Intellectual property theft and economic espionage by foreign governments have become major problems in American colleges and universities. This is why federal law requires colleges to report foreign-sourced gifts and contracts of at least $250,000 in a calendar year. The Department of Education launched an investigation into foreign funding in 2019 at several major US institutions of higher education. Among the targets were Texas A&M, a network of 11 universities and eight state agencies with a $7.2 billion annual budget.
Texas A&M is reported to have received more than $700 million from overseas between 1995 and 2022, with the largest amounts coming from Qatar and China. The Department of Education closed its investigation in January 2021, and Texas A&M appeared to be in compliance with federal requirements, even claiming to have overreported the amount of foreign funding received by more than $2 million. But my analysis of publicly available documents and data shows that Texas A&M continues to report no more than $100 million in research funding originating in Russia and Qatar.
These unreported funds have paid for research at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, or TEES. Headquartered in College Station, TEES focuses on the commercialization of engineering and technology research, particularly on cyber security, nuclear non-proliferation and artificial intelligence. Under Texas education law, TEES is “a part of the Texas A&M University System under the management and control of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System.”
Russian entities have funded projects on hydrocarbon reservoir modeling at TEES. Qatar-supported research has been broad-based, generally focused on advancing technological capabilities for the small Gulf state. Projects range from cybersecurity enhancements to medical advances to better oil-recovery practices.
According to the Department of Education’s College Foreign Gift Reporting Database, Texas A&M has never received any funding from Russian entities. But TEES and the Russian university Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, struck a deal worth about $4 million (211,635,000 Russian rubles) in November 2014, just months after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.
This wasn’t the only deal with Skoltech at the time: John Kilo, a professor of petroleum engineering, secured an $8.7 million grant with Skoltech in 2013. Both deals were eventually canceled – in 2016 and 2015 respectively – and Mr Kilf said in an email that he had caused premature cancellations in 2013 due to “the devaluation of the ruble” and “sanctions for the Crimean invasion”. Received less than $3.2 million for a grant of “somewhat”.
Skoltech was founded in 2011 through a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In February 2022, MIT cut ties With Skoltec in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I also examined the eight contract TEES signed between 2010 and 2019 with the Qatar National Research Fund. These deals were collectively close to $100 million. The research fund is supported by the Qatari government and requires all grant proposals to address how funding the research will benefit the energy-rich Gulf state. Qatar has become the largest foreign donor to US universities in recent years, even as these schools have faced criticism for working with a country that supports censorship and permits migrant workers. Subject to poor working conditions.
in June 2019 Letter To Texas A&M, the Department of Education explained that its guidelines for Section 117 of the Higher Education Act require University to report all funding from “affiliated foundations and non-profit organizations” that operate “substantially for-profit or under the auspices of Texas A&M University.”
But TEES spokeswoman Lisa Akin told me via email that TEES is “not a university or college” and is, therefore, exempt from these reporting requirements. According to Ms. Akin, TEES “is not an arbitrator and does not act on behalf of Texas A&M University.”
This is not true, for three reasons.
First, Texas A&M and its affiliated branch campuses often benefit from these contracts. Of the 110 foreign-funded TEES research projects I looked at, 106 listed Texas A&M professors or researchers as principal investigators. Some professors even listed these projects on their resume To demonstrate the funds they’ve drawn to Texas A&M, not TEES. Projects sometimes specify that the research will use Texas A&M facilities. A project under the 2014 Skoltech agreement, “High-Performance Simulations in Conventional Onshore Reservoirs,” clearly states that this is “planned research at Texas A&M University.” Several projects are also listed in research agreements with the Qatar National Research Fund in which Texas A&M or one of its branch campuses is a sub-award winner. These efforts benefit the university and use Texas A&M facilities and personnel.
Second, the Qatar National Research Fund would never have approved many of these projects if Texas A&M had not had a campus in Qatar, which it does. research fund only accepts offers From entities based in Qatar. While TEES now has a “division” in the country, it is based on Texas A&M University-Qatar.
