As El Paso celebrated the January 2024 announcement that the National Science Foundation had awarded a grant that could generate up to $160 million to the area, the project’s leaders worried that University of Texas at El Paso officials were trying to force them out and take control of the grant.
A Feb. 2 memo from Ahmad Itani, vice president of Research and Innovation, told Ahsan Choudhuri, then associate vice president and leader of UTEP’s Aerospace Center; and Ryan Wicker, director and founder of the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation, that the university needed to provide “appropriate governance, oversight and accountability measures.”
The memo included directives such as how Itani should be the UTEP representative on the governance board of the Paso del Norte Defense and Aerospace Innovation Engine. The El Paso-based program was one of 10 NSF-approved projects that were supposed to support nonprofits, governments, industry and academia as they developed concepts for technologies and processes that would boost the region’s economy.
The note earned a swift reaction from Choudhuri, the principal investigator, and Wicker, the co-PI, who had both managed numerous grants in the millions of dollars since they joined UTEP in 2001. Both considered Itani’s orders as unsupportive of their efforts and as an attempt to get them to leave the university and their NSF grant.
“I must say I am stunned,” Choudhuri wrote in an email to Itani on Feb. 5. “This unilateral and utterly heavy-handed approach is so unprecedented and undoubtedly will cause massive damage to Ryan and my programs.”
Choudhuri and Wicker both said in emails to Itani that they believed UTEP leadership was seeking to force them to leave the university. The email exchange came more than two months before UTEP initiated an internal review that led to Choudhuri being removed as leader of the Aerospace Center he founded more than 20 years ago.
Itani and UTEP’s Division of Marketing and Communications did not respond to questions submitted by El Paso Matters regarding the exchange of emails and memos that continued through March 4.
The correspondence between Itani, Choudhuri and Wicker often included copies to Susie Byrd, Aerospace Center director of Economic Development and Workforce Excellence, and Andrea Cortinas, UTEP vice president and chief of staff. The correspondence was shared with El Paso Matters by a person who asked that they not be identified for fear of retaliation. Wicker confirmed the authenticity of the emails.
Choudhuri and Wicker declined El Paso Matters’ request for comment on the email exchange with Itani.
Email exchange and hard feelings
Itani’s initial email started on a congratulatory note about the NSF grant, which was announced Jan. 29. He thanked Wicker and Choudhuri for their hard work and dedication, and predicted that the grant could transform the community.
He added that the project would require “university-wide collaboration and support to succeed.” In an attached memo, Itani listed his directives.
Along with being on the governance board, he wanted to revise the budget, which is allowed within 30 days of the award, to add an employee who would assess and analyze aspects of the project and who would answer to him. He directed the principal investigators to involve him, his designee or Cortinas in any meetings or reports that involved the NSF. He also promised to appoint a “senior University committee” of people outside the Aerospace Center that would assess the project’s progress.
Lastly, he asked for a plan on how the principal investigators planned to handle the federal grant requirements regarding diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility because of Texas’ Senate Bill 17, which passed in 2023 and eliminated DEI offices in higher education institutions.
The next morning, a Saturday, Choudhuri acknowledged receipt of Itani’s memo and said he would respond after he reviewed its contents. That afternoon, Wicker responded to Itani’s memo and unleashed his frustration.
He pointed out that the university’s senior leadership, save for a passing recognition from College of Engineering Dean Kenith Meissner II, failed to acknowledge how the NSF awarded that major grant to him and Choudhuri. He considered it unsupportive and lamented how that kind of culture creates a difficult work environment.
“I can only assume that the intent of the UTEP administration is for the two of us (him and Choudhuri) to leave, rescind the grant, and cause damage to UTEP, the City and County, numerous other collaborators and especially the community and students we serve,” Wicker wrote in a Feb. 3 email to Itani.
On Feb. 5, Choudhuri emailed Itani that he agreed with Wicker. “I also concluded that the real intent behind this is to get Ryan and me to leave.”
In reference to Itani’s Feb. 2 memo, Wicker said he and Choudhuri were established researchers who had earned substantial grants through the years.
“I personally find your memo as one not of support but one of a lack of confidence in our abilities,” he wrote. “If support is your intent, then why now and why not during this process? Why not ask us what we need?”
UTEP’s requests, and researchers’ response
On March 4, Wicker and Choudhuri sent Itani a memo that offered a point-by-point response to his Feb. 2 memo directives. They reminded Itani that the Choudhuri-Wicker team and UTEP’s research office had been working with the NSF on the budget and terms and conditions, and that the Aerospace Center’s Byrd had continued to brief him throughout the process.
