El Paso’s top elected officials criticized UTEP President Heather Wilson in a letter Wednesday, saying her actions this week involving the university’s Aerospace Center “will impact the economic future of our entire region and jeopardize a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
Mayor Oscar Leeser, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar sent the letter two days after the University of Texas at El Paso announced that the National Science Foundation had suspended a major economic development grant. Wilson also removed Ahsan Choudhuri as head of the Aerospace Center he founded.
“We are extremely concerned with the announcement regarding the removal of Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri as the head of the Aerospace Center at UTEP. Dr. Choudhuri’s involvement and leadership (have) been instrumental in moving this initiative forward. His removal will impact the economic future of our entire region and jeopardize a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We cannot even fathom what would lead you to take such a negative action toward our community given that the National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General investigation is ongoing,” the letter said.
University of Texas System officials issued a statement Thursday supporting Wilson’s actions regarding the NSF grant and the Aerospace Center.
“The University of Texas at El Paso President Heather Wilson has fully briefed us and the entire UT System Board of Regents on matters regarding UTEP’s Aerospace Center and the facts regarding the removal of Dr. Choudhuri as its leader. We are unwavering in our support of her decisions on the matter, and we know they were guided by the highest ethical standards that we expect of our university presidents,” said the joint statement from UT System Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltife and UT System Chancellor James Milliken. “Dr. Wilson has our full confidence to protect and advance UTEP’s reputation and standing as a trusted research university. For the Aerospace Center to thrive, and to have the greatest impact on UTEP’s students and expanded economic development for the Paso Del Norte region, new leadership of the Center is imperative. Moreover, we are grateful to Dr. Wilson for her strong advocacy for aerospace and advanced manufacturing in El Paso, which resulted in the Regents’ awarding of $80 million to UTEP for the construction of the Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace Center, slated to open next year.”
UTEP for the first time Wednesday provided specifics on its concerns that led them to remove Choudhuri from his role as associate vice president of the university’s Aerospace Center and inform the NSF. The university said Choudhuri’s grant proposal improperly identified assets that would be used in the program – airport hangars and land in El Paso’s Lower Valley.
A potentially transformational grant, now in question
El Paso was among 10 communities nationwide selected earlier this year for initial grants of up to $15 million over two years through the NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines Program. The grant could reach $160 million over 10 years and is meant to provide economic transformation opportunities to diverse communities.
El Paso plans to use the grant as part of an effort to vastly expand aerospace manufacturing in the county. Another Choudhuri-led proposal received a $40 million grant through the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge program in 2022. That grant is not impacted by the NSF suspension.
The National Science Foundation has provided few details on the reasons for its investigation of the El Paso grant, saying that it “became aware of a potential issue” with the grant and referred the issue to its Office of Inspector General, an independent investigative authority.
Wilson serves on the governing board of the National Science Foundation.
UTEP officials have said they became aware on or about April 6 of “potentially incorrect statements in its proposal to the National Science Foundation.” The university informed NSF on Monday, May 6, of findings of its internal investigation of the grant proposal.
NSF informed UTEP April 25 that the grant was being suspended pending further review. It’s unclear if NSF’s investigation involves the same issues as UTEP’s internal review.
On Wednesday, UTEP provided El Paso Matters with a copy of the letter sent two days earlier to NSF. It was the first time the university has made public the specific nature of its concerns with the grant.
UTEP is alleging that Choudhuri incorrectly claimed assets that could be used as part of the grant – five hangars to be built at the county-owned Fabens Airport, and 8,000 acres of test range in El Paso’s Lower Valley near the airport.
The letter said UTEP does not have leases for the county hangars, and that land it has access to in the area is far smaller than 8,000 acres.
Choudhuri’s lawyer, Bob Blumenfeld, said in a statement that “there is nothing false or materially misleading in any submission or statement made by Dr. Choudhuri in connection with the NSF grant.”
Blumenfeld also said UTEP officials reviewed the grant proposal before it was submitted to NSF in January 2023.
“If there was anything inherently wrong with the grant or the concepts proposed in it, UTEP would not have reviewed, approved, and supported it all along. To the extent UTEP is now saying there is something wrong with the terms of the proposal, it is something UTEP reviewed and approved months ago and has continued to support all along,” Blumenfeld said.
Lucas Roebuck, UTEP’s vice president for marketing and communications, said he couldn’t respond Wednesday evening to El Paso Matters’ questions about UTEP’s review of the application before it was submitted, or why UTEP began investigating the application 15 months later.
Elected officials defend Choudhuri
In their letter to Wilson Wednesday, El Paso’s mayor, county judge and member of Congress lauded Choudhuri and asked Wilson to reconsider her actions. Although he has been removed as associate vice president of the Aerospace Center, Choudhuri remains a tenured professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
“Dr. Choudhuri is not only the brainchild behind our region’s aerospace and additive manufacturing initiatives (along with Dr. Ryan Wicker), but he is the named (principal) investigator on the application and the glue that is holding this groundbreaking regional initiative together,” the letter said.
“The successful development of this initiative will change the lives of our constituents for the better. And Dr. Choudhuri is essential to its success,” the elected officials wrote.
In a statement, UTEP officials said the university “is fully committed to working with our partners and the NSF to get the El Paso Innovation Engine grant back on track as soon as possible.”
“We are proud of the meaningful research at the UTEP Aerospace Center and its work on economic development projects to benefit the El Paso region. Over the years, hundreds of faculty, staff and students have contributed to its research and educational mission,” the statement said. “Currently the Aerospace Center has more than a dozen active research awards, and as we bring the $80-million Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace Center facility online next year, we will be able to expand the reach and scope of the Aerospace Center even further.”
Leeser, Samaniego and Escobar said the effort to build an aerospace manufacturing center, which is reliant on the NSF grant, is vital to El Paso’s economic future. Sidelining Choudhuri hurts those efforts, they wrote.
“This action will delay and hamper our collective efforts and everything we have worked so hard to achieve thus far. Under your leadership this dream needs to materialize, and we need you to help our community, with Dr. Choudhuri’s work, make it happen. Based upon our experience, we believe that Dr. Choudhuri is instrumental to our collective success.”
2:40 p.m. Thursday, May 9: This story has been updated with comment from University of Texas System leaders.