Third, Texas A&M officials are involved in these contracts. Dimitris Lagoudas, a Texas A&M professor of aerospace engineering affiliated with TEES, was listed as an “authorized representative” in the 2014 Skoltech agreement under the title of “Texas A&M Associate Vice Chancellor for Research”. Even though TEES refuses to believe that it often acts on behalf of Texas A&M, a 2015 $4.7 million contract with the Qatar National Research Fund explicitly states that the research is “a Texas A&M in Qatar research program”. And under the aegis of M University”.
Texas A&M-Qatar Dean Cesar O Malway recently signed a contract on TEES’s behalf with the Qatar National Research Fund until November 2019 and marked it with the official Texas A&M Seal. Texas A&M officials sometimes signed two separate grant agreements with the Qatar National Research Fund on the same day: one for the university and the other apparently for TEES. The University’s agreements were reported to the Department of Education. There were no TEES agreements, although they were generally more lucrative.
Evidence indicates that TEES and Texas A&M are essentially the same entity, at least for the purposes of Section 117 reporting. And Qatari funds may only scratch the surface of the foreign funds Texas A&M has received but not reported. TEES has or has partnered with institutions in India, Saudi Arabia and Japan. There are seven other Texas A&M state agencies that must also be required to report foreign funds. If they don’t, the Department of Education must resume its investigation at Texas A&M.
Foreign funding disclosure is essential to protect US national security and promote transparency, especially in security-related research areas such as TEES. Americans should know if foreign countries – and which ones – are vying for influence in the top US research institutions. The Biden administration’s lax enforcement of Section 117 continues to send the message to universities that disclosure of foreign funding does not matter.
Ms. Arnold is a senior research associate at the National Association of Scholars.
Wonder Land: As former PGA Tour professionals follow money to LIV, the game in the new Saudi Golf League is talking about scandal, humiliation and murder. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters Overall: Mark Kelly
opinion | Texas A&M’s Unreported Foreign Funding
Intellectual property theft and economic espionage by foreign governments have become major problems in American colleges and universities. This is why federal law requires colleges to report foreign-sourced gifts and contracts of at least $250,000 in a calendar year. The Department of Education launched an investigation into foreign funding in 2019 at several major US institutions of higher education. Among the targets were Texas A&M, a network of 11 universities and eight state agencies with a $7.2 billion annual budget.
Texas A&M is reported to have received more than $700 million from overseas between 1995 and 2022, with the largest amounts coming from Qatar and China. The Department of Education closed its investigation in January 2021, and Texas A&M appeared to be in compliance with federal requirements, even claiming to have overreported the amount of foreign funding received by more than $2 million. But my analysis of publicly available documents and data shows that Texas A&M continues to report no more than $100 million in research funding originating in Russia and Qatar.
These unreported funds have paid for research at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, or TEES. Headquartered in College Station, TEES focuses on the commercialization of engineering and technology research, particularly on cyber security, nuclear non-proliferation and artificial intelligence. Under Texas education law, TEES is “a part of the Texas A&M University System under the management and control of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System.”
Russian entities have funded projects on hydrocarbon reservoir modeling at TEES. Qatar-supported research has been broad-based, generally focused on advancing technological capabilities for the small Gulf state. Projects range from cybersecurity enhancements to medical advances to better oil-recovery practices.
According to the Department of Education’s College Foreign Gift Reporting Database, Texas A&M has never received any funding from Russian entities. But TEES and the Russian university Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, struck a deal worth about $4 million (211,635,000 Russian rubles) in November 2014, just months after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.
This wasn’t the only deal with Skoltech at the time: John Kilo, a professor of petroleum engineering, secured an $8.7 million grant with Skoltech in 2013. Both deals were eventually canceled – in 2016 and 2015 respectively – and Mr Kilf said in an email that he had caused premature cancellations in 2013 due to “the devaluation of the ruble” and “sanctions for the Crimean invasion”. Received less than $3.2 million for a grant of “somewhat”.
