Ohio State University paid US$2.1 million to settle federal research funding disclosure, employees failed to report on China relations

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on August 31 that the Ohio State University agreed to pay $2.1 million for the university's failure to fully disclose the relationship of some employees with the People's Republic of China and support the civil charges when it applied for research funding from the National Aerospace Agency (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The Ministry of Justice stressed that the settlement resolved civil charges and there was no court ruling of liability.

Federal research funding disclosure obligation becomes the focus

Documents from the Department of Justice show that the funding involved the period from November 2012 to August 2023.NASA and NSF requested that the applicant disclose information such as foreign government support obtained by the project’s head and co-head.

The U.S. government claims that the annual report on faculty activity at Ohio State University since 2014 has recorded some associations with Chinese universities and state-owned research institutions, but that the information has not been fully disclosed to NASA or NSF.

The Department of Justice also said the school learned in 2019 that a head of a NASA project participated in China's "Thousand People" program, but did not notify NASA and NSF until 2023.

Ministry of Justice says research security and taxpayer funds are affected

The civil department of the U.S. Department of Justice said that universities receiving federal research funding must fully declare foreign funding and related relationships, and the disclosure system is aimed at protecting the safety of research and federal funding results.

NASA’s Office of Supervisors and NSF’s Office of Supervisors also stressed in the announcement that federal agencies rely on university accountability, funding sources and foreign support to undermine the integrity of the research funding system.

The case is handled jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice, NASA’s Office of the Attorney General, NSF’s Office of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Border of Fact*

It should be distinguished that the U.S. Department of Justice announced a civil reconciliation. The official announcement clearly states that the relevant claims dealt with in the reconciliation are allegations and have not yet been held liable. Therefore, reports cannot extend government allegations such as “unrevealed” and “thousand people planned to participate” to spying or criminal crime facts.

The case once again shows that U.S. research security review is extending from the individual level of law enforcement to the university’s own compliance responsibilities.In the future, transparency declaration and internal review procedures will remain an important regulatory focus for projects involving Chinese government support, talent programs and cooperation with research institutions.