Dive Brief:
- Ohio State University will pay the federal government $2.1 million to settle allegations it failed to disclose ties between its faculty and the Chinese government, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
- According to the DOJ, Ohio State faculty have internally reported affiliations with Chinese universities and research organizations run by the Chinese government since 2014. But the public university accepted federal funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation without disclosing this information, in violation of its own policies and those of both agencies, the DOJ alleged.
- Ohio State did not admit wrongdoing under the settlement. On Tuesday, a university spokesperson said Ohio State of its own volition reported a faculty member’s inappropriate foreign affiliations when it uncovered them and has "cooperated with federal authorities throughout the investigation."
Dive Insight:
The settlement covers NASA and NSF grants issued to Ohio State from November 2012 to August 2023. In its announcement Monday, the DOJ did not include the total value of those grants or break down what they were awarded for. A university spokesperson similarly did not share that data when asked on Tuesday.
Ohio State, one of the nation's most active research universities, receives significant R&D funding from the federal government. For example, NASA awarded it $10.1 million in funding in fiscal 2025, up 15% from the previous year, according to institutional data.
NASA and NSF each require universities seeking funding to disclose if any lead researchers on the grant application receive support from a foreign government, the DOJ said. And federal law bans NASA grant recipients from using federal funds while working with Chinese universities, companies owned by the Chinese government or both.
C.K. Shum, a climatologist and former Ohio State professor, is at the center of many of the DOJ's allegations. He, along with members of his lab, applied for and in some cases received funding from the Chinese government while working on the federal research grants.
Shum, a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner, also held adjunct and visiting positions with Chinese universities and research organizations while at Ohio State, the DOJ alleged.
But while he reported these ties to Ohio State annually since at least 2014, the university did not pass this information on to NASA or NSF, the settlement said.
Shum also took part in a Chinese government-run Thousand Talents program, according to the DOJ. The Chinese government says the program is a way to recruit scientists and technology experts from abroad, but U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have raised concerns that China uses the program to steal foreign intellectual property.
Ohio State learned of Shum's participation in 2019, according to the DOJ. It disclosed this information to NASA and NSF in 2023, after it had conducted an investigation into Shum.
A university spokesperson said on Tuesday that Ohio State had "suspended Shum’s principal investigator privileges, halted spending on the relevant federal awards, initiated disciplinary proceedings, and repaid the federal grant funds in question."
Ohio State terminated Shum in January, according to the spokesperson.
In January 2024, Ohio State repaid nearly $255,000 in NASA and NSF funds. A majority of that payment, roughly $215,000, went toward grants covered by this week's settlement.
The university is to pay the remaining sum, nearly $1.9 million, to fulfill the settlement obligations within a week of the Aug. 31 effective date.
Under supervision from the Trump administration, Ohio State also has three months to identify and repay any other funds the federal government deems unallowable, according to the settlement. If any are found, the university will return the funding with interest and penalties, according to the agreement terms.
Robert Steinau, senior official in NASA's Office of Inspector General, called the settlement "a major financial recovery on behalf of the American public."
"We will not tolerate institutions that conceal foreign ties and compromise national security," he said in a Monday statement. "Our cutting-edge research must not fall into the hands of our adversaries.”