Skoltech was founded in 2011 through a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In February 2022, MIT cut ties With Skoltec in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I also examined the eight contract TEES signed between 2010 and 2019 with the Qatar National Research Fund. These deals were collectively close to $100 million. The research fund is supported by the Qatari government and requires all grant proposals to address how funding the research will benefit the energy-rich Gulf state. Qatar has become the largest foreign donor to US universities in recent years, even as these schools have faced criticism for working with a country that supports censorship and permits migrant workers. Subject to poor working conditions.
in June 2019 Letter To Texas A&M, the Department of Education explained that its guidelines for Section 117 of the Higher Education Act require University to report all funding from “affiliated foundations and non-profit organizations” that operate “substantially for-profit or under the auspices of Texas A&M University.”
But TEES spokeswoman Lisa Akin told me via email that TEES is “not a university or college” and is, therefore, exempt from these reporting requirements. According to Ms. Akin, TEES “is not an arbitrator and does not act on behalf of Texas A&M University.”
This is not true, for three reasons.
First, Texas A&M and its affiliated branch campuses often benefit from these contracts. Of the 110 foreign-funded TEES research projects I looked at, 106 listed Texas A&M professors or researchers as principal investigators. Some professors even listed these projects on their resume To demonstrate the funds they’ve drawn to Texas A&M, not TEES. Projects sometimes specify that the research will use Texas A&M facilities. A project under the 2014 Skoltech agreement, “High-Performance Simulations in Conventional Onshore Reservoirs,” clearly states that this is “planned research at Texas A&M University.” Several projects are also listed in research agreements with the Qatar National Research Fund in which Texas A&M or one of its branch campuses is a sub-award winner. These efforts benefit the university and use Texas A&M facilities and personnel.
Second, the Qatar National Research Fund would never have approved many of these projects if Texas A&M had not had a campus in Qatar, which it does. research fund only accepts offers From entities based in Qatar. While TEES now has a “division” in the country, it is based on Texas A&M University-Qatar.
Third, Texas A&M officials are involved in these contracts. Dimitris Lagoudas, a Texas A&M professor of aerospace engineering affiliated with TEES, was listed as an “authorized representative” in the 2014 Skoltech agreement under the title of “Texas A&M Associate Vice Chancellor for Research”. Even though TEES refuses to believe that it often acts on behalf of Texas A&M, a 2015 $4.7 million contract with the Qatar National Research Fund explicitly states that the research is “a Texas A&M in Qatar research program”. And under the aegis of M University”.
Texas A&M-Qatar Dean Cesar O Malway recently signed a contract on TEES’s behalf with the Qatar National Research Fund until November 2019 and marked it with the official Texas A&M Seal. Texas A&M officials sometimes signed two separate grant agreements with the Qatar National Research Fund on the same day: one for the university and the other apparently for TEES. The University’s agreements were reported to the Department of Education. There were no TEES agreements, although they were generally more lucrative.
Evidence indicates that TEES and Texas A&M are essentially the same entity, at least for the purposes of Section 117 reporting. And Qatari funds may only scratch the surface of the foreign funds Texas A&M has received but not reported. TEES has or has partnered with institutions in India, Saudi Arabia and Japan. There are seven other Texas A&M state agencies that must also be required to report foreign funds. If they don’t, the Department of Education must resume its investigation at Texas A&M.
Foreign funding disclosure is essential to protect US national security and promote transparency, especially in security-related research areas such as TEES. Americans should know if foreign countries – and which ones – are vying for influence in the top US research institutions. The Biden administration’s lax enforcement of Section 117 continues to send the message to universities that disclosure of foreign funding does not matter.
Ms. Arnold is a senior research associate at the National Association of Scholars.
Wonder Land: As former PGA Tour professionals follow money to LIV, the game in the new Saudi Golf League is talking about scandal, humiliation and murder. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters Overall: Mark Kelly
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