Ohio State agrees to US$2.1 million settlement over undisclosed China ties

Ohio State University has agreed to pay US$2.1 million to settle allegations that it failed to disclose employees’ links to Chinese institutions when seeking federal research grants.

The settlement covers grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation between November 2012 and August 2023. Both agencies required the public university to report foreign government support received by principal investigators or co-investigators named in grant applications.

The Justice Department alleged that annual faculty activity reports submitted to Ohio State had identified affiliations with Chinese universities and state-run research organizations since 2014, but the university did not pass that information to NASA or the NSF.

The university also learned in 2019 that a principal investigator on NASA grants had participated in the Thousand Talents Programme. The Justice Department described the initiative as a Chinese government programme created to recruit people with knowledge of, or access to, foreign technology and intellectual property.

The department said the settlement resolved allegations only. The NSF, created by Congress in 1950, funds scientific research through grants, while NASA oversees the US space programme and research in fields including aeronautics and space exploration.