Stanford University agreed to pay the federal government $1.9 million in a settlement over allegations that it did not disclose support to faculty members made by foreign nations.
The Department of Justice claimed that the university did not release pending or current support for 12 faculty members from foreign counties when the California school applied for federal research money, The Hill said.
"The settlement relates to research grants that Stanford received between 2015 and 2020 from five federal agencies: the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)," the DOJ said on its website.
"All of these agencies require grant applicants to disclose all current and pending support received by the institution and the principal investigators (PIs) and co-PIs on the grant proposals. Current and pending support is defined as all resources from whatever source — including foreign government sources — that are made available to researchers in support of and or related to their research endeavors.
"The United States alleged that on 16 grant proposals submitted to the Army, Navy, NASA and NSF, Stanford knowingly failed to disclose current and pending foreign funding that 11 Stanford PIs and co-PIs had received or expected to receive in direct support of their research.
"The United States further alleged that Stanford knowingly failed to disclose to the Army, Air Force and NSF that a Stanford professor received research funding in connection with his employment at Fudan University, a foreign public university and from a foreign government's national science foundation. In connection with the settlement, Stanford has agreed to work with the NSF Office of the Chief of Research Security Strategy and Policy on best practices in the areas identified by the United States."
Brian M. Boynton, principal deputy assistant attorney general and assistant head of the DOJ's Civil Division, said: "The department will continue to ensure that grant applicants submit complete and truthful disclosures, so the government has full transparency into the applicant's funding sources."
"Complete and accurate disclosures by principal investigators and universities of current and pending support are essential to federal agencies that make decisions on awarding federal grants," said U.S. Attorney Erek Barron for the District of Maryland. "Those individuals and universities that knowingly fail to do so skew the grant awarding process in their favor and will be held accountable."
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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