculty activity reports to its own institution which identified these Chinese affiliations. This internal reporting happened as far back as 2014. However, Ohio State allegedly did not pass this same information on to the federal grant-making agencies.

In one specific instance cited by the Justice Department, the university learned in 2019 that a principal investigator working on NASA grants was a participant in China's Thousand Talents Program. The department described this program as an initiative by the Chinese government "to recruit individuals with knowledge or access to foreign technology intellectual property."

Agency Requirements and Context

The NSF was established by Congress in 1950 and provides funding for scientific research through competitive grants. NASA, the U.S. space agency, oversees the national space program and conducts research in aeronautics and space exploration. Both are major sources of federal research funding for universities across the United States.

Their grant application rules explicitly require transparency about foreign ties. The Justice Department stated that both NASA and the NSF required Ohio State to disclose "foreign government support received by any principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on the grant application." The settlement alleges the university failed to meet this obligation.

The Settlement's Scope

The $2.1 million payment is a civil settlement. It specifically addresses allegations related to non-disclosure in applications and reports submitted to NASA and the NSF. The case highlights ongoing U.S. government scrutiny of academic collaborations with China, particularly in sensitive research fields funded by federal agencies.

The Justice Department's press release did not specify the total value of the grants for which the required disclosures were allegedly missing. It also did not name the individual researchers involved or the specific Chinese institutions with which they were affiliated. The settlement concludes the government's civil claims against the university without a finding of liability.

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