The University of Maryland (UMD) has agreed to pay the federal government $500,000 following allegations that its researchers did not disclose funding from Chinese tech giants in their proposals for federal research grants.
Federal prosecutors claimed that the researchers, who collectively received five federal research grants between 2015 and 2020, also led projects funded by three Chinese companies: Huawei, Taobao, and Alibaba.
Regarding online retailer Taobao and its parent company Alibaba, the research projects involved “large-scale behavior learning for dense crowds” and “cyber-manufacturing of customized apparel.”
The foreign support received by the Maryland professors was allegedly not disclosed in their research grant proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of the Army.
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Both federal agencies mandate grant applicants to disclose all current and pending support, both foreign and domestic, received by their institution. The accuracy of these disclosures is crucial to prevent funding duplicative research projects and ensure that grants are awarded to those capable of executing the planned work.
“Complete and accurate disclosures are vital to federal agencies that decide on awarding federal grants,” stated U.S. Attorney Erek Barron of the District of Maryland. “Individuals and universities that knowingly fail to do so manipulate the grant awarding process in their favor and will face consequences.”
UMD Vice President for Research Gregory Ball clarified that the settlement does not imply wrongdoing by the university or its faculty members.
“The University has consistently maintained that the nondisclosures resulted from good faith interpretations of agency disclosure guidance or inadvertent clerical errors,” Mr. Ball remarked.
The settlement occurs as the U.S. government and independent organizations monitor the activities of the three high-tech Chinese companies closely.
Alibaba, the parent company of Taobao, gained attention in 2020 when it was discovered that the facial recognition feature in Alibaba’s Cloud Shield service could identify Uyghur individuals, potentially aiding the Chinese regime’s social control efforts over Uyghur Muslim communities.
Alibaba claimed that the feature was only used for testing purposes but did not explain why the testing involved Uyghur faces.
