University of Delaware to pay over $700k to resolve civil allegations

DELAWARE – The University of Delaware has agreed to pay over $700,000 to resolve civil allegations that it failed to disclose a professor’s foreign government ties.

We’re told the school failed to disclose a professor’s affiliations with and support from the government of the People’s Republic of China in connection with federal research funding.

The settlement relates to a NASA grant issued to UD in June 2020. Since 2011, federal law has prohibited NASA from using funds to collaborate with China or any Chinese-owned companies. This settlement resolves allegations that the school caused NASA to violate the law by failing to disclose that one of the principal investigators on the grant was affiliated with the Chinese government through employment at a Chinese university, participation in a program established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with knowledge or access to foreign technology intellectual property, and a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of China.

UD agreed to pay a total of $715,580 to resolve these allegations.