The National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 research grants to UC Berkeley in April, an attorney representing university scientists told Berkeleyside.
The grant suspensions were imposed despite a court injunction restricting them, and at least one of the suspended grants was previously canceled by NSF and restored by a court, Berkeleyside reported.
The National Science Foundation declined comment to Berkeleyside.
It is not clear why NSF suspended the grants. Jedda Foreman, a researcher at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, told Berkeleyside she reviewed an email from the university to another researcher on her team about an NSF grant suspension. According to Foreman, the university said in that email that it had received a letter from the NSF that raised concerns about foreign funding. Foreman told Berkeleyside that the Lawrence Hall of Science doesn’t receive any foreign funding, however.
“The grantees were given near-zero information about what was problematic in the execution of their grant,” said Claudia Polsky, a UC Berkeley School of Law professor representing researchers in a class action lawsuit suit they have filed contesting grant cancellations.