“At no time during that process did you or your team provide us with additional feedback about items you wanted added or considered as it related to the budget or Governance, Oversight and Accountability,” the two leaders wrote.
The March 4 memo said that the revised budget was reviewed and approved by the UTEP research office, and NSF performed a full budget analysis in December 2023. The proposal’s terms and conditions were negotiated with NSF in December and the research office accepted those terms on Dec. 7. Choudhuri and Wicker wrote that the requests in Itani’s Feb. 3 memo surprised them “because the requests are so out of line with UTEP and academic practice.”
The pair wrote that they hoped that they could count on UTEP’s continued support as was promised to NSF representatives who conducted a site visit in September 2023.
According to the March 4 memo, UTEP requested two spots on the governance board, but NSF was “adamant” that UTEP only could have one representative on the board and that person had to be the principal investigator/CEO, which was Choudhuri.
The Choudhuri/Wicker memo addressed Itani’s other requests in his Feb. 2 email.
The proposal could not add the position Itani requested because the grant budget would not support such a position, and it duplicates an existing position that would go to a third-party contractor with significant experience in place-based economic development, Choudhuri and Wicker wrote.
According to the writers, “Adding a grant-funded position that does not support the grant objectives (and actually takes away resources that are needed to successfully complete the grant), who is not supervised by the PI/co-PI, and who does not report to the PI/co-PI is highly unusual, is contrary to academic practice, contrary to effective operations, and we believe would raise ‘red flags’ with the NSF team.” Wicker and Choudhuri suggested the university use indirect costs built into the grant to fund the position.
Itani ordered that he and Cortinas would review and approve the composition of the governance board as well as the proposed budget. The writers countered that those are decisions for the PI/co-PI and core partners.
The vice president requested the PIs submit NSF-bound draft reports to him or his designee seven days before the NSF deadline. Choudhuri and Wicker said that would be a burden to the Aerospace Center without additional administrative resources, add to the bureaucracy and delay the program’s processes, but they would comply if necessary. They asked if this was a new policy and, if so, if it was in writing and if it applied to all faculty.
Itani also requested to be informed of all meetings and interactions with the NSF on this project so that he or a designee could attend. Wicker and Choudhuri said that it was a standing practice to include research office staff in meetings with the NSF related to budget, compliance and administration, and that he was invited to those meetings as well as any material meetings with the NSF. Choudhuri and Wicker said that it was not possible or feasible to include Itani and his staff in all NSF interactions, especially the low-level or informal meetings.
Wicker and Choudhuri wrote that there will be issues to work through with the NSF that are academic, scientific, sensitive, highly technical, or strategic in nature that require the judgment and discretion of the PI/co-PI.
“These are areas where our academic freedom must be observed and respected and where our responsibility as PI/co-PI must be recognized, as we are ultimately responsible for the grant outcomes,” they wrote.
Additionally, Itani wanted to set up a senior university committee of members outside the Aerospace Center to assess the progress and results of the grant, and to advise him on the strategic resources needed.
Wicker and Choudhuri suggested that they could report to Itani on a regular basis such as every three months.
Itani also asked for a plan by Feb. 7 – five days after his email, which was sent on a Friday – that detailed how Wicker and Choudhuri plan to abide by the NSF’s requirements regarding diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and the state’s Senate Bill 17.
Wicker and Choudhuri wrote that they would provide him and UTEP’s legal office with a draft of the DEIA plan before they submitted it to NSF to ensure compliance with SB 17. They wrote that they were working with the university’s lawyers on this issue.
UTEP ousts Choudhuri and NSF suspends grant
UTEP’s internal auditor began a review of the NSF grant proposal in March, and in April reported finding some possible incorrect statements – an accusation Choudhuri has vehemently disputed. UTEP President Heather Wilson removed Choudhuri from leadership of the Aerospace Center after the internal review, though he remained a tenured professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
Wicker’s roles at UTEP have not changed since the grant announcement.
On April 26, the NSF suspended its grant for the Paso del Norte Defense and Aerospace Innovation Engine pending further review, but did not state specific reasons.
The project involved 18 partners from eight counties in West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Among the partners are the city and county of El Paso, Spaceport America, Workforce Solutions Borderplex, El Paso Community College, the Rio Grande Council of Governments, and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining.
The coalition was led by Wicker and Choudhuri.
UTEP said in a May 6 announcement that the NSF directed the university to suspend work on the grant pending further review. NSF’s Office of the Inspector General said in a May 28 email to El Paso Matters that it could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
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